Oaklin Mixon, Founder and CEO of GoodBoy Clothing, is ecstatic. In his current store headquarters located in Buckham Alley, he can hardly contain his excitement as he tells My City Magazine about the process of starting his business two years ago.
“As I’ve been living in Flint, I’ve grown to love it,” he says. “Living here – and seeing what’s going on in terms of business and development – I thought, ‘How can I get involved?’ I wanted to contribute something artistic and diverse. We should all be thinking about things like that.”
GoodBoy is a justice-driven, socially-aware brand.
I want to use it as a megaphone for the culture to influence people.
– Oaklin Mixon
This mindset, combined with the ambition to expand his venture, attracted Mixon and his colleagues to the AT&T Agility Challenge a couple of months ago. The nationwide contest was hosted by entrepreneur and author of The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner. After composing an essay articulating a business plan, a video entry, and fans voting through social media, GoodBoy Clothing earned second place with the Judges’ Choice Award – a cash prize of $20,000.
This certainly is not a bad financial boost for a new business, especially because Mixon has had some involvement with startup through working for the Flint Crêpe Company during its own startup period. That experience helped mold his foresight into a concept that many can relate to: a thriving future for Downtown Flint.
“As far as business, we can’t wait for people on the outside to come in and bring a business to the community,” Mixon states. “We have ideas; we have things that we can contribute. I think it’s inspiring when people can begin to think like that.”
The GoodBoy Clothing style is described as a “streetwear style” with a “casual edge.”
“I was never into fashion,” Mixon smiles. “But I knew what I liked. And I grew up through the hip-hop culture. We didn’t want to box ourselves into one particular style. We did that so people can mix and match, and could get all of their clothing in one stop. It’s also unisex; a lot of women have been buying the clothes, too.”
The goal of the GoodBoy brand is to shift the culture from being consumers to being contributors – training people to be givers rather than takers. Style is not just the clothing you wear on your back; it’s also your attitude.
“One of my passions is the desire to see good in people,” Mixon shares. “I have always been into ideas that could shift people’s mindsets. GoodBoy is a justice-driven, socially-aware brand. I want to use it as a megaphone for the culture to influence people.”
One shirt’s play on words with, “It’s Time to Meet Ya Maker” reminds Mixon of the vision he originally had, although the clothing line began with a simple T-shirt, emblazoned only with “GoodBoy Clothing.” “I thought the name was kind of cheesy at first,” he admits. “But it was so common. It represents that person who is socially aware, who wants to solve problems and contribute to the community and build it up.”
GoodBoy is helping build up the community by gearing up for a full-time cut-and-sew operation at their headquarters starting this fall, rather than outsourcing. “We want to bring well-meaning jobs to Flint,” Mixon says. “I want GoodBoy to be a place that will help further enhance Flint as a location where people to want to go to.”
Along with new jobs, GoodBoy inspires new ways to live one’s life: a socially-conscious life that is filled with doing good.
Photography by Eric Dutro
