“YO, I GOT SHIRTS FOR THE LOW,” exclaimed Senior Phillip Willson while holding a variety of cotton shirts bearing a distinct mountain drawing.

The new trend in the vicinity of Niles North isn’t the high-fashion brand Versace, it is the streetwear brand Cozaci. Phillip is one of the many freelancers selling shirts for the creator of Cozaci: Faraz Khan.

Cozaci is a casual, versatile and affordable streetwear brand aimed at teenagers as its target clientele. It was started by Faraz Khan, senior, with the help of Hasnain Khan, senior, in August of 2017. Faraz and Hasnain spent their free time creating various doodles that would look good on merchandise. Inspired by the courageous incentive of Hasnain producing and writing his own music, Faraz found his own calling: fashion.

What was just doodles for fun at first turned into a fashion movement with a profitable margin. Faraz started off by selling simple short sleeve shirts with the mountain logo on the chest in August of 2017. After a very successful marketing campaign thanks to a site and an Instagram account made for the brand, the shirts sold out a lot quicker than Faraz expected. ” When I started the brand I did not expect as many sales but a lot of people at north supported the movement and it basically became a trend.” Faraz said.

With every good brand, there has to be a great slogan: “Know yourself, know your worth, and stand out.”

“I believe that before you can truly appreciate the significance of anything else, you have to know your own worth, feel good in your own skin, and go from there,” Faraz stated. Therefore, every single color that you know you would look good in is provided by the brand.

After the success of the premiere of Cozaci shirts, Faraz released long sleeve shirts with the back bearing the mountain logo. Once the weather got “relatively” warmer, Cozaci premiered their tank tops and 2 new short sleeve designs.

Not a single successful business doesn’t face roadblocks. When Faraz first made an order of the new Cozaci sweaters in December, the distributor could not meet his demand. Faraz thought quick on his feet in the face of diversion and released another batch of short sleeve shirts featuring a different design.

Faraz did not maintain the success of Cozaci on his own. His close friends and various students around the school show support by sponsoring Cozaci on their social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, etc. If you aren’t wearing one of his products, chances are you’ve seen them or you have helped him sponsor his brand.

Faraz believes it is important for everyone to have their own entrepreneurial sense of business. ” Even if starting your own business isn’t your thing, you should find something you’re passionate about, master it, and find a way to make it profitable.”

What is the future for the Cozaci brand? “I have considered selling it if it comes to the point where the process becomes monotonous. I also want to expand my entrepreneurial horizon and not only start a fashion company, there are other things in life that are interesting to me and that I could make a profit of” stated Faraz.