Roger Otto Lewis, New York Giants fan favorite has long dominated the sports world.
Now, the sports megastar’s latest venture is changing the world of fashion. As CEO of “Partys Over”, Lewis is merging the world of sports and street style. “Partys Over”, takes generational highlights from youth and party culture and fuses them together with a hip-hop and punk aesthetic: ultimately creating something that is fun, yet dark and grungy, like a beautiful “work in progress.” I caught up with Lewis to chat more about his latest brand developments.
The Knockturnal: How would you describe your brand’s vision?
Roger Lewis: The phrase “Partys Over” began as a family term amongst myself and my teammates on the New York Giants. It symbolized using your passions and talents to have complete lockdown on any situation. To simply put an end to all opposition, through hard work and dedication… As far as the collection, I wanted to make the collection very simple and straightforward. I wanted the design to be minimalistic with an aesthetic that was very strategically placed in color as well as texture to create a balance. I didn’t want to give the audience anything over the top in regards to design, but just enough to reel them in and keep their attention. I wanted to give it that “For promotional use only. Not for resale” kind of vibe. Or something like an invite to an exclusive party.
The Knockturnal: What made you want to branch out from the world of sports and step into fashion?
Roger Lewis: I’ve always been in the fashion world growing up, looking up to the Kanye’s with the polos and backpacks, the Michael Vick cleats, the Pharrell shoes, the Lebron James shoes as a kid from Ohio. Even to doing extra chores around the house for my mother to buy me the new pairs of Jordans coming out. I just always dreamed of having my own clothing line and being able to see peoples’ reactions to the new things that keep coming out. Partys Overcame up in the New York Giants locker room where teammates turned into brothers and we used to always say a saying “Partys Over”. I can ask one of my teammates/brothers what do they think about something and they would say “Nah Partys Over” which meant “no”. With my creative mind, I just was like let’s make Partys Over into a business by starting off with a clothing line having events everywhere and branching off and also giving back to the kids/community. So I would say Partys Over just isn’t a clothing line.
The Knockturnal; What was your creative process like when creating parties over?
Roger Lewis: The creative process is something I love. I have a designer who I talk with and give out my thoughts of what I want the launch to be and the designer goes and designs and put my twist into things to things I think should be done. I would say it’s kind of the same with football, it can be a route that you want to get down to perfection and you keep making changes of how you run the route or how you’re going to set up the defensive back to make the defender think you’re doing something else. I take that just like my Partys Overbrand I have if we have to keep sending different designs different materials of what I want it to look like then that’s what we’re going to do because anything I’m doing playing video games/playing in a NFL game/ giving out ideas for designs for Partys Over/ in football practice, I strive for perfection. Partys Over I been working on since rookie year since we had the saying and it just took a minute because I wanted things to be perfect and changing upon how we’re going to present it to the people. That’s where my ‘perfection’ theme came in, if I’m not working on football which I love to death, I’m working on my future outside of football and it’s real estate/and talking with my Partys Over team that’s in Ohio of making Partys Over the best it can be. My mother always inspired me with my creative skills and thinking through things to make it come to light because she also has her own business. Just as an example the receivers/teammates used the saying “Partys Over” so much that I put in my head creative way that we can have a business behind a saying that we used while we were getting better daily at the sport we love which is football.
The Knockturnal: Can you talk more to the first collection you dropped, RSVP? What advice do you have for others who are interested in getting into fashion?
Roger Lewis: The first collection I just dropped was a very special one because I wanted to show the world the dark vibe of Partys Over, the lifestyle of Partys Over. As the line keeps growing, we will be able to look back and see where we started with the limited great pieces we put out. My favorite items I could say are all the items but one that stands out is the ripped ticket sweatsuit. It basically resembles a ripped ticket to an event/party which is on the items and it has Partys Over embroidered. For future goals for Partys Over the team back home is putting together events I think our next event is with the rapper Smokepurpp. That’s our first event in Cincinnati, Ohio. But for the marketing strategy, I sat back with a friend of mine Heron Preston who I met through one of my good friends Ben Levine and kind of picked his brain on how he came up and working with Off White and his own line. I kind of pitched him my idea and he loved it and said it’ll be key throwing those events because there are a bunch of lines dropping but not doing anything or have meaning behind other lines but he loved it for sure and thought the idea was GREAT. He actually said “PARTYS OVER LITERALLY”. We just had a pop up with @fancy which was great to have and that’s the first store Partys Over items are in which I thank the owner Joe. But we will start having merch back in Ohio and in NY stores coming soon if you’re shopping online go to partysover.co That’s kind of some future things we have in store and also on the holidays, I will make sure we’re giving back to my community and showing the kids the brighter side of life. The advice I would give to others with fashion is that love every moment of it, it can get hard sometimes or things not moving the way you want but at the end of the tunnel there’s always light, so if fashion is your dreams never let no one tell you that you can’t do something or something is not cool as long as you like it and the people then you’ll be fine the haters will always hate.
The Knockturnal: Your line has amazing unisex clothes that are great for both men and women, how did you manage to create that perfect balance for both genders?
Roger Lewis: True! Urban Culture off the top of my head when I think about that is it’s a bunch of different people in a smaller area or space. And that’s always great with fashion because you’re having different ethnicities where different things and different people like different things so that defines PARTYS OVER showing the people something different but they’re still pursuing their dreams and even when it’s dark they’re still climbing, they might bend but never break in life that is the true definition of “PARTYS OVER” not a clothing line it’s a lifestyle. PARTYS OVER!!!
The Knockturnal: What does the brand have in store (upcoming collection, events, pop up)?
Roger Lewis: In our (near) future we have many things in the works. We are aiming for a Fall/Winter 2018 Pop-Up tour in all of the major cities in the USA. With all of these Partys, they will be followed by after parties by Partys Over. Some will be public parties where anyone who RSVPs can attend. While others may be upscale with high-status guest lists and passwords required where general RSVP will be a little harder to get through. While gaining relationships, brand recognition and hype in the midst of doing these pop-ups and afterparties, we definitely have plans for retail relations as well. No one in particular, but storefronts that we are genuinely fans of for sure. As far as collaborations go, we’re kind of still getting into our own swing of things. So they probably won’t happen for a while unless it’s a brand we absolutely love and could never deny.