Costa students produce digital design clothing brand, ‘Tyro’

Julia Oudiz

Features Editor

Mira Costa senior Aidan Dunne and junior Allie Smythe have teamed up to form their new clothing brand, Tyro.

Dunne and Smythe first became friends due to their shared interest in clothing, Dunne said. Both began drawing and creating designs during their sophomore years. After sharing their designs with each other, Dunne and Smythe realized that they could put their designs on actual clothes and possibly sell them. They began their combined design process during July of last summer.

“It took a long time for us to figure out who we were going to get to print the design and what was the right price point for us, so we actually are just starting to print clothing right now,” Smythe said. “We finally found a place that has a good price point and that will give a good quality clothing.”

Dunne has been working for over a year as an intern for the company Lucky J, a designer baby clothing company that hopes to expand into younger teen clothing. In addition to gaining experience by sitting in on merchandise meetings and preparing collections, Dunne also has access to several companies and print shops through his internship. He was able to use these connections to contract a company to print Tyro’s clothes. The manufactures’ name will remain anonymous for business reasons, but Dunne said that they are planning to print on Gildan and later on Champion clothing.

Smythe focuses on designs and Dunne focuses on finding manufacturers. When designing, Smythe either draws her designs by hand or uses Adobe Illustrator, then uploads a  PDF version of her design to send to the manufacturing company. Dunne also uses computer programs to make designs and frequently uses Adobe Photoshop.  Her drawings will soon be printed on hoodies and t-shirts, and will feature a street-clothing look, with bright and primary colors, Smythe said.

“We’re doing more street-like clothing, rather than up-scale or casual clothing,” Smythe said. “It’s more like the fashion trends of what is going on now in the world. It’s kind of like a childish take on what is really popular right now.”

In the future, Smythe hopes to create an Etsy store to sell Tyro’s designs. Smythe may choose to major in design in college because it is a good creative outlet for her, she said. Dunne hopes that he can use his creativity as well to create something that other people will be able to wear and show.

“If it all goes well on Etsy, we would like to make an actual website for [Tyro],” Smythe said. “And then, way down the line, if that becomes successful, I think my ultimate goal would be to open up a pop-up shop, because a lot of the clothing brands that inspired me to do this have pop-up shops.”