Meet the Young Man Responsible for Spunk Cat

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By Adrea

Spunk Cat Mitch
Mitchell Lacsamana is the owner/designer of Spunk Cat, a clothing line with a mission. The above image features a model wearing  one of his shirts (All photos: Mitchell Lacsamana)

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Mitchell Lacsamana is a young man with a mission.  Driven, focused, and in his early 20’s, this Rutger’s graduate seemed naturally inclined toward business, harboring an entrepreneurial spirit that set in during sixth grade.  His new clothing line, Spunk Cat, is starting to make some waves, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this motivated man who seems wise beyond his years.  The fact that he loves cats, most particularly his cat Storm, who is the eye at the center of this design whirlwind, is an added bonus.

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Adrea:              Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Mitchell.  First and foremost, how did Storm come into your life?
Mitch:              As with a lot of things in life, Storm came to into mine by chance. My girlfriend and I adopted him from the Edison Animal Shelter here in NJ and we almost didn’t see him! He was hiding in the back but when we spotted him we knew we had to adopt him. Since then, he has come into so many people’s lives, convincing more and more dog owners to want to adopt cats!

Spunk Cat Storm (1)
Storm, the inspiration for Spunk Cat

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AG:                  How did you decide to move Storm out into a social platform?

ML:                  I was learning to be more social media savvy (more specifically on the IG, aka Instagram, platform, one for Storm and, later, one for Spunk Cat) and I started with Storm’s account because it was a great way to learn the ins and outs of social media as well as pay homage to my beautiful cat and learn photography along the way.

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AG:                  At what point did Storm’s presence in your life converge with commerce?

ML:                  A lot of companies have reached out for space on @stormwatchin, such as Temptations and similar products, however I started Storm’s IG page not to make money, but to learn and have fun doing so.  Thus, I have declined every offer and, instead, have kept the page true and genuine toward honoring Storm and cats alike.

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AG:                  So what drew you to look at clothing as a vehicle for your business?

ML:                  Spunk Cat was born due to my imminent passions in clothing. I have always been fashion conscious, more particular than others. The vision of Spunk Cat was the final push I needed to begin projecting my own passions and creative ideas into the medium of clothing and other products. Also, I wanted to have something separate from stormwatchin, but is still Storm-inspired, though most of my customers actually don’t know that.

Spunk Cat

AG:                  What is your mission, your objective, if you will, with Spunk Cat?

Ml:                   My mission for Spunk Cat is to incite and provoke raw, primal emotions, such that a cat does. There are tons of parallels with humankind, our subcultures, our politics, and our habits, that coincide with a cat’s life and own ecosystem. I want to be able to address these parallels boldly and profoundly, through a cat’s perspective. I have a lot of risque designs and ideas that will project as fun and daring because of the perspective I have chosen with Spunk Cat. There are some pieces and styles that will be timeless, but there will be others that address matters of this day and age and it definitely won’t be relevant in 40 years, which is purposeful to remain contemporary.

The best part about Spunk Cat is that a portion of the profits will be donated to no-kill animal shelters, I don’t heavily advertise that because I’m not trying to sell people on my products based on an incentive or added value, but rather I want them to truly be inspired by the product to make that purchase.  My customers will unknowingly be contributing to saving the lives of animals in need.

The other mission for Spunk Cat is to keep the designs new and fresh with a personal touch. I have sacrificed outsourcing the manufacturing and production of my products so that I can have complete oversight of everything I wish to release, as well as the quantity, and since I am making these personally, it will be kept very low.

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AG:                  What are your next steps, Mitchell?

ML:                  My next step is to continue to concept more designs, make more and different products, and open the brand new website which will house Spunk Cat items exclusively including previews from the Spring/Summer Lookbook. I am also looking into collaborations for Spunk Cat’s Fall/Winter collection, I think collaborations are awesome.

Although I dream that everyone who wants a Spunk Cat product is able to have one, I can only make so many because these are handcrafted locally with a very limited quantity of each product made. I like the idea that every single Spunk Cat product will have a personal feel, a personal touch, and to do so, I am avoiding outsourcing the brand to manufacturers. Naturally this has brought the appeal of exclusivity, and seeing as I am not stocking Spunk Cat at retailers, the only way people will be able to buy it and hear of brand new products being released is to sign up for the newsletter on our site, to like our Spunk Cat Facebook page, or to follow our Instagram.

Spunk Cat Storm (2)

AG:                  How has Storm handled all the celebrity?

ML:                  Storm has handled it better than I have. He gets to nap and be cute all day! It’s a lot of work managing the fluffy little guy’s IG account!

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AG:                  What should people know about you, Storm, and/or Spunk Cat that separates you from anything presently out there in the world?

ML:                  No clothing brand has addressed the parallels between a cat and a human’s instincts in a tasteful, contemporary manner. I want to bring a fresh, fun, and spunky perspective to fashion lovers and animal lovers alike.

Spunk Cat Mitchell (2)

Check out all of Mitchell and Storm’s social media sites via the links throughout the article and  be one of the first to visit the new Spunk Cat Website, set to Launch on April 4!

 

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