York grad is one in a million

Cristina De Miranda
Contributor
The logo on Milly Millionaire’s Clothing Co. website is flashy: a diamond dots the ‘i’ in ‘Milly,’ and sporadic glimmers of light catch an unsuspecting eye. At first glance, the homepage looks like nothing more than an ode to urban glamour; however, beyond the ostentatious aesthetics is a man with more than money on his mind.
Daniel Milstein, a.k.a. Milly, is a 24-year-old York graduate who has taken a self-fulfilling project – designing and distributing t-shirts – and started a business with exponential possibilities. Spurred by a moment’s inspiration and a life-long ambition, Milstein founded Milly Millionaire Clothing Co. in 2009.

In line with current pop culture trends, Milstein’s t-shirts command attention with the use of bold text and bright colours. The initial collection, showcased in a photo shoot titled “Baneful Millionaires,” featured a variety of designs incorporating the brand’s name alongside various graphics, from airwaves to doodled hearts.
“The brand is centered around Milly as a character,” said Milstein. “Every shirt has a storyline.”
Milstein attributes the company’s name to his alter ego – an individual unafraid of new experiences who enjoys life to the fullest. However, it’s not too large a leap to say Milly Millionaire is an extension of Milstein’s lifestyle. Travelling frequently to Los Angeles, Milstein tunes into a culture where “living life to the fullest” is a daily recited mantra, and he brings the same cool and rebellious energy to his designs.
Milstein finds authenticity in “recreating an image, taking it apart and making it different.” The philosophy is apparent in his most recent design: a black tee with red and green sunglasses over top of an image of Lindsay Lohan (bloody nose added) with the words “L.A.’s Most Wanted” written across the bottom.
“It’s a twist on pop culture. It’s meant to be humorous,” said Milstein of the shirt’s underlying message.
Milly Millionaire Clothing Co. is first and foremost a creative project for Milstein, and he remains skeptical about involving multiple business partners aside from promoters and public relations representatives. With entrepreneurial motivation and an artistic vision, Milstein remains the gatekeeper of Milly Millionaire’s executive decisions.
“I want to keep it as my own project. I like to have the final say on the artwork, what stores it’s going into, who I’m selling it to and the production process,” he said.
Milstein, however, is less hesitant to collaborate with other artists in what he calls “cross-over promotions.” He has worked with designer Evan Blaire, who has designed merchandise for popular artists such as Fall Out Boy, Justin Bieber and Pink. Currently, the young entrepreneur is working on a hip-hop mixtape with his friend Delroy to add to Milly Millionaire’s website as an online download.
But perhaps most important is Milstein’s recent association with PETA2, the largest youth animal rights group in the world. With every purchase made, Milstein includes information about the cause – a cause he is very passionate about – for his buyers.
While at York, Milstein majored in environmental studies, and he has carried his new-found awareness into manufacturing his clothing. Milly Millionaire’s t-shirts are made in the U.S. and printed locally in Toronto. He also oversees the production process and ensures toxic products are disposed of in an eco-friendly manner. He ultimately hopes to introduce organic cotton to his brand, a timely and popular choice in the fashion industry.
Milstein’s t-shirts have appeared at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles and were sold at the 2010 Vans Warped Tour. Six shirts are currently available for purchase, with a new collection soon to be released. They can be picked up through the brand’s online store millymillionaire.com or at Gotstyle, a menswear boutique at Bathurst and Wellington. Prices of the shirts range from $30 to $40.
In the future, Milly Millionaire Clothing Co. may expand to include hats, hoodies, denim and accessories. For now, Milstein believes his current limited editions and small productions method creates greater anticipation for his products, giving them exclusivity and allowing him to take his time with the designs.

Independently creating and financing the brand has kept this grassroots project organic, and has been an enjoyable process for Milstein. “I wouldn’t be opposed to my brand sky-rocketing, but it’s not why I started it. It’s a creative project,” he said.
Though Milstein is not against becoming Milstein the Millionaire, his attention to initiatives outside of his own business and unconventional additions to the brand establish him as an up-and-coming force in the fashion industry. With an entrepreneurial approach and a dreamer’s outlook, Milstein summarized his philosophy thus: “You gotta hope for things to happen, but you gotta make things happen. ”
More from Daniel Milstein
“Most companies follow a script – a specific type of for- mula – in terms of how they’re going to market their brand, how they’re going to put together designs, what they’re going to do for a timeline and who they’re selling it to. I definitely keep these things in mind; however, it’s more of a fun business for me.”
“[Milly as a character] puts a mysterious twist on the com- pany. ‘Who is Milly?’ That’s the direction it’s going.”
“I put in whatever money I have to print shirts and raise it from the ground up. I love that it’s an organic project.”
“One of the other things I decided to put into the brand was the gang sign. It’s like an ‘M.’ Symbols are things people remember.”
“There are different things I learned from the music indus- try, different methods of ap- proaching business ideas. I’ve taken all the knowledge I’ve learned in music and put it into Milly Millionaire. Market- ing a t-shirt and marketing a band are very similar things.”