It’s official, The Tee Guys has made school merch actually cool. Here’s how they did it.

(From left to right, Simon Ng and Bryan Lian)

When the word got out that Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) has launched an exclusive streetwear available exclusively in D’Studio, it was gone before many could even check them out! Yup, this latest collection of NYP tees was designed by NYP’s very own students Simon Ng Wei Hao (Diploma in Business Management) and Bryan Lian Jenn Yi (Diploma in Engineering with Business).

Simon, a final-year student, was attached to D’Studio during his Teaching Enterprise Project (TEP) was first intrigued by how well the NYP tees were selling. He toyed with the idea of creating NYP’s first ever streetwear collection with his buddy Bryan Lian Jenn Yi, also a final-year student but from the Diploma in Engineering with Business. Both of them shared a common interest in fashion trends and thought they could design something new.

With encouragement from D’Studio’s TEP lecturers, they researched on the creative elements of streetwear. Eventually, they came up with a Japanese-inspired design that cleverly used Japanese words and an assortment of shapes. The tees were in two basic colours – black and white –commonly used in streetwear.

Simon was also guided by his TEP’s lecturers on how to source and negotiate with suppliers to print the tees. Imagine their astonishment and ecstasy when they found out that the first batch of 300 pieces were snapped up within a few days! Not to mention, they had just replenished their inventory with a new batch of T-shirts and already some sizes were out of stock.

Inspired with their success, Simon and Bryan decided to set up their own company and started work on new and exciting designs. Named The Tee Guys, their new collection was showcased during the NYP Entrepreneurial Fair in December, and it was a great success.

Images: NYP

Simon and Bryan have turned their idea into reality. With NYP nurturing them, their first step has taken off beautifully. Because We Can!