365 Entrepreneur: COS Clothing

Checks Over Stripes is the urban luxury lifestyle brand created by Indianapolis native Geezy. Fueled by the determination to turn a negative experience into a positive future COS clothing was born. 

What does COS stand for? COS stands for Checks Over Stripes, which has multiple meanings. When you do certain stuff in the streets, you get known for getting stripes for doing something. Or you end up in federal jail and you end up with black and white stripes, which in my case I ended up in black and white stripes. That’s when it hit me, this song hit me called “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott and Drake. Drake had a line in there ‘checks over stripes.’ When it was playing in my head and looking at what I had on, it gave me an idea to want to start something. So, I came up with Checks Over Stripes Party Promo. Then, it became Checks Over Stripes clothing line. So, that’s where it comes from, getting legal money which is a check and not ending up in stripes. 

How did you go from party promoting to clothing? I started making merch to promote the promo business. Then, everybody wanted the merch. I was paying a photographer to take good pictures of me when I had on my merch when I would come to these events. So, when I would post the pictures, people wanted to buy it. I started giving it to my friends first and that built a bigger buzz when they started seeing me and my people in it. Everybody wanted it. So, I started selling t-shirts. It turned into an urban luxury line. 

What makes it an urban luxury line? My take on urban luxury is good quality, exclusiveness, and limited availability. It’s urban with the logo and the meaning behind it. It’s kind of like a urban meaning, but for any race or any type of person. Because who wouldn’t want to get a check and be free versus going to jail and ending up in stripes? Anybody could relate to it. So, that’s where the ‘urban-ness’ comes from, the origin of it. The luxury part comes from the exclusiveness and limited availability. 

Where do you draw your inspiration from? I’m inspired by Jay-Z. My biggest inspiration is Nipsey Hussle, as far as my celebrity inspiration. Also, just older people I grew up around, they always motivated me. Nipsey Hussle is one of my biggest inspirations behind a lot of stuff I do regarding my clothing line and how to convert from being in the streets your whole life to being more of a businessman, being productive and pushing a positive 

message. I’d say Nipsey Hussle....

@cosclothing_

@cos_geezy