By Michele Barletta

Dane Mechali has been the talk of the campus over the past few days after images surfaced on social media of an NBA star wearing the clothes that he and his brother, Jason Mechali, designed and produced.

Mechali, named after the last name of the two brothers, is a clothing line that produces high-end, fashionable products, whilst trying to get a message across through their clothing.

The most recent big name to be seen wearing Mechali clothing is Denver Nuggets small forward, Torrey Craig. The Nuggets lost in game five of the Western Conference Final on September 26, 2020, however Craig was seen arriving at the AdventHealth Arena wearing Mechali clothing from head to toe.

In the fashion industry, it’s not often that brands communicate directly with the individual when they’re planning an outfit or a potential relationship with a company.

“We usually work through the individual’s stylist, who then pulls pieces from different brands for their client to wear,” Dane said.

However, with Craig, the Mechali brothers were lucky enough to have a more direct and personal channel of communication than usual.

“Craig came across our brand first, he found us on social media and interacted with our page. We then got into contact with him on Instagram and the discussions moved forward from there,” Dane said.

Craig is not the first public figure to be seen in Mechali clothing. Former Lakers and current Nuggets player Troy Daniels joins his teammate Craig in opting to wear the Mechali clothing. Also on the list is Cleveland Browns Wide Receiver KhaDarel Hodge, Disney movie star Jack Griffo and the famous DJ known as Marshmello.

“The dream was always to be in the fashion industry,” Dane said. “I’ve always loved fashion and expressing myself through fashion.”

Jason Mechali takes on the role of the CEO while Dane focuses more on designing and being the Creative Director. The brothers decided to put their expertise together and begin this journey during the summer of 2018.

“My brother and I put our two different worlds together to create something which is Mechali, we then dropped our first collection by May of 2019,” Dane said.

In addition to his clothing start-up , Dane also balances a life of pursuing his MBA and playing college tennis and says that time management has been the most crucial part of making it all work.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy, I think what’s helped is having Jason delegate the tasks within our roles,” Dane said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact of every aspect of society and the Mechali brothers believe that their way of operating, solely online, is what helped them get through it.

“Right at the beginning we looked at other bigger brands to see what they were doing or planning to do in order to handle it, but I think what helped us so much is the e-commerce,” Dane said.