If you live under a rock, this may be your first introduction to the brand “FORTYTWO” However, if you’re the average Joe on Stanford’s campus, or even just a follower of new fashion, you know that FORTYTWO has been making waves in the fashion, design, and marketing world. From easter eggs in their merchandise boxes to seeing familiar faces in their newest knit soccer jerseys, FORTYTWO is emerging as a leading brand; taking on Stanford today, and the fashion world tomorrow.
Now, you may be wondering, what, who, where, when? All the classics. Well, I had the pleasure of interviewing Milo, Grace, and Faizan: the holy trinity of FORTYTWO.
In 2020, Milo was selling thrifted clothes out of his trunk in high school, and birthed the idea of FORTYTWO. Prior to this year, explained this company as “a dump of creative expression” before really honing in on creating a larger company, message, and universe. Initially starting with selling tapestries and sweaters, Milo knew that he had a vision, and with his previous experience he had faith and knowledge going further into the business side of FORTYTWO. After spending time working in the industry in partnerships with another Stanford-student-owned company “Crenshaw Skate Club,” Milo described this exposure as something that “helped [him] not to settle for a subpar level of execution in order to keep the momentum of a viral moment.” When asked how he dealt with a newfound pressure from social media after going viral on TikTok, he responded with “more media is a way to set our own bar higher.”
As the FORTYTWO company is small, his role is standing CEO/Creative Director/ “Idea Guy” when it comes to creating pieces and content, but as a Stanford CS major, also is involved with a few different things in software, graphics and graphic designs, even manufacturing and shipping logistics.
Grace also joined the FORTYTWO team after telling Milo that he simply “needs [her] talent.” Growing up as an artist and a writer, Grace explained how she felt drawn to this creative company despite start-up culture and start-up culture norms–especially on Stanford’s campus–being somewhat of a foreign concept to her at the start of her Stanford career. However, since joining Milo describes Grace as “the glue of all the stuff we create: she makes it makes sense, writes the narrative, and is a fundamental part of how we release products and market to our consumers.” More formally, she describes her role as Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Experience Officer, and finds joy in the creative process that is between her and Milo and brainstorming and iterating through new ideas.
Faizan, the last part of the trinity, has somewhat of an unconventional finance background coming into the FORTYTWO team. However, similar to Grace, this draw and desire to be in a creative space made it so that he could combine his strengths and previous experiences and provide a new lens to FORTYTWO. He describes his role as more business-centered, while also overseeing operations and everything that happens in the design phase, as well as strategizing some of the more logistical aspects. Most importantly, he bridges the gap between Milo and Grace’s ideas to consumers, describing the dynamic between the three of them as “the perfect combination of being able to be with Grace and Milo while also bringing my own skill set.”
As for what FORTYTWO is today, they are FAR from just a clothing company. They describe themselves as a product design company, utilizing storytelling to release products in clothing, tech, design, and media, and their most recent “Footy Two” campaign just goes to show the barriers they are breaking. They want to emphasize that what they are trying to do goes far being clothes, and content wise are moving forwards towards a new universe of things that connect back to an overarching narrative.
Contrary to many fast-fashion brands who capitalize on fast-moving micro trends, Milo, Grace, and Faizan explained how FORTYTWO is meant to have “fan clubs,” and not just clothing wearers. In an ideal world, there are people on the streets wearing their items of clothing, and are able to explain the intricate back stories and narratives that are created with each piece. They view the fast-fashion industry as people who want to maximize money with no regard to the steps that come with that. Faizan went more into depth about how “[FORTYTWO] is not competing against those kinds of companies; the stuff we are putting out is for people to be fans of, and aren’t even trying to recruit those kinds of ‘fast fashion’ audiences.” A term they used was “branded entertainment” that is able to push brand loyalty past just a “trendy piece of clothing.” They also utilize media as different vehicles that deliver this new narrative they want to create, describing it as “narrative transportation.”
Milo described narrative transportation as a combination of technology and media in a way that most effectively immerses and engages consumers when it comes to online shopping and exploration. He says, “we are trying to innovate how consumers interact with not only the product but how they buy and can bring in other products.” The biggest inspiration for Milo was seeing the effect of narrative transportation in selling clothes, but also people’s reactions. When asked more about fast fashion, Milo responded with a quote saying “The fashion industry is not oversaturated,” drawing analogies to how people can have many favorite restaurants and continue to find new ones every year.
In 2023, FORTYTWO gained a lot of traction in the media, and they have no plans to stop in 2024. Faizan spoke about how what they are doing is far broader than what they have shown thus far, explaining the nature of FORTYTWO as “genuinely innovative” and the products they have out so far is “just the tip of the iceberg of the things [they] know they can and are going to do.”
When asked what is something that most people may not be aware of outside the fashion and business world, Grace pointed out the fact that there is a lot of unseen effort into making each and every product, and how the knit jersey was not just a “happened stance thing,” rather the top of a mountain of other ideas, garments, and designs. There is also a witty nature to Milo, Grace, and Faizan, saying how easter eggs in their email signatures and deep cut references that things that happen in real life are all planted for a reason, and plays more into the role of creating their larger narrative. Milo explained it all with this idea that they want people to “notice the parallels between the stories they are deploying and actual reality.”
Moving forward, their next biggest task is creating a way to gamify fashion, saying that a “new way to buy fashion products online” is something for people to keep an eye out for.
As a FORTYTWO fan myself, interviewing Milo, Grace, and Faizan was such an inspirational opportunity to delve deeper into the minds of this creative company, and the dedication, drive, and determination these three people share is truly extraordinary. If you ask any one of them any question about FORTYTWO, you can really tell how much work and passion goes into what they do and create, and how much they really care about building a company that impacts and revolutionizes the fashion industry.
If you want to check out their current products:
But also catch them on instagram and tiktok under @ fortytwoco
With love,
Chloe

Comments