Kalen Currie has his own apparel line.
Photo by Erica Inalien
For Kalen Currie, success is all about having “Da Csauce.”
Long before coming to Florida A&M University, Currie got his start at designing in the fifth grade when he won the annual FCAT T-shirt design contest in Miami.
He continued to dabble in the arts, designing apparel for friends and family but never going public.
It wasn’t until a fellow Rattler asked him to personally customize a hoodie, that Currie finally took his design skills seriously and invested in his dream. “Once I got my refund check I did it,” he said.
Paired with his catchy logo, Csauce, to symbolize this notion of dripping in excellence, Curries’ line took off. But even with his success he wanted to promote something more than just trendy apparel. He wanted to be a voice for his community.
“I want to promote self-love, self-awareness for black people, just being black,” the engineering major said.
He reveals a passion to strengthen the black community and to encourage others to not only embrace the skin that they are in, but to be unapologetic about it.
“I know some people are not gonna understand where I’m coming from, but I know that there is gonna be some people that are gonna just feel it,” Currie said.
And right he was. Some of his apparel contains graphic language that comes off as offensive. But Currie explains that he believes “words are in their content, they mean whatever context you’re putting them in.”
Regardless of his scandalous slogans such as, “Tommy Hiln•••a” and “Ain’t F•••in Off,” Csauce apparel continues to grow and attract new customers.
Elisha Joseph, a junior pre-occupational therapy major at FAMU, likes his line. “it represents a part of our culture that is very present in the media anyway,” she said.
Shania Stephenson a junior general health major, said: “I like that his stuff is trying to redefine some things that carry a negative stigma about the black community. Be proud of these things because only we can redefine them.”
Kalen Currie has great plans for the future of his company and plans to be as big as other top-notch brands such as Nike and Gucci.
While his journey has just begun he doesn’t plan on stopping until everyone is laced and dripping in Csauce apparel.