SDCC ’14: An Interview with Black Milk Clothing

By Hannah Lodge

Black Milk Clothing appeared at the San Diego Comic Con DC Entertainment booth to show off their licensed line of DC-inspired clothing and to announce a second release in October, which will feature Harley Quinn and The Riddler. The new release will include A Riddler catsuit, and a Harley Quinn skater dress, leggings, and catsuit.

The Australia-based clothing company, which found its origins only 5 years ago in R2D2 swimsuits and other Star Wars gear, is also moving into U.S. territory. Director of Marketing Cameron Parker sat down with The Beat to give us an update on the U.S. location and alluded at a potential future licensing deal with Marvel.

Hannah: I hear you guys just opened your U.S. Headquarters?

Cameron: That’s right, as of 3 p.m. yesterday you can buy Black Milk Clothing directly from our LA distribution center online, which is great because you get away from customs and duties. We have free shipping and you buy in U.S. dollars. It’s a really exciting time for us. Girls have been asking “Can you have a little home in the U.S.?” and now we have.

Hannah: Are the clothes still made in Australia?

Cameron: Yes, everything is still made in Australia to keep up with demand. We will look into having something made here in America, made in downtown LA to be specific, but that’s 6 to 8 months away.

Hannah: Will there be a storefront in LA?

Cameron: It’s more like a concept store as opposed to retail. It’s not open yet, because the warehouse and distribution has been priority.

But hopefully when we come back for Sharkiecon, we want to have a dedicated area like a showroom. Girls can come in, we’ll have couches, and you can play dress up. But it’s not like traditional retail. We want to have some fun and make it more like you can sit down, have a coffee, have some ice cream… stuff like that.

Hannah: How long has the U.S. headquarters been in the making?

Cameron: Probably seriously in the past 6 to 12 months. We’ve always wanted to do it, but haven’t had the resources or time to do that until the past 6 to 12 months.

Hannah: You’ve had a lot of licensing deals – are there any you’ve still got your heart set on?

Cameron: We’re doing a comic book mash up in November with pieces we haven’t done like Harley Quinn, The Riddler, even other properties at Warner like Wizard of Oz, because in all seriousness we’ve pretty much done the big ones. Hopefully we can get to Marvel next year.

Hannah: I was just about to ask about the possibility of a Marvel release.

Cameron: Once we get through the Disney stuff, Marvel will be something we’ll look at next year.

Hannah: What was your most successful licensing deal?

Cameron: Harry Potter, by far, was the biggest. As you can imagine with our customer base, they had read the books as kids, been brought up with it. So immediately that was the biggest thing. It was crazy that day. We just sold a lot of harry potter. So far that’s our biggest release to date.

Hannah: What is your favorite DC piece?

Cameron: My favorite DC piece is Wonder Woman. The colors and the attitude – and I love when girls I meet wearing that have this confidence, I love it. The whole DC range, when you meet people wearing it, they’re so excited to be wearing Batman, Wonder Woman, or Superman.