If you passed a member of the Pegleg crew – Harry McNally, Nick Poe or Bobby Waltzer – on the streets of NYC, you’d instantly know it -- the boys’ graphic, colorful aesthetic is hard to miss. What began as after-hours brainstorming soon became the clothing line Pegleg – which now sells at classic streetwear shop Union, Boston’s Bodega and stores worldwide - including France, England, Japan, Australia and Sweden. With McNally, Poe and Waltzer exclusively in charge of design, and distribution done with the help of a loyal team of friends, the three have more than enough work cut out for them.

But it doesn’t stop at clothes. The multi-talented collective maintains a photo blog of their antics – parties, friends, a homeless person here and there, and the general vibrant palette that is NYC. These recent graduates of New School, NYU and Bard also do their fair share of partying, throwing collaborative monthly bashes with Nylon and Roxy Cottontail, when they’re not holed up in their swelteringly hot Chinatown studio (customized with a rock-climbing wall). We sat down with them recently to find out more…

How did three twenty-something friends get together and decide to make a clothing line?
HM: We were all pretty conscious of what we were wearing – what was hip and cool. And it got to a point where we weren’t interested in buying what was available in stores, where it was like, “Fuck that. Let’s put out our own stuff that we can really represent.” We wanted to develop an aesthetic that was our own.

How did the actual production start?
HM: We started making t-shirts about two years ago. We were all in school and working side jobs, so it was far from a full-time job. We were designing shirts at 10 pm or 1 am, and not taking it too seriously. But since the beginning of the summer, we’ve been working full-time, and the distribution and our product line is growing. We’re trying to expand too– like knitwear, cardigans, and hats.

Do you guys have a background in this?
HM: Bobby was pre-med turned philosophy major, Nick was film, and I studied psychology. None of us has any formal background in what we’re doing, so we’ve been figuring out as we go along. We knew nothing about constructing a garment properly, merchandising or even filling out an order form, but we’re starting to get the hang of it now, whereas in the beginning, we were working hard and everything was a surprise.

Do you plan to take the brand in other directions?
HM: We definitely get involved with other projects. We do some videos - projects with color, everything from painting a bridge to painting plungers. And, we’re always documenting shit. [Pointing to his camo fanny pack] This isn’t my cell phone case; it’s my camera that I take everywhere.

What inspires and influences you?
HM: We’re all interested in the art world, so we try to appropriate some of those ideas into what we’re doing. New York is a very fundamental aspect of what we do, but it really goes beyond that.
BW: It’s everything from the eclectic styles we see walking the streets, or it can be a bottle of water with an interesting label, an umbrella, a tube of toothpaste or a chair – perfect example of something that has high design. Our whole ethos is to make high design available to the general public.

How did your dad, [restaurateur] Keith McNally, help inspire you growing up?
HM: I definitely admire what he’s done, but I keep my life separate from that. Seeing his work develop the way it has – when I was younger, it was on a much smaller scale, not at all like what it is today– it was an inspiration to see that growth and motivated me to want to do my own thing.
BW: People misconceive what we did and how we’re on the up-and-up. A lot of people attribute it to who we know but it’s not the case. Literally, we started all this and accumulated whatever net worth we have solely on our own. But we all have very inspirational families. Nick’s dad is a filmmaker [Amos Poe] who works at NYU, and my dad is an art dealer and artist. We all have a creative sense, extending to all aspects of our family lives and ourselves, whether it’s making a painting or starting a restaurant.

You must run with an entourage of other creative people?
HM: We share our warehouse with these guys Team Facelift. The sound that they’re creating definitely flows with the look that we’re cultivating. It really just enhances our whole process. We both feed off each other.

And as far as your other projects go?
HM: We try not to limit ourselves to just the clothing, so whatever free time we have, we work on other projects that we don’t really make money from but enjoy doing -- that’s adding to the integrity of our line. Everything from collaborating with Jack Spade for Readymade or going out to Coney Island and documenting the Mermaid Parade – stuff that enriches our everyday lives.

Nick recently participated in MTV Art Battles recently, and was one of the 8 finalists whose design is up at the MTV studio right now. What has that done for you as an artist and exposure for Pegleg?
NP: Art Battles is an event that my friend of mine, Sean Bono, started about 6 years ago. It’s a live art competition where a couple of artists will get on stage and do paintings and the audience votes on which they like best. Recently they got picked up by MTV. It doesn’t directly apply to us, but it speaks to the idea of how we’re interested in lots of different media, not just fashion. Hopefully it will be just one of many things that we’ll be known for.

~Leann Peterson