Music promoter branches out with Jimshoes clothing line

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By Tony Reid/Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review | Monday, December 17, 2007 |

James Hastings believes fashion and music go hand-in-glove.

So if you make your living in one, why not try a financial venture in the other?

Hastings, an Urbana-based music manager whose acts range from local hip-hop artists to Southern metal rock bands, has jumped in with both feet and launched his own clothing line. Jimshoes Signature Wear is for sale at several locations in central Illinois.

The lineup so far includes hats, hoodie-style shirts, polo shirts and short and long-sleeve T-shirts aimed at both sexes in colors ranging from hot pink to yellow, blue, black, white and gray. Prices range from about $5 to more than $30, and the clothes are emblazoned with an eye-catching “Jimshoes” logo that features a prominent pair of tennis shoes, one with its laces trailing and the other lying on its side.

Jimshoes Entertainment is the name of Hastings’ management company, and he earned the Jimshoes nickname after developing a sneaker obsession while growing up in Indianapolis.

“I used to love to collect all kinds of tennis shoes,” Hastings, 34, said. “I really didn’t count them all back then, but I had a lot, and I would wear all of them. That was my thing; I liked to be different, to stand out.”

Hastings is counting on a primarily younger, music-centered audience feeling the same way when they try his clothing line on for size. He started by finding manufacturers who could produce what he wanted and testing designs on his family and friends. He gave clothes to his artists and, happy with the response, has commercially debuted the clothing line.

In Decatur, the Jimshoes clothing line is available at Mahri’s Fashions, a store co-owned by brothers Cameron and Carleton “CJ” Belk. CJ Belk said what sets Jimshoes apart is marketing power.

“He’s got artists to take the clothes out on the stage, and he’s got it on TV, too,” Belk said. “It makes it easier for him to get that Jimshoes name out there.”

If the clothing lines take off, Hastings plans to increase the range of his offerings, maybe even trying a pair of Jimshoes shoes somewhere down the line.

He already intends to introduce a line of figure-hugging summer wear aimed at the female side of the market.

(The Herald & Review is a Lee Enterprises newspaper.)

Tony Reid can be contacted at (217) 421-7977 or treid@herald-review.com.

Q-C CONNECTION

James Hastings lived in the Quad-City area for several years and attended Black Hawk College-Quad-Cities Campus in Moline. In addition to launching his own clothing line, he is the founder of Jimshoes Entertainment, a music management company, whose producers include East Moline natives Brian and Dennis Westbrook of The Jones’ Production Co.

Hastings’ Web site is jimshoes.com.