Uncle Inc.: Chaotic. Ironic. Sexual.
⤏ THE INDIE DESIGNERS ELEVATING FUNNY INTO FASHION
⤏ BY HANNAH BENSON
⤏ PHOTOS BY SARAH KOEP | MODELED BY ALEX HOLMES
PLUS 𝒮𝐻𝒪𝒫 𝒯𝐻𝐸
Shop the Uncle Inc. x Junior High Collab Tee here.
When you’re young, so many ideas and ambitions get thrown around that you begin to wonder, ‘Who the hell is actually going to achieve their dreams?’ My answer is Alex Holmes (she/her) and Riana Butler (she/her) — co-creators of fashion brand, Uncle Inc. It’s “Chaotic. Ironic. Sexual. Kind of boingy boingy.” The company celebrates meme culture, humor, and womanhood. Since our sophomore year, I have been lucky enough to see Uncle Inc. morph from College Pitch to Internet Sensation. With Holmes in Los Angeles and Butler in New York City the fashion world seems to be firmly in their grasp. Can’t wait to see them in Vogue, oh wait, they’re already in there.
The origin of Uncle Inc. can be traced back to 2017 in a shared room. Alex and Riana wanted to express their in-joke-related language on shirts. At the time, they had a particular enthusiasm for the concept of uncles. The not-yet-company began on Zazzle, a third party site for designing and selling custom products.
“We were making nothing from it, maybe twenty-five cents a shirt, because the site was taking all of the profit, but we thought, ‘Who cares?’ It was mainly a joke for us and our friends, we never thought it would be a full-time business. We were told by a lot of people that no one’s going to wear these shirts,” Riana began and then prompted Alex to finish. “And we proved those bitches wrong. I think I always knew there was an audience for it. Because Ri and I are crazy, sure, but there are millions of people who are just like us,” said Alex.
The community, or ‘Nephews’ as Uncle Inc. fans are darlingly called, have their distinct favorites. Many of the designs from 2017 are today’s top sellers such as, ‘Mom, can you pick me up?’ ‘I’m Fine.’ ‘Broth boy’ and ‘Ketamine Tuesday’. I’m still patiently waiting for the return of “Butter my biscuit and call me ‘Lucas,’” but we can’t have it all.
After a few years on Zazzle making little to nothing, online college graduation, and a raging pandemic, Uncle Inc. could have said goodbye forever, but then Alex found the Cricut. With the help of Tiktok and Instagram, the electronic cutting machine has garnered quite the fan base due to its ability to cut all sorts of designs from materials like paper, vinyl, card stock, and iron-on transfers. “It’s not a skill like sewing, it seemed pretty simple, so I thought, ‘Hey, we already have these designs, this can't be impossible.’ We had money from unemployment, I didn’t have a job, Ri didn’t have a job, might as well try this,” said Alex. In the spirit of 2020, Riana echoed a common desire, “We wanted a job where we could be ourselves and it wouldn't be corporate.” And the special touch of it all? Alex names it perfectly. “We wouldn’t have to have bosses. We could be our own bosses who are girls…”
[Uncle inc.] was mainly a joke for our friends to wear. we never thought it would be a full-time business. WE were told by a lot of people that no one’s going to wear these shirts,”
— Riana Butler
The 2020 reboot began in early Fall with an onslaught of Instagram posts featuring various Uncle Inc. tees captured on film. The models were Alex’s hometown friends proving that Uncle Inc. is, first and foremost, a company for friends. The posts kept teasing a re-release and the hype kept growing. They sent shirts to those with substantial internet fame — Rachel Sennot, Emmy Hartman, Ian Smith and Eva Victor. Then came the orders.
In the wake of the U.S. Postal Service crisis, Uncle Inc. showed their support by using USPS to transport their packages. Although they now ship all over the world, a post office visit is still a part of the daily routine. But Riana assures me, no one is too curious about what they’re up to. “It was only one time when someone in line said, ‘Whoa, you have a lot of packages, what are you selling?’ So I said, ‘Let me just show you.’ And then I showed them a shirt then they awkwardly laughed and then that was that.” Seriously though, support your local postal workers.
As demand for “Porridge is a Social Construct” tees increased, Riana and Alex found themselves Googling questions such as, “How To Make An LLC” and “How To File Taxes for Your Business.” A learning curve that can often feel more like a mountain with the gender gap of business ownership and lack of resources. Woman-owned businesses are still at a low 19.9 percent according to a study published by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021. Alex, who mainly handles the business aspect of Uncle Inc., finds the explanations of business legalities are “...worded in confusing ways even when they can be really simple. It is to make people not want to pursue creating a business.” Alex has navigated it all with tenacity and Riana adds an important point, “We’re not in jail yet so…”
“We’re not in jail yet so…”
— Riana Butler
The growth of Uncle Inc. in the past two years goes beyond big numbers of 63,000 Instagram followers, 26,700 Tiktok followers, and six figure revenues. The process of making a shirt, which yes, they still make themselves, used to take twenty minutes and now they can crank out a ”Big Mama Want Breakfast” tee in just over five. Riana for a long time didn’t own a desk so she “...would just be on the ground on my knees.” “I did not approve of that,” Alex quickly adds.
After starting their days with merchandise production, then begins the production of social media content. “When I make TikToks, I’ll make them for the whole week in one day, usually about six or seven,” says Alex. These videos are a crucial part of the process for Uncle Inc. “Whatever TikTok of ours blows up and whatever shirt is being shown in the video, that will be the bestseller of the month, '' says Riana. Despite their following, Uncle Inc. still has to fight the good fight — freeing the nipple. In order to post on TikTok or Facebook, their boob cartoon images have to be censored. This restricts their ad account, but Zuckerberg doesn't quite win it all in this feud. Several drops ago, Uncle Inc. released a tee that reads, “You Don’t Wanna See Me Before I’ve Had My Meatball Sub'' complete with an image of Mark Zuckerberg holding the aforementioned hoagie. It’s a firm “no” on if he ever ordered his own Uncle Inc. tee though.
Rachel Sennott’s first Uncle Inc. shirt was ‘Ketamine Tuesday.’ The comedian, actress and model is known for her recent roles in Shiva Baby and Bodies Bodies Bodies. In early 2021, Alex and Riana sent her an Instagram DM asking if she would want to collaborate with them. She agreed. After months of planning not one shirt, but three (!) came Uncle’s most successful drop yet. The baby tees featured the iconic phrases, “So Exhausted From Carrying Around My Big Heaving Tits All Day!”, “Men Love To Come Out Of The Woodwork Like Nasty Little Bugs” and “Men…Ugly and Can’t Even Make A Fly Cum!” They sold out immediately and Uncle Inc. gained more traction on the internet.
A24’s Instagram page — the cult-like production company — features a picture of Sennot in her “Ketamine Tuesday” tee on the set of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. Fans of Uncle Inc. are everywhere with Alex and Riana listing off, “Ella Emhoff. Jon and Kate Plus 8’s daughter. Dev Lemons. Joe Biden’s granddaughter’s bestie, she had an Uncle sticker on her phone.”
“I just wanna go deeper in. I want our characters to be developed and have personalities. And I want to focus more on designing,” says Alex. They envision all benefits for their future Uncle Inc. teams, including “Fanta in the fridge.” “There will be a major warehouse somewhere. And then it’s us walking into the warehouse and us checking up on our employees. And then us on a private jet going abroad to check out fabrics. We’ve also really wanted a TV show with all the Uncle characters. And a children’s book,” says Riana. Can’t wait for more kids to say “Bazongas”.