We are social entreprenerds from Los Angeles who love design and decided to build a T-shirt line around our passion!
If you're an entrepreneur or startup junkie from L.A who's been searching for a badass addition to your professional wardrobe, you’ve come to the right place. Modern Nerd Apparel's graphic prints make a statement about you, they say you appreciate bold design and conceptual thinking.
Our Story
Modern Nerd Apparel was founded in June 2012, by Balind Sieber, a graphic designer at a Los Angeles digital marketing agency. As a social entrepreneur who liked to work hard and play hard (often in the same clothes), he found that looking professional was easier when he wore muted colors on soft, stretchy items that fit him perfectly. So he designed a line of tees intended to stand out from the crowd while being of amazing quality. He got the word out through his own personal network and the brand immediately resonated with creative people of all sorts (especially startup hulsta's). After a few tweets from some of the leaders in the startup community (namely Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup), the trickling sales began to grow from a few dozen over a couple weeks to well over a hundred in a month. Balind soon became overwhelmed with the process of dealing with printers and shipping. Juggling his full time job, he had no time to evolve the brand the way he wanted.
In August of 2012, Balind teamed up with Karen M Soto, a former model and current marketer/blogger. She was able to fill in the gaps of the production process, allowing Balind to focus on the design of the tees and vision of the company. With this new synergy behind them, Balind and Karen learned the ropes of developing a fashion line together, helping each other out when the other was falling. Modern Nerd began to get noticed internationally, receiving sales from as far away as Australia.
Balind and Karen have since expanded the line to include more designs while staying true to the original ethos of bold graphics with quality fabric, intended to be versatile enough to wear around friends or in front of potential clients (f*ck yeah). Perfect for the modern genius! The collection continues to grow but the concept of "life/work = same/thing", will always be in our DNA.
Balind Sieber
Advertising creative by day and social entreprenerd by night, Balind Sieber is the Founder/Designer of Modern Nerd Apparel. A former athlete turned startup junkie, Balind is always down to talk about digital strategy and nutrition/fitness.
Karen M. Soto
Co-host of the Venice Tech Entrepreneurs and co-founder of The Sassy Six, Karen M. Soto is a communications and marketing specialist, otherwise known as a born and bread people-person. Down to play beach volleyball or talk technology, Karen markets, promotes, and makes sure the Modern Nerd wheels run smoothly.
One simple idea
Look good. Travel comfortable.
Inspired by the startup scene in Los Angeles, we needed clothing that represented our professional attitude, yet was comfortable enough to stay true to our inner nerd.
Our mission is to provide versatile staple pieces for the urban professional.
Built on passion
Founded by Karen M. Soto and Balind Sieber, two creatives united by our social and entrepreneurial spirit. Together we began incubating the idea of an apparel brand that centered around minimal design, social good, and was intended for people like us.
Being human
We'd always wanted to build a sustainable business around social good. So we thought, what if for every purchase we received, we donated a t-shirt to a homeless person in Los Angeles?
Every dollar you spend with us goes toward helping clothe an individual in need, in the L.A. area.
Our Future
Right now Modern Nerd Apparel is only T-Shirts, because, well… you have to start somewhere. Once we gain momentum we plan to create a men’s and women’s line of minimal, staple pieces that can be worn together in a versatile manner – intended to be the base of the mobile creative’s wardrobe.
We're babies
We want your feedback. We're extremely dedicated to making Modern Nerd Apparel a clothing brand for people like us. While we may have big plans for the future, we want to know how we can make it better for you right now.