Brooklyn Industries

Lexy Funk and Vahap Avsar met at Art Omi, in upstate New York where they were both resident artists. After moving to NYC together in 1995, the young successful artists were searching for a way to make a living through their creative endeavors. They decided to start their own company so they could LIVE, WORK, CREATE. Avsar had long been staring at the giant billboards from the couple’s studio on the West Side Highway. One night, he found a vinyl billboard in a dumpster and decided the material would make a perfect messenger bag. Funk and Avsar rented an old factory building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to manufacture their first product – messenger bags made out of recycled billboards. One afternoon, Avsar sketched the view from the Williamsburg rooftop looking west toward Manhattan; this drawing became the iconic logo for Brooklyn Industries, which quickly started creating t-shirt designs and bags for the local community. Over the next four years, Funk built up a wholesale distribution business marketing the brand across the US, and in Japan and Europe. In 2001, Funk and Avsar opened the first Brooklyn Industries store on Bedford Avenue, the first retail store in Williamsburg to offer a full range of clothing for men, women and children. Today, Brooklyn Industries has eight stores in New York City, one in Chicago and a successful online website. The Brooklyn Industries office, design studio and warehouse are located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 2006, Brooklyn Industries was recognized as a top entrepreneur with Crain’s Business New York’s coveted “Small Business Award”. The company also ranked in Inc. Magazine’s 500 list and in 2007 ranked in Inc. Magazine's 5000 list, which highlights the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Brooklyn Industries opened its ninth store in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago in May 2008.