Influencer: Big Men Edition - Kirklan Hawes
In the world of fashion, Kirklan Hawes stands out as a trailblazer, championing inclusivity and empowerment for plus-size men. As the founder of XLTribe, Kirklan has created a vibrant platform dedicated to celebrating the fashion and lifestyle of larger men. From redefining stereotypes to fostering a sense of community and self-expression, Kirklan's journey is a testament to the power of representation and authenticity.
In this exclusive interview, Kirklan shares insights into his inspiring journey, the evolution of XLTribe, and his creative endeavors, including XL Shoots and The Manuscript Podcast. From navigating the early phases of founding XLTribe to embracing his own journey of self-love and acceptance, Kirklan opens up about his experiences, challenges, and vision for the future.
Join us as we delve into the world of plus-size men's fashion and delve into the multifaceted personality and mission of Kirklan Hawes.
For me, XL Tribe was actually born out of a whole other idea. The actual platform was going to be a dating site, like a legit dating site, and after doing extensive research, I decided that that might not be something I could do at the moment. I just knew if I was having these issues, then other men had to be dealing with them too, so I decided to start a fashion site after going to the mall one day and watching men shop and being defeated as they walked out of the store. I knew if they were experiencing this, then other men were experiencing it as well. So I created the XL Tribe eight months later. A platform where I could show them where to get my outfits, how to style them, and just insert a boost of confidence wherever I could with motivational posts and other things that bigger men need to make it through their day and week.
In the early phases of XL Tribe, which actually wasn’t even the name, it took me about seven months to come up with the name because I was going back and forth about what I wanted to do. XL Tribe was initially supposed to be a dating app for plus-size men.
I believe this community I created and fostered is a place for people to learn to be themselves because I show up as my full self. I show you my good outfits, my ugly outfits, and everything in between. I show my personality to the fullest of its extent so people realize that you don’t have to be the best-dressed person in the room. You don’t have to have the most expensive designer outfit to look good and feel good about yourself.
(Click the image above to visit the website.)
This community was created for men of size to have a comfortable place to learn to be themselves .
Well, the truth is, there’s no one designer or photographer that influences my work because I pull inspiration from literally everything and everywhere. A perfect example like the deodorant that I’m looking at right now has like a green and black tint on it, and something like that will lead me to be like, Oh, I think I want to wear the black and green strips today, so I literally pull inspiration from literally everywhere.
I’m personally loving the crop tops. I’m loving the crop jackets. I’m loving the tapered dress pants look.
Some of the positive changes I’ve seen are other retail brands adding big & tall, or plus-size men, whatever you want to call it, to their lineup on their website. Another positive is: The change I absolutely love is that we’re seeing more big and tall men in the actual advertisements. I love that part.
Some things that haven’t changed are that retailers that have brick-and-mortar locations are still not adding bigger sizes in the store, but every time they ship them to the store, those are the first sizes to go on your clearance racks. There’s nothing but mediums, smalls, and larges, so that tells you who your customers are and what they’re looking for.
Oh, I swear, this is easy. I do either two things I decide I’m going to respond to or not respond to, and that’s really just based on how I feel.
My entire brand is built on the back of representation for plus-size men of color, so everything that it does says plus-size men of color.
These moments come at such an amazing pace now that it’s truly remarkable to talk about, but I believe some of the comments that really stand out are the people who say they had the confidence to apply for a modeling contract that they never would’ve applied for otherwise, or the people who say that instead of wearing black, they decided to wear yellow today, and that’s because I wore something bright colored. Things like that really, really make me understand that what I’m doing here matters.
I could definitely say a brand that stood out to me was my two partnerships where I had the most freedom, which were when I worked with Rocawear and Johnny Bigg. I really appreciated them saying we love what you do; we just want what you do in our clothes, and to me, there’s no more stamp of approval than when a brand gives you full creative control because they trust what you create already.
Kirklan’s Photo Gallery
Oh, XL Shoots was just a natural progression for me because, when I started, I was actually trying to become a faceless website. You know the way people are making faceless social media accounts now? Yeah, that was me about seven years ago. I did not want to show my face.
I wanted to create a platform that literally had nothing to do with me, and what happened was that I kept looking for images of bigger men that looked stylish so that I could show examples of the outfits I’m talking about, but even back then, the outfits were on a smaller model. It just went up to a bigger size, so there were not even any examples to show at that moment. I decided that I needed to purchase a camera and take pictures of these bigger men that I wanted to see.
(Click the image above to visit the website.)
XL Shoot Description: XL Shoots was created for new bloggers, creatives and entrepreneurs. We are looking to help change the image of Big & Tall guys one at man a time. [Source: XL Shoot]
For me, in the creative process, it really starts out by speaking to the client and finding out what type of shoot they’re looking for, and then once I get an idea if it’s a birthday shoot, graduation, engagement, or just a style shoot, we get to looking because I try to pair outfits with backgrounds, and because I’m an outdoor photographer, I try to plan things that I think are going to look well scenery-wise with the outfits that they’re wearing.
The most elaborate shoot I’ve ever done was a two-day shoot. It was for a company called Johnny Bigg, and we shot for two days because it was just so much material. We were losing daylight, and we still had 30 more outfits to go.
I decided we'd 21` have to do this a second day. That was my first two-day shoot. I was very thrilled at how all of the pictures came out well. It was my longest edit to date because it took me another eight hours to edit, but I loved it.
My strengths are that I shoot from my heart. I know what angles look good on plus-size people, and I know how to find the light. My weakness is Photoshop. It’s literally my kryptonite for multiple reasons, but the first one is that I think Photoshop takes away from a person loving who they are when they look in the mirror.
So The Manuscript Podcast came about because me and my friends would meet up every week and we would have the same conversations, and randomly one week somebody was like, We should probably do a podcast about this and make some money off these conversations, and I said that’s a really good idea, and then I left it on the shelf for like a whole year, and then a year came back around and my friends were like, What happened to that podcast we were supposed to start last summer? and then I was like, Oh yeah, and that’s how The Manuscript was born.
(Click the image above to visit the website.)
Podcast Description: The Manuscript Is a podcast with four black gay men sharing their lives experience from the point of view from there 30's, 40's and 50's. [Source: The Manuscript Podcast]
The impact of having a show where there are three different decades of black gay men came in really handy to show that we have more in common than we do separately. I also believe there is wisdom to be learned at every age. This show really shows you that you can learn something new at every single stage of your life.
The legacy I hope to leave with all of my brands is that I hope big and tall men walk away from reading a post or seeing my fashions and say, If he did it, I can do it.
There’s definitely more areas of plus-size men’s lives I’d like to be involved in, like mental health and cars. For right now, I'm just pouring gasoline on what I’ve already built in fashion and making this brand even bigger.
Kirklan’s Photo Gallery
Well, this is what I will share. It was so traumatic that I ended up leaving my home and never coming back.
You know I’ve been comfortable in my body ever since I made the decision to love myself wholeheartedly, or at least begin the journey. If I were to pinpoint it, me actually loving myself started in about 2009.
So this is really a hot buzz term, but body positivity to me means loving the body that you are in. So however your body looks today, that is body positivity.
That I’m one dimensional.
My perfect day is waking up around 10 a.m., eating breakfast that somebody else cooked because I don’t want to cook, and then going to lunch with my friends at a dope little vibes spot. Then leave there, head home, do a little work, and then hit the town with my friends.
Special Thanks
I'd like to express my profound thanks for the opportunity to interview Kirklan Hawes. His path, enthusiasm, and devotion to empowering plus-size guys in the fashion industry are inspirational. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this incredible interview! .
