Gian Ngo-Willis ’26 and Langston Sparks ’26 established a startup fashion brand called LangxSaint , focused on graphic designs and basic streetwear pieces.
Ngo-Willis said the brand started off casually but quickly turned into a real project with growing demand.
“Originally, the idea started as a joke,” Ngo-Willis said. “Our friend [Sparks] is known for saying goofy things, so we thought it would be funny to put some of his sayings on t-shirts and tank tops for people in the community to wear. We never expected it to get big. Honestly, it’s still not anything crazy, but we definitely didn’t expect to make any money from it.”
Ngo-Willis said the first batch of shirts came together in a laidback fashion with the help of Upper School Graphic Design Teacher Whitney Lasker and some blank tees.
“I thought it’d be funny to make a few mockups and a few pieces,” Ngo-Willis said. “We showed them to Mr. Lasker, eventually got some screens, found some blank shirts and started printing. At first, we did a photoshoot, but we didn’t release anything from it. We gave all the pieces away for free. It was just a fun, one-off kind of thing.”
Sparks said his role in the brand began when his nickname unintentionally became tied to it, making him an unofficial figurehead.
“ [Ngo-Willis] and his friends call me ‘Lang Saint,’ and he made a shirt with that name. He ended up using that as the [Instagram] account’s username, so I kind of became the public figure for the brand while he focused on making the actual shirts. That’s how it first started coming together.”
Ngo-Willis said what started as free giveaways unexpectedly turned into a brand people were eager to support.
“ My other friend Moses started a fake Instagram account pretending to be Langston,” Ngo-Willis said. “We thought it’d be amazing to drop the clothes and release the photos from the first shoot on the new account. So we did it, and it actually got a lot of traction.”
As interest in the brand began to grow, Sparks said Instagram became a key tool for reaching people beyond their friend group.
“Now we have an Instagram account called @langxaofficial,” Sparks said. “That’s our main way of promoting right now. Before that, it was mostly [Ngo-Willis] telling his friends about it in person. Now, it’s a mix of in-person word-of-mouth and using the Instagram account to reach more people.”
Sparks said the next step is keeping up with demand while continuing to create brand identity.
“First, we need to restock the shirts,” Sparks said. “[Ngo-Willis] is also working on new shirt designs and other ideas. The overall goal is to keep creating and selling as much as possible.”
Ngo-Willis said working on the brand has reignited his drive to pursue fashion more seriously.
“It’s giving me a lot of motivation for my own brand,” Ngo-Willis said. “I’ve been working on a more serious project for about a year and a half now. For me, the hardest part is when things stall. I tend to lose momentum and stop pushing forward. But this project has really brought that momentum back.”
Though the shirts had first started as a joke, Ngo-Willis said the brand has transformed into something more meaningful for their community.
“I just hope everyone who wants a piece gets one,” Ngo-Willis said. “It started off as a joke, and still is sort of satire. But it’s something fun, something to laugh at and something for the community.”
