Ex-Marines create trendy clothes inspired by military

September 29, 2005

BY JEAN PATTESON
ORLANDO SENTINEL

When the two Marines met at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the spring of 2001, their hair was cropped military-style close.

Today, Jon Proechel and Patrick Reed wear their hair long and shaggy.

Their hairdos aren't the only things that have done an about-face since the ex-Marines settled in Orlando three years ago. They've also swapped uniforms for outfits that are head-turning trendy.

These former Marines are now self-taught fashion designers, investing about $10,000 of their savings in the endeavor, and they are launching their first collection of hip, military-inspired, his-and-hers styles under the label Poetic Rage.

They dream of owning a chain of boutiques. But for starters, they'll sell their collection of shredded jeans, camo-patched jackets and canvas pistol belts on their Web site, poeticrageclothing.com. It will be open for business by the end of this month.

After their meeting at Camp Lejeune, Reed and Proechel were deployed at sea to the same location in the Mediterranean. But they didn't hang out together, and their personal styles couldn't have been more different.

Proechel, 26, blond and laid-back, was into designer fashion. The slender, frenetic Reed, 25, preferred the hip-hop look.

Proechel, who is from Upstate New York, joined the Marines in 1997. During his four years of active service, he served in 19 countries, came within hearing distance of combat in Kosovo and was discharged two days before the 9/11 attacks.

He ended up in Orlando because his parents moved here, and he wanted to study acting. To pay his rent, he took a bartending job.

One day he called a buddy who was still in the Marines. The buddy put Reed on the line.

"I talked about bartending, acting classes," says Proechel. "He said he was also interested in acting and wouldn't mind bartending. After that, we talked every few weeks."

Reed, who is from Tennessee, was discharged in the summer of 2002. His four-year stint in the Marines included three weeks at Gitmo, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The two rented a house and tended bar together. And they started modifying their jeans and T-shirts with military-style patches, name tags and hand-stenciled graphics.

"Whenever we'd go out, people would look at us weird," says Reed. "We had our own style."

Friends and acquaintances also asked where Reed and Proechel bought their clothes.

"We started doing designs for them, just as a hobby," says Proechel. "Then about a year ago we got serious about Poetic Rage."

Reed explains the name:

"Poetic Rage is an interesting oxymoron. Everybody has a poetic side and a rage side, a light and dark side. We liked the way it sounded," he says.

The designing Marines have learned by doing. They incorporated their business and found suppliers of jeans, shirts, track jackets.

Proechel learned to use a sewing machine. Reed experimented with fabric paints. Together they interviewed seamstresses and Web-site designers.

Their home's upstairs became their design studio and office. It's where they sketch, shred, sew and paint, listen to music and swap ideas.

To test consumer reaction, Proechel and Reed took a sampling of their designs to the Vans Warped Tour concert in Tampa in early August.

Even though they slashed their prices, charging about $10 for items that will retail for closer to $25, they cleared $600.

The fashions aren't designed to make a statement about war, Proechel says. "They're just reminders of our time in the military, most of it good. We'd never change the experience for the world, and there are times when we miss it -- the camaraderie, the organization."

Being in the Marines "helped me mature a lot," says Proechel. Besides, he says, "If it wasn't for the Marines, we'd never have met. Never had the drive to do something as crazy as Poetic Rage."

Ellie