Casey Jostine (’13, B.S. IT) recently launched <dresscode/>, a clothing company that combines technology and fashion to create unique designs and pieces that reflect self-expression and redefine the idea of <dresscode> in the tech community.

A Technical Product Manager and a passion for style usually do not go together in the tech industry, which made Jostine frequently feel like an outsider at tech meetings and conferences. When Jostine came across a research study from 2018-2019 that African Americans only make up 6% of the tech industry workforce, he realized he had an opportunity to combine his two passions of tech and fashion to make a significant change in the tech industry for minorities. Jostine said, “Through fashion, we believe that we can continue to push the importance of STEM education to minorities and re-define the makeup of the IT industry.”

Every article of <dresscode/> clothing produced has a piece of code or technology concept incorporated into the design to convey the message of “the merge of fashion and tech.” Jostine and his company pride themselves on providing shoppers with the perfect mixture of hues and color schemes. For example, in the hoodie-szn collection, users are able to see the uniqueness of <dresscode/> as the sweatshirts combine different HEX#s (color codes) that allow us to visualize CSS (a programming language). <dresscode/> also utilizes sewn-in QR codes to their apparel that lead users to special pages, exclusive discounts, and the <dresscode/> social media pages. “The integration of QR codes into the clothing industry leads to endless opportunities as we continue to move with the trends of technology,” explains Jostine. 

In the technical product management space, the main focus is pushing out the most viable version of a product, which requires quickly shipping out products and features in order to get consumer feedback sooner. Through using his expertise in this field Jostine is able to apply the methodology from technical product management and improve the process in his own business. 

When asked about his proudest moment since the start of <dresscode/> Jostine said, “For years I’ve struggled with putting my ideas out, in fear of them not being receptive to the world. My proudest moment was launching a product from end to end and finally getting feedback. Seeing the outpour of support from friends, family, and the tech community gave me the confidence and data points I needed to confirm that I have a creative product that has value.”

<dresscode/> is more than just a clothing company, the business foundation is built around educating underrepresented communities about the opportunities in the technology industry. <dresscode/> plans on keeping this foundation by collaborating with youth coding camps and technology-focused initiatives in order to empower young minds. 

Jostine and the <dresscode/> team also launched the 000000-lives-matter collection after Jostine posed the question, “If you could ctrl+alt+del anything in this world, what would it be?” to his friends, family, and social media followers. This question and the common answers he received led Jostine to create and release the “.ctrl+alt+del Racism” t-shirt. “I created this shirt to provide more exposure to an issue that is still unfortunately prevalent in our world, an issue that we still need to shine light on and work on as a community to educate and combat.”

“We will continue to keep up with the trends in fashion and tech by continuing to push the needle with integrating technology into clothing,” says Jostine. “Today it’s QR codes, tomorrow it’s integrating augmented reality onto our clothing, and in the future it’s _____”

Make sure to stay up to date on all things <dresscode/> by following them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Or, checkout their website at dresscodeco.com!