Meet Adam Stoler | Professional Musician, Founder/CEO of Queens Thread Clothing Apparel

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Stoler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I first had the idea to start Queens Thread when I was traveling internationally as a touring guitarist around 2014-2015. It seemed like everywhere I looked, no matter what country or airport, I saw people with Brooklyn hats and shirts. At that time, the Brooklyn brand was becoming a world-wide phenomenon. As a proud Queens resident, I felt like there was so much being ignored and missed, a more authentic hold-out of NYC that wasn’t getting the validation it deserved. Queens is the most diverse place in the world, filled with exceptional, hard-working people from all over, trying to make their place. You can feel this every time you ride the 7 train, or on any stretch of Roosevelt ave – an unparalleled vibrancy and hope that inspires me every day.

So I had my first Queens hat made and started wearing it all over. I’d get stopped all over the world by people saying, “Wow, that’s so cool. I’ve never seen a Queens hat before!”. Eventually, I knew that I was on to something and felt like there was a hugely under-served market that represented an ethos of diversity and authenticity. As an aside, this was all happening during the rise of Donald Trump, ironically a Queens native, so it felt even more urgent to promote a brand of diversity and inclusiveness to combat some of his rhetoric.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been a professional musician for fifteen years. I think this experience as a freelancer prepared me a lot for a more formal entrepreneurial endeavor. As a freelancer, you’re always having to sell personal brand, and then deliver the goods! In order to be successful, you have to be really disciplined, but you also have to stay positive and think outside of the box.

I think being a touring musician and having traveled as extensively as I have was really an extension of my own brand, and that of Queens Thread. I always loved travel, and getting to visit certain places that I wouldn’t have otherwise had an opportunity to see really impacted me and inspired my appreciation of the diversity of Queens, and NYC as a whole. I love meeting new people from different places, especially when it’s a less popular destination, and being able to say “Oh, I’ve been there!” and have a conversation about the food or an experience there – I love seeing peoples’ face light up at the recognition of their homeland and the joy of getting to chat about the things they miss or love about where they came from. I don’t know where else I would get that opportunity more than in Queens.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Whenever I have friends visit, it’s always about the food! I’m always thinking about how to organize a food crawl or something like that with friends, and to be able to take them to the small hole-in-the-wall places that I’ve discovered and love. I’d probably start in Flushing with my favorite Pork Bun window, and just work my way back along Roosevelt Ave stopping in each neighborhood for the local ethnic eats. Corona’s got great Mexican, Central American, and Hispanic eats, but there are also still a couple of really old school Italian joints too. Elmhurst for me is all about my favorite Thai and Malay restaurants. Jackson Heights, it’s the Dosa’s and South Asian cuisine. Between there and Woodside, there has recently been a big influx in great Himalayan cuisine. Woodside has it’s little Manila, which I’m partial too since my wife is Filipino. I guess we could end up in Astoria for some Middle Eastern cuisine and finish it off at my favorite Greek Restaurant right on Astoria park with views overlooking the East River and Manhattan. Just typing all of this is making me excited and hungry!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Queens Economic Development Corporation, a non-profit entrepreneurial incubator, was immensely helpful to me early on in my Queens Thread career. They provided classes on entrepreneurship and a ton of free one-on-one counseling that I really took advantage of. There are so many people there than have helped and supported my endeavor, but I’d love to shoutout an advisor named Brian Gurski who was particularly helpful. He was always so encouraging and positive, and helped me to fill in some of the hard business skill gaps, of which I had a lot! Having a smart and inspiring mentor is so crucial to getting your project off the ground.

I’d also like to thank Billy and Christine from The August Tree. They’ve been incredibly supportive and have also helped me with operations during times when it was physically impossible for me to handle it alone.

Website: www.queensthread.com

Instagram: queensthread

Other: Readers can also see my personal music website, www.adamstoler.com