By Erin Oliveri

The business was born out of boredom. Nani Stoick was doodling words in geology class last year, she said, when a simple phrase caught her attention and imagination: “Make bank.”

Later that day, the middler music industry major approached her roommate, Sophia Sunwoo, with an impromptu idea. She wanted to start a clothing line that revolved around the catchy two-word phrase.

“It really just came out of nowhere,” Stoick said.

Now, BANK – the bold fashion line started on a whim, and promoted with grassroots tactics – has caught the attention of a major retailer, and Alternative Press magazine.

Alternative Press will soon be running BANK advertisements every other month, Stoick said, and this spring, BANK plans to sell clothes in Hot Topic stores nationwide.

“There was a buzz in the building about us already,” said Stoick about the trip she made last summer to meet with the store’s representatives in City of Industry, Calif.

Stoick and Sunwoo, now a junior at Parsons School of Design in New York City, founded BANK nearly a year ago. The line taps into iconic hip-hop and indie-rock culture, Stoick said, and makes prominent use of its name, with shirts that read “BANK SAYS RELAX.”

The two undergraduates said they always have their eyes open for new ideas.

“From an artist we like, to something weird we see at a restaurant – anything inspires us,” Stoick said.

To get BANK off the ground, Stoick and Sunwoo’s parents helped with start-up costs, and by April last year, the line was running. Stoick said it has generated so much success the duo is seeing substantial profits.

“We’ve already started to pay our parents off,” Stoick said.

Originally, BANK paired up Stoick and Sunwoo’s designs with American Apparel T-shirts and hoodies.

All BANK designs are hand drawn and then put into a computer to create the finished product. For Stoick, designing is a newfound labor of love, while Sunwoo said she has been passionate about it for more than a decade.

“I have always been interested in designing clothes,” Sunwoo said. “I have been doing it since I was 10.”

BANK’s first big break came last May, when Stoick and Sunwoo were selected to be one of many vendors at the Bamboozle music festival, at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The line was an instant hit with the concertgoers, Stoick said.

“By the end of the day, everything was sold out,” Stoick said. “It was just really exciting.”

Their success at Bamboozle propelled BANK into a new realm – the Internet.

“At that event, we made a lot of connections, and had enough orders to start an online store,” Sunwoo said.

The line, which flaunts bold designs of glitzy, oversized watches; bandanas; and Russian matryoshka dolls, gets some of its best publicity for free.

Popular bands like Boys Like Girls and Gym Class Heroes have sported BANK gear at concerts and in interviews, Stoick said, and many other bands feature BANK banners on their websites.

From the start, Stoick and Sunwoo have enlisted the help of fellow Northeastern students, to model and promote their wares. Erik Grosfeld, a sophomore music industry major assists BANK at festivals, and works to get the brand name out to the public. “[Stoick] wanted some help with some of the events she was doing