Who Is Rashod Stanley? New Details On The Georgia Inmate — And His Fashion Line
He goes by 2500Shod on Instagram.
Instagram He gives a whole new meaning to the term "fashion's bad boy." Who is Rashod Stanley? On October 18, 2016, Rashod Stanley was formally incarcerated after being found guilty on several charges of robbery and aggravated assault. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, he was sentenced to a maximum term of twenty years in prison. This would be yet another ordinary crime story if that was all there was to Rashod Stanley. Fortunately, there’s a lot more to Rashod Stanley’s story than his criminal record. Let’s look at what we know about “fashion’s bad boy.”
1. He started out with a bright future
According to the Hudl blog, Rashod Stanley started out with unlimited potential. He was a star player on his high school’s football team and for a while he entertained the thought of going pro. He played wide receiver and was number 15 on his team at Douglas County High School in Douglasville, GA, where he graduated in 2013. At his peak physical form, he stood at 6 feet tall and weighed 175 lbs., and could bench-press 275 lbs. After he graduated high school, he became an entrepreneur and an aspiring fashion designer.
The Trenches has become more popular since Rashod Stanley went to prison.
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2. His indie fashion line, The Trenches, had a bit of success
Making it in fashion is no easy feat, even for well-known designers with Fashion Week success. However, Rashod Stanley managed to find a way to make his talent work for him. By the time 2015 rolled around, Stanley had created his own fashion line, called The Trenches, which specialized in so-called streetwear. He also designed his own branding and his own logo. According to the line’s official website, it became so popular that Stanley opened up his own small store in Atlanta, which was very popular amongst both locals and tourists.
3. He hasn’t let his prison sentence stop him
Surely, being in prison has put a kink in Rashod’s plans for worldwide fashion domination — or has it? According to Rashod’s official Instagram page, he’s using whatever materials he has available to him in prison to continue creating Trenches originals for his followers. It’s unclear if he’s able to sell his creations — perhaps for canteen money— but what is clear is that his use of raw materials is very, very creative. For example, he was able to use the pleather material on the prison’s pillowcases to create garments for his line. He also cut out the waistbands in the “prison regulation” pants to create shirt cuffs and used a “state coat” (that is, a coat issued by the Georgia Department of Corrections to identify an inmate) to create a pair of pants. If nothing else, Rashod Stanley is proof positive that it’s possible to make the best of a bad situation, and “incarceration is only in your mind.”
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4. His fashion line could get him in even more trouble
According to the official Georgia Department of Corrections handbook, it is illegal for an inmate to “destroy state property,” which means that they can’t deface, rip, or otherwise alter any of their prison-issued clothing. While there are varying degrees to which this rule can be enforced, obviously, Rashod Stanley’s increasingly high profile has gotten him the wrong kind of attention from the prison orderlies. In fact, Rashod shared a video on his Instagram page, which showed him getting a “DR,” or a disciplinary report, for creating his fashion line out of clothing that, technically, belongs to the State of Georgia. Getting a DR is often not a good sign for prisoners, especially those who are considering going before the parole board, and this is something that a few of his fans have pointed out in the comments section of his Instagram posts.
Chelse Brown is one of Rashod Stanley's biggest supporters.
5. He gets by with a little help from his friends
One of the Rashod Stanley’s biggest supporters is Chelse Brown, a lifestyle blogger, who has frequently taken to her own Twitter to share his creations. Chelse, it should be stated, is also Rashod’s unofficially official partner. Even controversial activist Shaun King has shared some of Rashod’s creations on his own social media sites. It should be interesting to see if Rashod Stanley continues to be a dominant fashion force if, and when, he is released from prison. For right now, though, he definitely has all the right stuff!
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.