Big it Up Celebrates 15 years!
Big it Up — the expression defines the company: to show respect, to give support, to take pride, to value quality. Big It Up, is about all these things, about bringing you an attitude and a philosophy, along with the slamminest hats and accessories. Cause if you don’t have the right attitude, then what you wear isn’t going to get you where you gotta go.
Big It Up grew out of the streets of Toronto, Canada and came into being in the summer of 1996, the result of a unique collaboration. A group of friends got together. Tired of the same old same old, they were fed up with the mediocrity of so much of what was on the market. Just too many second-rate goods that reflected second-rate thinking and a lack of respect for a public that deserves better. They recognized in themselves a yearning for quality and we knew that if we felt that way, then others must too. They knew that if people saw quality, they’d respond to it, they’d respect it, be proud of it, they’d “big it up.”
And that is just what happened. Their company has been growing rapidly, but no amount of growth will allow them to lose their commitment to the principles that made them popular in the first place. At Big It Up, the quality of their products speaks for itself, and that quality — the finest fabrics, painstaking attention to details of design, material, color and fit — is matched by the quality of service and the quality of environment they share with you, in their stores, at their kiosks and on their website.
When you see the Big It Up team, you see the face of Toronto, the world’s most multicultural city. They are people from every corner of the globe — Africa, Asia, India, the Caribbean, the Philippines, Europe — all working under the same roof, working the way people are supposed to; namely, together. Black, white, young and old, male and female, the differences make all the difference and no difference at all. And out of this great mix comes the Big It Up style.
Big It Up provides financial and other support to various literacy and educational programs in Canada. What goes around comes around, and we’d like to see you around.
Check them out at bigitup.com
In 1993, Stuart produced and co-directed the award-winning VISIONS OF LIGHT: The Art of Cinematography, about the history of cinematography in motion pictures. The New York Film Critics Circle, The National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics named VISIONS the year’s best documentary while The New York Times, USA TODAY, The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle awarded it four-star reviews. VISIONS OF LIGHT was the first High Definition (HDTV) feature to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival (1993), and was selected for the Edinburgh, London, Telluride, Chicago, Toronto, New York, Munich, Tokyo and Sundance Film Festivals. A survey of 40 major film critics named it “the most critically acclaimed film of 1993.”
Marilyn Gray spent over 10 years in the industry with seven of those years in development, marketing and distribution. Marilyn is the Co-Producer on a 2 x 2 hrs miniseries for Hungry Eyes/CBC called “Guns” and the documentary “Rastafari Then and Now: A Message From Jamaica”, for Scarlett Media and Omni Television. Marilyn is also the Senior Producer on ten Episodes of the 1/2 hour magazine show “Caribbean Vibrations”, a cultural show on the carnivals, music and food of people from the Caribbean, for Omni 1 Channel in their first season in 2002. Marilyn is currently developing two feature films “Or Best Offer”, a comedy, developed with the assistance of Chum Television, the HG Fund and Movie Central, and a coming of age film “Bannock and Bratwurst”, also developed with the assistance of HG Fund, Movie Central and Telefilm Canada. 
For over 30 years Vladimir has been putting his philosophy to work in his film and video assignments. His life behind the camera has taken him across Canada and throughout the world. Vladimir’s reputation as a filmmaker is the direct result of his complete and total immersion in the projects he’s involved in, contributing to all aspects of the production. As the original founder of Prisma-Light Ltd. (1982) and now Storm Film and Video, (1995) Vladimir has directed and / or filmed many memorable projects. 
