Black Kat Kustoms is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 clothing line and custom parts shop based in Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....

. The company specializes in custom car

Custom car

A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been modified in either of the following two ways. First, a custom car may be altered to improve its performance, often by altering or replacing the engine and transmission. Second, a custom car may be a personal "styling" statement, making the car look...

, hot rod

Hot rod

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...

, and chopper

Chopper (motorcycle)

A chopper is a type of motorcycle that was either modified from an original motorcycle design or built from scratch to have a hand-crafted appearance. The main features of a chopper that make it stand out are its longer frame design accompanied by a stretch front end...

 clothing. The clothing line consists of mostly Ts, hooded sweatshirts, and beanie caps.

History

The company was founded in 2003 by punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 legend, Mike Ness

Mike Ness

Mike Ness is an American guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. As of Dennis Danell's death in 2000, he is now the only original member of the band...

 of Social Distortion

Social Distortion

Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness , Jonny Wickersham , Brent Harding and David Hidalgo, Jr...

 and long time hot-rodder, Don Nemarnik. Ness states in an interview that he formed Black Kat Kustoms because he "hated everything else" and wanted to design "kustom car, hot rod and chopper t-shirts, so I would have something cool to wear." Ness details his long time love for designing punk style clothing in the Another State of Mind DVD commentary. He states that his graphic arts

Graphic arts

A type of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of art forms. Graphic art is typically two-dimensional and includes calligraphy, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, lithography, typography, serigraphy , and bindery. Graphic art also consists of drawn plans and layouts for interior...

class was the only thing that kept him in school during his high school years.

The shop portion of the business is a place for Donnie and Mike to work on their own cars and bikes as a hobby which they occasionally sell.