What is EMO?
Excuse My Optimism (EMO for short) Apparel introduces a fresh voice in Indy streetwear that advocates for joyful living in the face of feeling like a misfit. EMO Apparel contains original pieces shaped by the vintage collections of Indianapolis, the familiarity of nostalgia, the ambiguity of cowboy lore, and the journey of discovering your identity.
Each garment is a narrative in fabric: hand-drawn motifs, vintage-inspired washes, and tailored silhouettes that balance city edge with open-range storytelling. EMO transforms memory and place into wearable art that prompts curiosity, connection, and self-expression.
Informed by history. Influenced by debt, doubt, & deadlines.
Call Me EMO
Who is EMO?
Caleb Keitt, professionally known as EMO the Ctrlr, is an Indy-based artist and designer born and raised in Atlanta. He crafts original, colorful pieces that repurpose and remix materials—upcycled, customized, and intentionally quirky—so each piece feels like a personal statement and a work of art rather than a typical clothing label.
EMO draws inspiration from the musicians who turn inner dialogue into art—those who layer melody with confession and transform personal struggle into something both intimate and universal. He studies how they use rhythm and lyric to chart pain, resilience, and hope, then translates that emotional architecture into fabric: seams that echo breathless cadences, patches that map moments of rupture and repair, and colorways that move from shadowed minor keys to bright, optimistic choruses. In his designs, vulnerability becomes a wearable language, a quiet testament to survival and the persistent imagination of a better, more positive tomorrow.