The Past

Hey guys it’s been a while. Writing this post from a coffee shop in Mammoth Lakes. Currently 11:12am, vibes are good. Gonna be doing a 3 part blog series to kinda go through everything and all the updates. Just gonna call it “Past, Present, Future”.

In this post i’ll go over everything that led me to where I’m at today. I’ll just go right into it.

Background

I was 20 and It was a weird time being in and out of school (for Graphic Design). I think it was when I took a “break” from school. I was just trying to get some photography / graphic design clients while trying to freelance. I had the dream to be a full-time outdoor adventure photographer. While I was able to get a handful of cool clients (outdoor brands), it wasn’t really going anywhere. Same thing with graphic design. I also loved to make travel / adventure films (well just films in general). In a time of trying to figure out, maybe I need to specialize in one thing so I can finally push through the “wall”. Spoiler alert, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t just choose one. This is when clothing and fashion came into interest.

A big reason why I love design is because arguably everything around you has been designed by someone. Kinda crazy. But clothing, clothing is something everyone knows / uses. The thought to make someone, someone chooses to wear a certain day was kind of the hook that got me in, a similar feeling to when people would buy my photography prints.

2017 - So this is when everything starts. I picked up climbing in 2015 and was completely obsessed, going to the climbing gym almost every day, even in the hot sweaty months in SoCal. The brand naturally took form, with the climbing background. I learned to sew and made some chalk bags, just for myself. The bro Gav (who ran a banger of a brand of his own) was kind enough to lend me his screen printing press which allowed me get my hands dirty and learn how to print shirts, shoutout Gav!

Design were whatever, lol. But for what it was, making shirts / sewing chalk bags was the sickest thing ever and got me fired up.

Well the fire died down pretty fast when I didn’t really know what to do next. There weren’t as many YouTube tutorials back then as there is now (shoutout Catspit Screen Printing). It was a bit overwhelming, the thoughts of “how do you do this”.

2018 (i think) - Gave up, ish.

Well I went back to school, lol. I did horrible lol again. Went through some sort of reality check, and decided if i’m gonna make a clothing brand / be an artist i’m gonna start now.

2019 - The Rebuild

Came time to register for the next quarter of classes and finally decided I was done. Time to focus up.

It took a while to figure things out, then came my birthday. July 8 2019, I went to Neat Coffee <3 and started dream building. I just loved and still love the idea of making dreams, a reality. Then came the “Dream Collection” or “Dreamer Collection” tbh i don’t remember exactly forgive me.

For the sake of finishing this post i’m gonna start speeding up the story. It’s getting a little bit too much trying to remember everything and also i’m going backpacking tonight so I need to make sure I don’t start the hike too late.

The fire was back. Late 2019 was firinggggggg (good thing). Created the Visionary Collection, included a mixture of screenprinting / sewing with some gray garment dyed crewnecks. A lot of friends / family were buying, with the occasional “stranger” buying from the website. Such a cool feeling!

2020 - What is happening?

Early 2020 kept an upward trend leaving 2019. I just kept making, releasing new items. Printing in my parents garage, sewing in the room. Lugging the packaging down the stairs, into the car.

Things really took off. Paid ads were working really well. Social media engagement was all time high. And this is when for the first time, became full-time.

I was just working, designing, shipping, producing, for a while. Boxes were taking over the garage / room. I needed more space.

With the rise in business, I decided to looking leasing a warehouse. Found one at a decent price and signed the lease. It was such a huge milestone for me. Was very proud of myself.

The rest of 2020 was just a bunch more of work, design, ship, campaigns, etc.

Well actually kind of 2020 and then some. Held our local creatives marketplace in this warehouse (it was hella hot tho). That was sick.

Ok guys I have to go lol, sorry if my writing was barf. I just wanted to be able to get something out there. Something rather than nothing?

Well there it is, that’s the past. Next i’ll be writing about what’s happening now.

Thanks for reading yall!

Appreciate it. Gonna go live out of a backpacking for a night real quick haha. Wish me luck!