I believe that if you work hard enough and do things the right way recognition will come.
I was working a corporate job for years and it always felt restrictive, it felt like I was doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing.
I wanted to give people an experience. I wanted them to get their money's worth.
I wasn't able to afford high-end brands or any of that, so I grew up on streetwear.
I want to represent the street, not in a negative sense, but in the sense that when I was growing up, that's what I grew up on.
The thing is you can be a great designer but you can also be lazy or not understand the other person's preferences or be more concerned about being a star than being good at what you do.
I want to be recognized but I don't seek it out.
Somebody once told me if you're doing what you're supposed to you don't have to force it.
I started out doing everything on a custom scale and when that started paying the bills I started making more pieces.
If you don't have customers to sell to, you can't commit to anything with textile factories or manufacturing factories because you don't know if you'll be able to sell the quantities they're asking you to fill.
Starting out is very difficult if you don't have a clientele.
I'm based in Atlanta so there weren't a lot of people to talk to about fashion because no one was really doing it on the scale that I wanted to do it. I had to do a lot of research on my own.
I started designing and getting into cutting and sewing, I also started learning how to do patterns and tech packs. From there I transitioned from challenging myself to make T-shirts to starting to make custom pieces for celebrities.
I didn't go to school for fashion, I didn't have anybody to teach me anything about fashion - that's all I knew how to do, graphic design.
Even when I was just designing T-shirts people really gravitated to them.
Even though I wasn't making a lot of money I was enjoying what I was doing.
I was at work but my soul wasn't there, my body was there but I wasn't connecting to what I was doing. Eventually I decided to get out of there and do something I believe in.
I don't just want to put a price tag on pieces because I can. I don't want put a price tag on pieces that are unreasonable either. Just because people might buy it doesn't mean you won't alienate fans eventually.
