No coffee or supplement needed to stay up last night.. Just excitement of seeing sketches come to fruition. I remember when I was 14, I made my first t-shirt by buying heat transfer paper from staples & printing a design on my Lexmark printer & back then dreamt of having a clothing line. I taught myself in high school how to design on photoshop & illustrator & found out about screenprinting from a classmate.

I remember I was 16 & wondered how could I afford to make my own real t-shirt if there were set up fees & you couldn’t make just one. My brother was part of Alpha Racing & I brought up the idea of making t-shirts for the crew & all it would cost each person was dividing the total cost divided by the number of shirts. The design on this shirt was the first ever @eatsleeprace 3-box design & ALPHA RACING huge on the back of it. I still remember how proud I was when I picked up the shirts & saw everyone wearing them.

Fast forward a few years & with the approval of some friends of computer mockups of 2 t-shirt designs, I took pre-orders to print the first #eatsleeprace branded t-shirts. I remember picking up the 2 big boxes of shirts & folding each of them perfectly so they each fit in these oversized ziplock bags (wanted to be like BAPE), cut up usps sticker labels & wrote the size on each bag.

Through the years I continue to reinvest in more products, learned how to source & communicate with international manufacturers & I spent last night giving my revisions to a factory in China for new hoodies that I sketched on paper & they’re creating from raw materials. I didn’t goto fashion school or school for graphic design. Just had a dream to own a clothing line & dedicated myself to following through & continuing to learn. I still get the same feeling I used to get when I see someone wearing #ESR.

We’re still a small brand & thanks to everyone who continues to support through the years including @dragk1320 who gifted me & the brand with booth space at the biggest sport compact events when I was a teenager that helped create the roots for the brand. For everyone that has a dream business, keep on pushing! It takes hard work, taking risks, and passion.