It all started 3 years ago...
I was an active duty sailor in the US Navy, inspired by my uncle (who was like a father to me), i began a heavy practice in yoga to cope with the stresses of being an active duty military member in the time of war. I was a creative kid growing up that loved art, fashion, and entrepreneurialism. I joined the military to pay for college and when it came time to get out of the military, I was invited to partner with my uncle to open an activewear retail store based around introducing yoga to the people. The deal was, I would help him start and open the store with my creative mind and he would fund me to start my own brand of activewear... little did I know the string of events that would follow.
Fast forward to the store opening with a solid start. I started to shift focus on my future brand when I teamed up with Haley Byfield, an award-winning knitwear designer from my hometown, that was attending Fashion Institute Of Technology in New York City.
Haley Byfield, originally from Orlando, Florida moved to New York City at the young age of 17 upon graduation at Lyman High School to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology with the money she had saved throughout high school. Byfield has been creating fashion her entire life, beginning with a love for knitting and blossoming into a cutting-edge fashion designer during her years at FIT. Haley has experienced great success throughout her education including winning the title of Best Designer 2015 at the Fusion Fashion Show and then bestowed the honor of opening the show in 2016. The coveted title has opened many doors for Byfield and strengthened her dedication to fitness and desire to support and collaborate with other artists in the Activewear industry.
We met in yoga and thought it would be good to have another business meeting to talk about my vision... two days later the entire concept, logo, name and brand of Yogavated was born in a French bakery in Orlando, FL called Benjamins Bakery. To this day, when we need to think or create, we go to Benjamins to focus and get into the creative spirit. Combining real original artwork from artists around the country, the meaning behind the art with the intention to motivate and inspire the wearer when wearing our product. During a time when mental health was a hot topic in the news, we wanted to create a product that truly improved people’s mental health. It was product with meaning unlike anyone else was doing for a problem no-one seemed to have a solution for.
The first line of Yogavated was due to release and production manufacturer had lied to us about the equipment as they saw Haley, a 22-year-old fashion student, as easy prey for a crap quality production job they could charge us triple the amount for. That day, a week before our scheduled release, she by pure luck happened to get the opportunity to buy the rare sewing machine we were looking for to make our product and stayed up for 3 days straight sewing our first line. The line released and it was a huge hit. The store was struggling for a year due to a combination of bad business choices on my uncles part. As the store struggled, Yogavated kept it open and my uncle started to claim ownership of the brand we had built, out of disparately to keep his retail store alive. His struggle led to his break of 30 years of sobriety and eventually his suicide at the beginning of this year. As Haley and I endured these struggles we also fell in love, which was the last thing either of us ever expected but still stands today.
Jump to current time... As Haley continued to sew 5000 more leggings in her small apartment in Washington heights NYC before moving \to her mom’s attic, over the course of the last couple years, in-between us traveling on the road from event to event and selling the product, our brand grew worldwide recognition and it was still just us two doing everything. In September 2018 we reached our breaking point. Haley, had recently cut a finger off during an all nightery of sewing and I had exhausted every possible resource trying to keep up with orders that needed to be filled. We began looking for sewing machines to purchase and people to hire when we found, what some would call, fait. It was a production company for sale in Phoenix, AZ. Fully staffed and was all the exact sewing equipment we needed. It was the leap of faith we had to take so we purchased it. We now have two triple bottom line activewear brands that are thriving. Yogavated, the brand focused on motivating and inspiring people through original artwork and the artists intention behind them and Yoga Democracy, an activewear brand focused on cleaning the oceans by making all of its products out of recycled bottles and fishing line.
Me at 25 and her at 23 endured closing a failed business, my uncles suicide, countless all-nighter struggles, complete brokenness and complete exhaustion but continual love and perseverance because the artists we were helping and the people we inspired picked us up and carried us every time we needed it. We are the true entrepreneurial success story showing that the key to success is perseverance, hard work, and belief in your mission. We have proved that it’s not impossible to create a thriving USA made business that is good for the people and the environment.
My grandfather used to tell me "a smooth road, isn't a road worth taking, if you are looking for success". I never realized that to be true until I started this venture...
As I mentioned briefly before, my first venture did not go well. The retail store I teamed up with my uncle to open, turned out to be the biggest failure but I believe it was a large attribution to my later success. As the retail store began to fail, so did the mental state of my uncle. He saw the success of Yogavated as it supported the store for almost a year and he grasped onto it as a last-ditch effort to save his dream.
As my uncle, who was like a father to me, tried to take away something Haley and I had spent countless sleepless nights building with our own sweat and savings, I was faced with the decision of fighting back and possibly destroying my family or letting him have it and not standing up for Haley, a 22 year old fresh out of college, that passed up countless job offers in high end fashion because she believed in Yogavated.
I did what was right. I stood up for what was right and it resulted in my uncles suicide. There is not a morning I wake up wishing I would have walked away from it all. Not a minute in my day that goes by without a thought about him.
I know now, it wasn’t my fault. He was the only one in control of his feelings but it still hurts. I realized a few days ago, almost a year after his death, the irony of it all. We were building a brand to help people's confidence, to help them build self-worth, to help people see how truly amazing each one of us is.... if only he was here to see it now, if only I could have done it sooner, if only i could have helped him see what I saw... an incredible person I looked up to as a hero, a mentor, the guy I wanted to be.
I push through every sleepless night to build this brand for him and for all the others out there that may be thinking life isn't worth it.
My official title is Founder and Chief Dreamer but I am more of a Jack of all trades. In any start up, you typically have to do a little of everything. I am definitely known as the creative and smooth talker so all of the social media, graphic design and sales typically fall under my direction.
As a brand I am most proud of the profound affect we have on our customers, artists, and community we have built. It is incredible how many letters and emails we get telling us how our activewear got them through serious rough times such as cancer, divorce, and body image issues. Nothing makes me happier than reading those. Second would be our zero-waste achievement. We have managed to recycle and reuse 100% of our excess scrap fabric which is virtually unheard of in our industry. It isn’t easy and probably costs us more money than its worth but knowing that our scraps are turned into headbands that plants trees and stuffing for dog beds we donate to local shelters and not in a landfill, is all that matters to me.
We are different than other brands in so many ways but primarily because of the community we have created. My all-time favorite thing is connecting two people, that would have never met or felt they had something in common, together and watching this incredibly beautiful relationship flourish. That’s what happens when you connect art with physical fitness and fashion.
