From the time i was a little kid...
I wanted to be rich.
My family always struggled with money.
Fighting over money...
Bickering how the neighbors next door could do xyz and had xyz...
It went on and on.
To be honest, i don't even think i wanted to be rich...
I just wanted the freedom for my family i knew it could supply.
I wanted to create.
I wanted to express myself in a way that I couldn't at the moment.
I personally hate the concept of money.
Some people work 12 hours a day and make very little.
And some are handed a boatload if they deserve it or not.
So...
I set out to get rich.
I tried everything.
Bought every course.
Read every book.
Sat in my room alone "conditioning my subconscious mind."
Manifested.
Got into a spirituality rabbit hole.
I did it all.
I tried...
- day trading (lost all my money)
- drop-shipping with a bikini brand lol (couldn't get profitable)
- doing internet marketing (hated my clients businesses)
- worked for people doing marketing (realized how little they care about customers)
- tried to buy real estate (had a little success, but biz partner fell out)
- tried selling knives door to door (hated it)
- worked as a copywriter for a big company (got punished for the boss's nephews mistakes)
- tried selling marketing to car dealerships (didn't get one client)
- tried working for an aircraft auctions company (psycho CEO)
The list goes on and on.
I built a bunch of skills that I didn't quite know the purpose of.
After all that I was refueling planes in the cold in the dead of winter making about $12 an hour emptying the bathroom tanks of rich peoples $20,000,000 jets.
After all this shit, i felt awful.
I have been trying shit for 12 years.
Over a damn decade.
What do I have to show for it?
Not much.
All I have is my story.
I'm pretty smart, and i truly gave my heart and soul into most of these ideas.
I read.
I studied.
I acted with intention.
I had skills... it just felt like something was blocking me from succeeding.
I soon realized something very important after I heard this quote:
"Do something you would be doing regardless if it paid you money to do it."
Damn.
I realized that every attempt of making money was purely for wanting to make money.
I didn't really give a shit about any of these things.
Didn't care if some dude in Texas made 20 grand selling BS real estate investment courses to people with no money to spare.
I realized that most of the people I worked for didn't give a shit about the customer.
Had no heart.
They were completely obsessed with making money that all their morals went out the window.
And to be honest most of the shit these people were selling was dog shit.
So I set out to create something I truly cared about and took a break from chasing the next rabbit in front of me.
Along the lines in-between these wishful ventures i happened to meet a beautiful woman.
Someone that I loved with my heart and soul.
The type of love that you'd do anything for.
I was a big eyed puppy dog.
Well... to keep this short it ended.
Horribly.
Betrayal.
I was absolutely devastated.
Felt like someone i knew took off a mask and their true nature hit me like a freight train from hell.
Kind of a wolfs in sheep's clothing sorta thing.
I was so miserable.
Wherever this misery spawned from had only one purpose...To keep me down.
To get me to give up.
To get me to be a little bitch and be an insecure little coward my whole life.
I sulked around for about 6 months.
I tried for years to make a good living and failed.
I tried to make a life with someone and i failed.
Seems like I was just failing at everything I touched.
So after that breakup... something amazing happened.
I met God.
I got down on my knees and begged God for mercy and only asked of one thing.
I want to give.
I starting reading the bible and I found a very interesting story.
The story of Joseph.
Joseph didn't do anything wrong, and loved God.
But he ended up getting sold into slavery by his own brothers.
He then spent the next decade getting wrecked by life... but he never cursed God.
He then got sent to prison because a guy's wife had the hots for him and he turned her down.
So there he is... sitting in prison for something he didn't even do.
Away from his family. Betrayed from his family.
Then one day the Pharaoh, or ruler of all of Egypt had a nightmare.
He didn't know what it meant and all of his fortune tellers could not interpret his dream.
Until one man knew that Joseph had accurately interpreted dreams before.
It was a gift from God.
Pharaoh called Joseph to his palace.
From the dirty prison pit... to the palace of the most powerful man in the world.
And to keep it short...
The Pharoh ended up making Joseph 2nd in command of all of Egypt.
Made him ruler over literally everything in the span of a day or so.
Then Joseph used that power to save the same family who betrayed him to save their lives from a drought.
"What was meant to harm me, you meant for God." - Genesis 50:20
So hows that for redemption.
From the PIT to the PALACE.
That's what this company is all about.
Not about money.
Not about streetwear or hype or "look at me I have on Raw Redemption".
Nah.
It's about a message.
A message that says ones thing:
That no matter where you are now...
Prison.
Crying over an ex.
Broke.
Addicted.
Feeling like a piece of shit.
That in a moment... God could change it all.
God doesn't care about your past.
He cares about your heart.
So...
Since then, my wild attempts of business ventures have not really stopped.
I'll never stop.
I managed to get into aviation which is pretty cool.
I just put my head down after that breakup, lifted weights like an angry prisoner, and went to flight school.
Haven't landed a sick private jet job yet, but probably will soon.
In-between flight school I would go to thrift stores and found all kinds of cool stuff.
Stuff that you usually don't find.
- 1960's double face 100% cotton hoodies.
- vintage distressed tee shirts from old bikers.
- worn heavy jeans someone wore for 30 years.
- y2k surfing skateboarding and snowboarding stuff.
- 70s pants & old racing jackets.
Stuff that was truly sick.
Clothing is more than stuff you wear.
It allows you to express yourself.
"This is who I am. This is what I think is cool."
I studied thousands of pieces of clothing ranging from the 1960s-2000s.
I noticed fabrics and weights and fits and all of it.
What I truly noticed is how crappy everything is made today.
I mean designer brands are selling $500 tee shirts that are 47% polyester and have no soul or meaning.
Its all just ego chasing.
I wanted to make a clothing brand long before I ever knew anything about clothes.
I didn't have enough money to make a clothing brand.
So... I started sewing old jeans with a $200 sewing machine I bought from walmart.
Then I sold my 300cc two stroke dirt bike which was the last money I had from real estate.
Then I bought an embroidery machine.
Learned embroidery and realized how slow it is to make a hoodie or two.
So I sold that.
Now I am learning how to do screen printing.
I became obsessed with making clothes because it quieted my mind.
When I'm making clothes... all I have to focus on is what's in front of me.
It's great.
So I'm not making this "brand" to make money.
I just want to make things... and share the story of REDEMPTION.
I'm going to make the coolest shit of all time.
Hoodies that feel like armor.
Tanks that look like you tattooed a life story on them.
Jeans that are custom sewn with crazy patches and hidden messages.
Stuff that looks cool but has crazy utility.
I love it.
And i'll be extremely grateful if even one of you buy what I make.
I want to travel, fly sick planes, make sick shit people enjoy, and spread a message that is in the deepest depths of my heart.
I'm not a perfect church dude that doesn't do anything wrong and judges everyone.
No.
I am just a normal guy with visions in his mind that I need to bring to life.
A story that could help someone.
That even though you might be in the pit...
"Look up... For your REDEMPTION draws near." - Luke 21:28
Maybe all those little failures of mine was God painting a bigger future vision?
Maybe when I would put on music at night...
Close my eyes...
And see the vision that only he could understand...
Maybe he was refining me through hardship and giving me all the tools I needed to bring my visions to life.
Maybe he was looking out for me after all.
In my basement, on my knees crying out.
After my breakup.
After packing up my office of a business I just spent 2 years building.
After the 8th business failure.
What if all of this was for a grand purpose in my life.
Building little blocks of a puzzle that would ultimately be my destiny.
A big beautiful spider web of complexity that is my life and God is weaving the story together strand by strand in silk.
What if God is with you right now?
What if your current hardships are because some day he will answer your prayers in a way you least expect?
What if your current prayers are being answered... now?
Just in a way you don't understand.
Painting the masterpiece in the background of your life when you're focused on today.
Stop worrying.
He is with us, brah.
Go to the gym, find something you actually LIKE to do and one day it will all fall into place.
Don't listen to these soul selling pricks online.
You are right where he wants you.
Trust.
Nothing is better than getting wrecked by life and getting up and winning.
The comeback kid.
The 0-100.
The pit to the palace.
The mf'er who couldn't get brought down by the devil.
The one he's pissed is stilling stepping up to the plate and swinging even though he has every reason to just give up.
"It's not the size of the dog... it's the size of the fight in the dog."
You are a damn dawg.
Lift up that chin and keep swinging brah.
So... You know my story.
I wonder how it will end.
I think I have a pretty good idea of how this company will look like 10 years from now.
I trust God.
So...
What's your story?
Or more importantly...
What's yours going to be?
Christ is Lord.
The first pieces I made in my basement:
The raw start of Raw Redemption
Just keep trying.
Keep learning.
Some of these pieces suck ass.
Made most of them with old scraps i had found at thrift stores.
But that's the process of getting good at anything.
Try... and suck.
Then try again.
And again.
again...again...again...and freaking again.
Then one day you're damn good without even realizing it.
Most people are so scared of what other people think that they never even try.
Those people will never do shit until they get over their fears.
I'd rather try and fail then never try and wonder what if...
