Designing The Foundation

Meet my friend, Dwayne
@wheezyf.baby

Fashion Designer, Constructiv Creations
@constructivcreations

I started my clothing company, Ideas Over Money (IOM), back in May 2017 at the age of 22 to begin my entrepreneurial journey and eventually become my own boss one day. While working at summer camps back in highschool and getting my first real job at 18, I realized that I didn’t like working for other people. The freedom to create my own schedule and make my own rules always felt more exciting, but I didn’t know which route to take to start my own business and I didn’t have anyone I looked up to, to guide me in the right direction. So it took me several years to get mentally prepared for this opportunity and I made a promise to myself to keep this going for as long as I live.

Understanding that there is no right or wrong starting point made a huge difference. I overthink a lot and get anxiety when I can’t come up with answers to my questions. Which resulted in me spending a lot of money making wrong decisions for my brand, getting upset at myself and not being able to focus on the small steps that builds the big picture. For example when I spent about $800 on blank sweatpants and shirts, then having to spend another $1200+ to get them screen printed and embroidered and only sold about $400 worth of clothing. And when it comes to money, I am a HUGE saver, so not being able to see a profit on my return, really hits me hard as well. Moreover, my mind state at the time was thinking of myself while cutting off family and friends until I figured how to run a profitable business. But not having people around to support and encourage me was a very unhealthy thing. That is when my girlfriend stepped into the picture.

I met her about six months into creating my brand. She not only uplifted me to better myself, but she also showed me how I could begin making these clothes myself and have my brand stand out from my competitors. Whenever we would hang out I would feel much happier about life and somehow she always helps make the right decision. I guess the big thing I love about her is that she always wants to help no matter the circumstance and she breaks down my complicated thinking into simpler terms. For two months she taught me the basics of sewing and gave me the opportunity to expand and believe in myself when I didn’t. My new journey is a forever learning process that comes with many obstacles, such as: cutting fabric on the proper grain, using a variety of different sewing machines, measuring proportionally, creating professional finishes, even stitches, sourcing great quality fabric, brainstorming new ideas, using mannequins, understanding commercial patterns, learning how to make clothes for people, the list goes on and on.

Constructing clothes was a new world for me. I spent countless hours in my girlfriend’s basement learning how to sew clothes and had countless moments where I almost gave up because it was SO DIFFICULT in the beginning. I remember creating a very basic garment (that wasn’t basic to me at all at that moment) that only needed two pattern pieces.

That was one of the most frustrating moments of my sewing career because I didn’t know how to sew straight, make clean seams, cut-out patterns properly and that led to me forcing/rushing that project and not being happy with the outcome. Now I look at all the things I’ve created up to this present moment and see how much more complicated they are compared to my very first one lol.

This then led to me changing my brand name to ​Constructiv Creations​. The meaning behind this new name is, ‘creating with a purpose behind it.” I feel like everyone says that they can sew, but when it comes to professionalism both inside and out, that’s where the ‘constructive’ part comes in. I took the route of sewing because I didn't want to blend in with the hundreds of other brands in my city by just screen printing and embroidering on blank canvases that had a very low quality feel to them. I want my customers to understand why quality and craftsmanship is so important. I want them to feel very proud of a customizable piece that’s made specifically for them. I also want each person to value my pieces and archive them for generations to come.

So “consistency and execution" has always been my motto and I know my following those rules, that will lead me to my success. More importantly ‘experimenting’ will allow me to reach heights that I thought I would never have reached before. While I've only been sewing for about two years, I intend on keeping myself focused while sacrificing a lot. I believe that is the only way to become successful.

I'm VERY careful with how my time is used and I HATE wasting it with people who aren't inspiring me or making me better. I HATE wasting my time in situations where I'm not learning. On the other hand, improving how I handle my emotions when projects and ideas aren’t going my way is still a huge learning curve for me, but I’m happy to have my girlfriend by my side to keep me on track help me gain full control of how I react.

In conclusion, my next challenge is believing in myself so hard that nothing and no one can interrupt my train of thought and always speaking my success into existence. I feel like our society has been brainwashed to compare ourselves to others and to take risks for other people rather than ourselves. And I'm going to be the one who breaks that rhythm within my family.

My advice: Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your own two ears.