Starting a Brand at 18: The Beginning

I have ambitions. I have goals. None of which are completely laid out in full detail, but there are blurry outlines of the things i want to accomplish.

I am 18 now, but i've been working on these aspirations since forever. For as long as i can remember i have been creating. My creativity went from tons of sketchpads and pencils, to clothes made out of tablecloths, to digital design as soon as technology became widespread. We live in the rapidly changing world where everyone has to adapt. Styles of art are changing, new kinds of art emerging, and with the online platforms that are so easily accessible to the masses of people in this world, we have been building our lives up in social media.

People are creating websites, blogs, clothing, and videos, starting from zero and building themselves up and up, making money and starting business all from a mere instagram account. As a business major, i'm fascinated by the way that this modern system works and by its' rapid growth and change. Since forever i have always wanted a brand, a clothing brand more specifically, and i've grown up with that dream. In the modern world, it's crazy, but you are actually able to brand yourself. You can be the brand which, again, absolutely fascinates me that social media has given way to an entire new industry of employment all based on followers and promoting products. 

As hard as i have found it to be starting something in a world full of people that are doing exactly what i've always dreamed, my platform is sitting in front of me. People can literally start from ground zero, nothing, and with a little push, a little bit of hard work, they can make something of themselves. 

I'm here to start that work. I've failed again and again, i've created and failed, posted and failed, spent hundreds and failed, and i may keep failing. Failure is key. I'm never going to learn without failing first and i'm never going to achieve my dreams by lettings failure bother me. It's frustrating to put your hard work out there and get nothing in return, but it has to happen in order to succeed. I am here to succeed. 

Now, I have started a brand: VANDAL. It has been in the making for around a year now and it has taken many different forms and it has failed tremendously so many times. I started big, too big and didn't let it grow naturally, my mistake. Now i have dialed it back, instead i want to share my journey in trying to create this brand and help anybody that is trying to succeed in this hard and changing society. 

VANDAL is not your normal brand. I don't want to sell clothes. I want to sell independence, separation from the norm, weirdness, craziness, and most of all confidence. No i am not going to tell you you're beautiful, but i am going to help embrace independence- being independent from the mass society of following. Most people are stuck in the norm- the most popular things, trends, songs, foods, clothing, personalities. I want to provide something different than what everybody sees on a daily basis. My goal is for everybody to embrace their 'weird' and make a statement through one platform- VANDAL.

Why can't i share my thoughts and sell my designs on one place? I have very crude thoughts, strong opinions, views some brands aren't allowed to show. Why? Why should it matter? This world cares so much about EVERYTHING. I want to be the brand that doesn't care about norms. You shouldn't care what people think of you, be yourself. I want to portray this in style. We're all a little bit weird, let's start embracing it.