For years, I dreamed about starting my own clothing company in Syracuse, NY. In November 2019 – I made that a reality by starting SYR Clothing Co. with my wife.
Over the years, my wife and I have done a lot of traveling and we’ve noticed in other cities there is always a ‘streetwear’ clothing brand that is meant for locals. The designs normally are very creative and unique to the area. We began to realize there wasn’t anything like it in Central New York. There was only Syracuse University related apparel. We wanted to give people a way to ‘rep’ their city by creating designs that represented the city and what it’s all about – the skyline, the neighborhoods, funny sayings, the seasons, sports teams and more! More importantly, we wanted to give back to the community so we agreed that we would feature a new CNY nonprofit each month and donate a portion of every sale on our site to them. Someone once said, “Your greatness is not what you have, it’s what you give” and this was important to us.
We decided to really push forward with our dream after we found out that we were going to have a baby! We knew that if we didn’t launch the business before our baby came, we might never do it. We hunkered down for months and months and got everything done – legal stuff such as an operating agreement etc., social media accounts, the website, press releases, clothing designs and much more! We launched a week before baby Rowan was born – it was a miracle especially considering we both already had full-time jobs.
Our company mission: Increase the sense of pride in Syracuse through clothing designs that are inspired by all the great things the Salt City has to offer while also giving back to the community.
Our vision: To be the streetwear brand of choice in Syracuse. We want people to be able to wear a shirt that says ‘SYR’ and feel proud to live here.
Takeaway:
My advice is to not wait for anything to happen – if you want to do something you need to go for it because nothing is handed out in this world. Anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it. My wife and I are so happy we built this company together from the ground up and we’re excited to see where this takes us.
