Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Vasquez.
Tyler, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Tyler Vasquez and I’m from Houston, Texas. I launched my brand “imminent.” this year on my birthday, April 1st. I’ve been building the foundation for imminent. since October of 2019. Back in October 2019 I had a brief stint working for someone who told me I should start a clothing brand to make some extra cash. He told me if I could come up with a brand in the next three days that he would purchase my 1st $100 worth of tee shirts. For the next 48 hours I gave that idea some thought, but I told myself that I wouldn’t do it unless I could think of a way to create a brand that was a reflection of my personal beliefs. I personally believe our everyday decisions help shape our future, helping determine the upcoming events that will have an impact on our lives. I wanted this brands message to highlight the correlation between our past struggles and future successes. Now that I had all this figured out, the next step was picking the perfect name. I spent all my free time thinking of names for the last day, and the only word that sounded right was imminent. When the word imminent is used, it’s usually to describe something negative happening very soon. My goal is not only to inspire others to create positive traction in their daily lives, but to shed light on different “imminent” challenges that our world faces. The more I dove into it, I realized this was my chance to unite a group of individuals with a positive mindset to inspire the rest of the world to keep pushing through their struggles. The more the business vision for imminent. came to me, the more excited I felt. I’d never been so sure of anything before.
The next day I went to work and told my boss that I came up with a brand, the name, the marketing concept and some design concepts. Within the next week my blank shirts were ordered, but I told him that I wouldn’t be ready to use them for a few weeks. I remember speaking to him about the ideas for my brand daily for about two weeks while working. I explained the message of my brand and my signature logo, the open-ended box. The open-ended box was created to serve as a reminder to people that even when life feels like its boxing you in, there’s always a way out.
One day on my way out he told me he’d let me know when to come into work again, but he never called back. I tried calling once a week for a few weeks, but I didn’t receive any calls. After a month I came back to the store to ask him for my shirts he had ordered me, but he wasn’t there. His employee told me he must have used the shirts he purchased for me because she hadn’t seen any boxes. Instead of choosing to be upset, I chose to keep a positive mindset. Even though this pushed back my initial launch date of December 31st all the way to my birthday, April 1st, I knew that it would give me more time to solidify the purpose, mission, vision, and business plan for the next few years. Within those four extra months I developed a great relationship with my manufacturer, created the next three collection concepts, designed the brands first animations, partnered with a non-profit known as “Onetreeplanted”, and so much more. Between losing my job in November and launching imminent. in April, I ended up doing some side jobs and bartending a few private events during the holidays and selling some expensive things of mine to pay my bills and keep funding the design process for the brand. By mid-march I released the initial mock ups for our classic logo collection and started accepting pre orders. Less than two weeks into my pre-sale, the country announced our “stay at home” procedures, which I thought was going to severely impact my sales. Once I realized all my photoshoots and video shoots needed to be rescheduled I quickly found studio lights, a backdrop to hang on my wall at home and a camera to borrow. Instead of further delaying the release of imminent, I chose to create an “at home studio” to take my own product shots for the extent of the quarantine. To my surprise, I had about 15 pre orders before our official launch and have sold over 50 shirts since launching in the first week of April.
Has it been a smooth road?
This whole journey has been challenging. It’s been a struggle from the very start, but that’s also what makes this story so great. The six months prior to me coming up with imminent. were arguably as tough as the 6 months leading up to the release of the brand. Six months before working for the person who inspired me to create imminent. I had a choice to work as a bartender at a club in north Houston, or to work as a manager for a retail store in Sugar Land. Even though I was a bartender for the five years prior, I went against the grain and chose the retail management position. It was a different lane, but I was confident that my sales experience and customer service skills would transfer smoothly, and they did. Unfortunately, the owner had issues with his lease agreement and ended up closing the store within two months. Fortunately, the owner of the store owned a third party screen printing business and a photography studio where he offered me to be a sales associate. I learned a lot about the screen printing business, branding, and even organized pop ups for artists like “Dice Soho” and “Rizzo Rizzo” and brands such as “Set Sail Apparel”.
However, this person ended up not paying me for my last 2-3 weeks’ worth of work. He came up with every excuse he could to not pay me the $800 he owed me, but I ended up working with a client of his within a week who ended up paying me $7000 over the next two months. Due to advertising issues on the project I was paid to develop, the project couldn’t be pursued any further. As a domino effect, I ended up having to find another job. The co-workers from my first screen printing job referred me as a candidate for a retail associate/screen printing production manager position with a new company, which only lasted a month. But that last job ended up having the boss that gave me the idea to create my own brand. If I didn’t make every mistake I made or take every chance I took, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. Getting my hands on the perfect eco-friendly material, perfecting each logo file, paying for website/content creation and establishing a solid team to get this running were some of the more tedious tasks, but it was all a part of the process.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Imminent. as a brand represents a lifestyle filled with patience, perseverance and positive energy. imminent. was developed to inspire the world to create positive traction in our daily lives, in hopes of having a positive impact on someone close and inspiring others to join our movement. imminent. and its open-ended box represents the obstacles and challenges you face and will overcome in your journey to success and happiness. We have chosen to lead the way in the sustainable fashion industry by using high quality 100% organic cotton. The decision to use eco-friendly products will minimize the carbon footprint we leave on our planet. We are partnered with Onetreeplanted.org. This means for every tee sold, one tree will be planted in an area of our choosing. This partnership will aid us in our mission to reverse the negative impacts of mankind. imminent. is more than apparel. The goal is for this brand to constantly send messages of positivity through fashion and inspire our community to grow, while also bringing awareness to specific imminent challenges in our lives each quarter. By 2022 our goal is to set up the imminent. foundation. At that time, we will set a percent of profit from every product that will go towards the imminent. foundation, which will constantly be looking for the best ways to donate to different people and places in need due to “imminent” events.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The city of Houston is an amazing place to start almost any business I can think of, especially a clothing brand. I’ve always appreciated the diversity of this city. It allows everyone to find groups of people with similar interests. I always told myself that if I ever started a business I would start it in Houston because I’ve already spent my entire life building relationships here. Over the past 20 years the city of Houston hasn’t stopped growing, and I believe it will continue to grow for years to come. As Houston continues to re-establish its presence in the hip hop industry, I believe there will be an opportunity for streetwear brands out of Houston to create a presence for themselves as well. I think one of our cities biggest challenges is finding innovative ways to collaborate with other small businesses. I’d like to see more small business collaborate and find ways to supplement each other’s success. One of my goals is to harness the potential in this city and use it to show the world the side of Houston that they’ve never seen.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.imminent.global
- Phone: 346-242-9302
- Email: imminent.mmxx@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imminent_global/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/imminent.global/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/imminent_global
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/teevasquez/
Image Credit:
Adryan, Aaron, Jared, Arsh, Salvador, Nii, Nick
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