Today we’d like to introduce you to Danario Edgar II.
Hi Danario, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Ten/18 Apparel started with 1 heat press, a vinyl cutter, and a vision of a bigger future. Performing small orders for upcoming restaurants, athletic trainers, and initial simple designs, was Ten/18’s initial function. Even then, items that were as simple as pressing a garment onto a t-shirt that was picked up out of a 5-pack at the gas station, and hand pressed in Danario’s grandmother’s house created an uproar of potential and caught people’s attention. Traveling to and from Prairie View to complete orders while in school pursuing STEM degrees, he was able to make small orders of 5 and even begin reaching out to sources like Aviva Wholesale, Alibaba, and Superline Wholesale for blank garments. Learning about the different vinyls, t-shirt materials, cuts, thicknesses, heat pressing conditions, temperatures etc, they built and built until realizing that a change needed to be made. At the end of the Spring ‘22 semester, they temporarily closed Ten/18 for business and split up for about 6 weeks for internship opportunities with Proctor and Gamble, one of the biggest companies in the country. He made certain to soak up as much information about how the companies worked, how they were structured and run, and their infrastructure. Now they have completed them and shifted the business model from just a side hustle for two college students to make it through school, to a fully formed Clothing and apparel company under an LLC, with connections to manufacturers across the globe and thus a limitless set of design possibilities. In the early days, designs were made a bit simpler because resources to do more complex designs were very expensive and time consuming, they needed to be outsourced. Ten/18 apparel is now on the verge of staggering expansion as the brand takes over the Prairie View A&M campus since releasing their new Collaboration with the #1 promo team on campus: MOST officials. He now works closely with Stu, Oz, Irish, Chin, To, and Mouk of MOST officials to completely dominate PV and work to stretch Ten/18 and MOST’s influence far beyond.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not by any means. The road has been long, rough, and rugged and the business faced severe challenges due to several factors. The first of which being lack of funding, a common struggle among small business owners. The brand runs off of the CEO’s blood, sweat and tears, often proving to require more funds than what was available. But thanks to the great faith that the CEO, Danario, had in God, he always found a way to work, put scholarship money towards, and even utilize some of his personal credit to fund the release of some of their more prominent pieces. Collaborations have been invaluable in mitigating these struggles and provided other people and groups that wanted to contribute financially, to collections specific to them. These include the previously mentioned collaboration with MOST officials, and Tyler Johnson aka Mr. Duffle bag, an independent artist and close friend to Danario since highschool. Together, they released the first ever Mr. Duffle bag Collabors as well as the “The Truth Hurts Not Me” cropped T shirt collection. Some other struggles included a hack on their social media recently, which as a small business who has had to claw and scratch for every bit of notoriety and exposure, can prove detrimental. But the CEO knew that this could not be the end, but instead a new beginning and a chance to rebrand. Followers quickly flooded over to their new accounts after the attempt and while they still climb past 4-500 to their previous all time High of 700+ followers in hopes to reach the masses.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a graduate of Prairie view A&M university with a bachelors degree in computer engineering with a minor in computer science. I’m currently pursuing my masters in computer science and an apart of the 14th cohort of the Bridge To Doctorate Program (BTD). Aside from that I am continuing my 2nd internship with Hewlett Packard Enterprise in AI engineering and High Performance Computing. I do this at the same time as I run my clothing Brand, Ten/18 Apparel and am known for my presence on campus in organizations like Brothers Leading and Cultivating Knowledge (BLACK) where I served as the Vice president, my roll in my fraternity as a member of the ZETA BETA Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc, and have been involved in my schools Student Government Association as an undergrad. I also am known for playing 2 ad a half years of Division 1 basketball here at Prairie View earning 2 SWAC championship rings in my undergrad tenure. My work ethic, determination, faith in Christ and positive impact in my community is what best defines me.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
As a child I was always very goofy but also very hard working and focused on my academics and athletics. My parents always had me in sports, made sure I excelled at the top of my class in school and strove to earn all A’s, as well as made sure we went to church every Sunday and prayed consistently as a family. My mother made sure I had a relationship with God, valued my intelligence and strive for excellence in absolutely every thing I did, never settling for second place or mediocrity. My Dad used to Coach my AAU basketball practices, come to my football practices and games, track meets, and made sure I maintained a competitive edge in everything and had discipline and focus. My Grandmother was my biggest cheer leader and made sure to reward my good grades and my sister always supported me in everything I did. I was always interested in making money for myself, entrepreneurship, technology, fashion and movies. I was the kid who got in trouble in elementary school for selling candy out of my jacket during recess. I was also the same kid who graduated magna cum laude. I believe duality is a very telling trait of mine.
Pricing:
- Ten/18 Tour Shirts: $35
- Ten/18 X Mr. Duffle Bag Collab Duffle bag: $200
- MOST Sweats: $100
- Ten/18 Shimmer Jersey: $40
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ten18apparel.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ten18Apparel
