We often get asked the question, “How did you guys start your own brand?” so we’ve decided to share what the last two years of our lives have been like as we’ve tried to build TaeRyan from the ground up. Good, bad, or even ugly – it’s all part of Our Story.
TaeRyan was started in late 2007 by a couple of 23-year-old kids fresh out of college. Coming from two different cities (Chicago & NYC) with two distinct styles, we had started to notice the same disturbing trend developing. A lot of the designs we’d see in the streets or in stores started to look very similar, and if that wasn’t enough, we would occasionally see someone out at night wearing the same shirt as the guy across the room! At this time TaeRyan was just a concept – an idea that was quickly gaining momentum. We knew it was going to take a financial “leap of faith” to get going, but when you have a dream and a goal, sometimes faith is the most concrete thing you have to lean back on. A couple months later in early 2008 we released our new line and launched our first website.
The goal was to create designs that were bold and unique, and we certainly accomplished that. We put our own spin on some common trends with the hope of separating ourselves from other brands. The feedback we got was mostly great, however, not everyone was so quick to jump on board. We knew from the start that by being so different we were taking a minor risk, and understood that not everyone was going to be a fan. These shirts were not made for everyone, and we didn’t want our designs to blend in with the crowd. The attention our shirts received, whether positive or negative, proved we were doing something different.
At this time, things seemed like they were taking off: numerous retail locations in our hometowns picked up the line and things were looking good. This is what we dreamed of, but we just weren’t happy. After about 4 months, when we were on the verge of going into production with new designs, we stopped promoting and pretty much shut down. We had made some mistakes along the way, and due to some production issues, we were selling our shirts for way more than we ever wanted or imagined. In addition, we felt that the website didn’t reflect the brand we were trying to create.
To put a year and a half of your life into something only to step back and realize it didn’t turn out how you wanted it was a pretty crushing blow. After a couple of months, we chose to do the only thing we thought we could – something we knew was best for TaeRyan. We began to build from scratch again; this time making sure things came out exactly how we envisioned them originally.
That brings us to where we are now – August 2009. It has been a long and challenging road, but for the first time, thanks to our new products and website, we can finally say this is what we wanted TaeRyan to be: A bold and affordable line with no boundaries and a bright future. We thank everyone who has come along for the ride and hope you enjoy the new TaeRyan as much as we do!
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