Wow I must say that it is very impressive that you opened your webstore at such a young age.
Haha thanks, I hear that a lot. It was all just really done through careful planning and executing that plan to a great extent.
Why don’t you tell us a little about yourselfWell I’m 17 years old, I’m just a typical high school kid, works hard in school, a brands manager and owner of a webstore, I play a few sports here and there. Just really enjoying myself and hanging out with friends.
Where did you grow up? How did that influence your taste in fashion
I grew up in Orlando, Florida, which is actually where I still live. Where I live didn’t really influence me too much in my fashion-sense, just really because everyone dressed the same and had the same type of style. But slowly I made friends with like skaters and sneaker heads and that always kind of influenced me, I always try to stay true to my skater roots. But mostly over the summers, my family and I would take long summer trips around the United States and we’d go to big cities and I also payed attention to how people dressed and how they looked. And that always influenced me a lot. At an early age I could always tell a lot about a person by what kind of shoes they wore.
What made you start your business, how did everything get started
I really started my business by just collecting shoes. I always had a large shoe collection and I slowly began to just buy shoes, put them ‘on ice’, then resell them either a couple months or years later for more. And after awhile I figured just opening a site and selling apparel would be easier. Mostly since I didn’t have to hold apparel for such long amounts of time before reselling them haha.
You have told me you are only 17, what advice do you have for other young entrepreneurs that want to start their own business or be in the fashion business
Just really keep up with what’s going on in the world. Pay attention to the blogs, websites, videos, photos, etc. and stay up to date to what’s going on. Also start making friends with positive people who can help with whatever you want to do in life and just plan ahead carefully.
What are your top 3 favorite designers or clothing lines
My top 3 designers would be to hard to even mention just because there are so many creative people that are coming out with amazing products. But an honorable mention would have to be Jeremy Scott, everything he’s doing with Adidas is just inspiring. But my top 3 clothing lines in no particular order would have to be: Ice Cream/Billionaire Boys Club, Award Tour, and Rockers NYC.
Do you like the current state that fashion is in right now or do you have visions of the fashion industry growing in different directions
As of now it just seems that a little bit of everything is in and I’m perfectly okay with what’s going on now. I mean right now I could wear some retro stuff, like an old 1960’s letterman jacket and some vintage T-shirts. Or some really new and clean stuff, like an all white pair of Nike Air Forces with a nice fitted hat and still not be looked at as dressing weird. But fashion tends to repeat itself so it’s not really safe to predict what’s going to be next.
I know you have a webstore, how has the internet in your eyes changed the world of fashion as we know it?
The internet has completely changed everything. Now you can see what’s going on in different places and you can see it all much more quickly. And blogs have just really influenced a lot of people on a national level and they’re starting to help influence what’s really in style. But nevertheless, I definitely think it’s helping everything that’s going on right now and not hurting it at all.
What are your plans personally and for your business in the future?
Personally, I’m hoping to pursue more in college and hope to learn more that can help the business. And as for the site, just really to expand slowly and just keep true to what people want and not get caught up in the hype, I just want to give people a place where they can get products from their favorite companies for a good price.
Thanks again for doing this interview with us! We wish you great success with everything that you are doing.
Check out sketchywhitevan.com your shopping pleasure
