It's crazy how things fall into place. Last night Hypebeast posted drop 4's floral tee on their tumblr. Like seriously?! Hypebeast is one of the top fashion blogs internationally and they credited my brand. I know it isn't the main website, but being affiliated with one of HB's networks means so much to me. I've been looking at this website every day since 7th grade and to see effulgence on their tumblr page is so surreal. My photo even had more notes than some of the big name brands like Alexander Wang, Vans and Black Scale. All of the obstacles effulgence had to hurdle paid off. The floral photo currently has 89 notes, so please anyone with a tumblr account spread the word.
I know I've mentioned this before, but those who dont know yet, I've missed out on some big opportunities for effulgence (or so I thought). For one, Johnny Cupcakes used one of my photos for his blog from his Cal State East Bay lecture. He sent me an e-mail thanking me, but cropped out my watermark from the photo and didn't even credit me when posted it on his site. That could've been a little break for me to start spreading effulgence, but I'm glad it didn't work out. Looking back, I definitely wasn't ready and many viewers would have gotten a unpleasing first impression. Another "missed opportunity" was the Plndr's first battle of the brand contest. effulgence ended up falling short from the finals, placing in the semifinals, but Plndr still wanted sell my brand on their site despite losing. I realized that wasn't the right look for effulgence since they were going to sell my tees for $10 and I know I put more work into my designs than $10 worth. I'll end up losing money after the wholesale pricing. And to me Plndr is like the Marshalls of streetwear, I want people to become a part of the brand, not just buying it because it looks cool. Then there was few collaborations that never fell through. I'm glad those never got executed either because collaborations should be built on personal relationships, not just because you have the opportunity to do one. I also got accepted to last winters Agenda tradeshow, but turned it down. All of my friends and family told me to take the risk and go for it. As much I wanted too, deep down inside I couldn't. I had much more to grow in myself and for the brand. All of the downhills end up happening for a good reason. When I was working on Drop 4, I surprisingly got an e-mail from Agenda in holding a booth for this summers tradeshow. I knew this time I had to accept. Then Drop 4 got really great critically acclaim from people and blogs, especially Hypebeast. Agenda and Hypebeast are companies I always wanted my brand associated with and start building a strong fan base around. Few upcoming brands get the opportunities to get credited by Agenda and Hypebeast and I was fortunate to be one of them. After 2 and half years of continuing the growth of the brand, I'm finally seeing momentum picking up. For any brand owners, you have to stay patient and let things fall in to place. You will always get discourage from haters, low sales, bad decisions etc, but you should never stop trying. All of those obstacles happen for a reason so you can fully perfect your craft and learn about yourself and what you want for the brand. And sometimes you might have to realize having a brand isn't your cup of tea and move onto another project.
Drop 4 aren't just designs, they are in depth concepts and personally stories for me. I did a lot of research and went on a lot of inspiration searching in developing not just Drop 4, but for the future for effulgence. Personally, I think this my best work I've done ever in designing. All of the other effulgence drops I'm proud of, but Drop 4 really fits the vision of what I wanted for effulgence, just couldn't execute it. I also have to thank my printer, who worked very hard on my graphics to make my designs come to life. There's still a good amount of sizes left in all of the designs, so check them out as you please. Thanks for everyone that has supported and hopefully we'll see effulgence take off. I am now aware things will happen for a reason, good and bad, but I have to keep pushing because I don't want to live life with what ifs and regrets.
