We were lucky to catch up with Dan Farrell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dan, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think success is interesting, especially as an artist — success could be based on recognition or financial stability. As a business owner, success could be your balance sheet or social media statistics. Success could also be the growth of a community or a greater cultural awareness. It depends on what success means to you as an individual and what you’re looking for on this earth. My perception of success changes everyday and I think more than anything, I’m just trying to be better version of who I was yesterday. Still, I would argue that there are two important factors in success across the board. The first element of success is resilience. You have to be willing to fail and fail hard. Crash. Burn. And then pick up the pieces and try again. If you think failing sucks, just wait until you experience the regret of not trying again. The second element of success is timing. While some might call it luck, I believe in God and I believe everything happens for a reason. Be prepared. Be on time. When opportunity presents itself, make sure your shoes are already tied so you don’t trip over yourself. I will say, as a business owner, you have to be a little crazy because you’re basically inviting yourself to deal with problems all of the time. But don’t get too focused on the big picture that you miss the small successes of the day in and day out because you ultimately rob yourself of joy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Dan Farrell. My friends call me Blade. I am the Founder and Creative Director of Blade Industries, a ready-to-wear luxury fashion label, and I’m a Co-Founder of Sphire Studios, a 360 creative agency based here in Los Angeles. I have been running Blade for three years now but have been involved in fashion and design for the last 15. My entrance into fashion was making bracelets out of soda tabs in elementary school. I grew up skateboarding with my friends in New Jersey so skate culture and the east coast tends to influence a lot of my work. Within the last few years, I’ve opened up the doors to more commission and client-focused work and this year, partnered with one of my best friends, Tanner Kesel to start Sphire Studios.

As a brand owner, I’m really proud of the designs and garments I’ve brought to market. I’m really thankful for the continued support from the fashion community, as well as my friends and family. Although Blade requires most of my bandwidth in the day-to-day, I’m also very proud of my client work. This past year I’ve had the opportunity to work with people and brands I’ve looked up to since I was a kid — many full circle moments, I feel blessed.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I went to school initially for cyber security but then I would spend all of my free time designing and consuming fashion. I wasn’t super keen on completing homework but was more interested in botting Supreme. That’s when I thought I might be in the wrong major. I’ve had regular jobs. Random hustles. But fashion has been the constant. I’ve been putting in my 10,000 hours anyway I can make it happen. Things started to change with Blade. I had already ran a few different businesses. I had Tabs, Loyal Skateboards, Kemo! and now Blade. A couple different milestones have turned my passion into a career. but most notably — TikTok and Kanye West. I had a few videos go viral on TikTok which initially blew up my business… and then again, when Kanye held up my shirt in front of Dover Street Market. That and repeat commission clients have given me the social proof I think I subconsciously needed to really step back and say hey, I can make this happen.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

As mentioned previously, I started Sphire Studios with my best friend and Co-Founder, Tanner Kesel. We wanted to create a 360 creative agency to come in and help companies with their pain points. Tanner’s background is in business, but he specializes in marketing. Running multiple companies of his own, his latest — FanFix, was just acquired by SuperOrdinary. We met in 2020 through mutual friends right before the pandemic. I was in LA temporarily for a co-op and we bonded over fashion and video games. I moved back to Jersey and we stayed in touch via Modern Warfare II. Later that year, Tanner offered an empty room at his apartment in USC and I moved out to LA for good! The rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blade.industries
• Instagram: instagram.com/dwfzx
• Portfolio: www.2rs2ls.com