Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aaron Gipson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aaron, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Lately, quotes relating to starting something before you’re ready have become popular. They couldn’t be more true! When I began this entrepreneurial journey I wasn’t ready in the slightest way. I didn’t know 90% of the things that I do now, and I would have never known these things unless I actually got started! Crazy enough, Royal Clothing Brand started off as a drawing on a piece of paper that I made when I was bored. My goal was to take a word and make it into the shape of a crown just as a fun challenge (I did these sort of things often). Initially, I was attempting to create the word ‘Legacy’ as a crown but after struggling for a while I decided to try the word Royal in the shape of a crown and thus the logo was born! Growing up I was always involved in my own creative projects so I already had a little knowledge on how to put a logo on a shirt. When I would get bored I would go and put that crown logo on a t-shirt so I would have something cool to wear that no one else did. For years I made Royal Clothing Brand a thing of my own, wearing all my own work before it even had a name. When people began asking for items and encouraging me to make it a business I decided to act. In 2018 I went and got an LLC and Royal Clothing Brand was official! From this moment on I had a lot of learning and growing to do. The first things I knew needed to figure out was how to screen print more efficiently, and how to use Adobe Illustrator to create my designs without paying someone. Using Google and YouTube I found almost all of the information I have ever needed, the rest came from experiences through trial and error. I learned how to burn screens and screen print, how to create a website through Wix, and created social accounts for my brand. This method took me pretty far until I decided a lot of my designs that I wanted to make were too advanced for what I could accomplish alone. At this point my designs had elevated and I got into wanting to make innovative clothing, clothing that I couldn’t just buy blank and put my logo on, finding manufacturers was the next step. There are so many levels that needed to be learned, including finances and taxes, marketing, and with this new day and age social media is a huge factor that needs to be learned and used to have a successful business. With all the moving parts to business it is impossible to be completely ready for it all. So it is important for others wanting to start businesses that you shouldn’t try to ‘feel ready’ before beginning your dreams.

Aaron, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Kalamazoo, MI. A medium sized city with potential for opportunities, but nothing major. Fortunately I have always been one to see opportunity in anything. I’ve been the creative type since I can remember, whether it was making things, designing or drawing things, writing stories and songs, or trying to solve problems in different ways. I got into the fashion industry because I enjoy creating designs and different styles of clothing, and I love wearing them out knowing that it is something I conjured up myself. Many people think creativity is being able to think of something never before seen, which is one of my goals with my brand, but it’s also being able to see something already done and make something new out of it! I created Royal Clothing Brand as a high end streetwear brand. Once the logo was made I began to have an even greater sense of what the word Royal actually means and the value it carries. Royal was founded on the idea that anybody can Become Royalty, which is the tagline of the brand. When considering the word Royal, one typically thinks of someone with high prestige, importance, and power. The belief at Royal Clothing Brand is that by wearing our high quality clothing with exclusive and innovative designs, anybody can feel like someone of importance, like Royalty. The brand offers hoodies, t-shirts, joggers, shorts, hats, and shoes. A lot of the designs are made to be innovative and different. I have made hoodies with masks built in during Covid, masks that could open at the mouth to make eating and drinking easier, as well as Royal’s most recent release a slip on shoe that can transform into a slide! Royal stands out from other small brands with those innovative and functional designs, quality of fabrics, and by focusing on customer service. Royal’s designs are created to encompass all cultures and types of people. While we do target a certain age demographic and lifestyle, we make sure our designs can be worn by anybody without fear of feeling out of place. I am most proud of the fact that I’m still going. There have been countless times that business slows down and giving up sounds like a great option. So many people fold during those hard times when money is low, nobody is liking or sharing the content so those feelings that no one cares are very prevalent. Fighting through at these tough times is difficult and something any business owner should feel proud of! If anything at all, what I want followers of the brand to take away from me is my gratitude toward anyone who has supported my journey, whatever the reason to support was it means the world to me that my brand was special enough to them to purchase, or even share.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that social media ‘tells all’. Social media is major in todays world, so it is easy to compare yourself to other people and in this case, businesses. Another common thing is to use likes to judge ourselves and accomplishments. Over time I have come to the realization that just because you don’t receive tons of likes, or someone else is receiving more doesn’t necessarily tell the truth about sales. A business can be doing amazing and barely receiving likes, or be doing not so good and getting tons of engagement. Social media can easily be used to fake. So unlearning that social media can provide actual insight into the behind the scenes was major for me.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell solely through my website royalclothingbrand.com. I chose to sell directly through my website to avoid any confusion for customers as I continue to grow my brand. Offering only one source to purchase my products makes it easy for customers to be sure that they are actually getting my brand, which is the main upside to selling through one channel. A few cons of selling through just my site is that the brand may be harder to find. By selling on multiple platforms the brand visibility would be greater, but customers wouldn’t be able to purchase with as much certainty that it is the correct brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: royalclothingbrand.com
• Instagram: @_royalclothingbrand_
• Facebook: Royal Clothing Brand
• Other: Tiktok: @_royalclothingbrand_

Image Credits
Justin Stephenson Joshua Gipson Norma Sanchez