We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ali Conteh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ali, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My brand’s mission statement is “Life’s a death race to the $ either you win, or you lose, forever chasing $ I can’t hit snooze.” This means that no matter who you are on this planet, you’re chasing some type of monetary stability, whether that’s on a large scale or a smaller one. It’s all a race to money till the day you die; what REAL R$CH EMPIRE will do and what our “R$CH WRLD” design reflects is the grim reaper (death) dropping money on the globe (death race) and REAL R$CH EMPIRE catching it and using it for our purposes of bettering the world (can’t snooze). This mission of bettering the world is meaningful to me because, ever since I was young, I have always wanted better for people. I’ve gotten to see how true poverty affects people spending time in Africa during my childhood, and ever since then, I’ve always had a feeling that I needed to do something to change it. With my brand, I want to gain not only the monetary benefits to help others but also the mental resources to be able to weather any storm sent my way. Once I achieve all these things, I will use the knowledge I do have to help as many people as I possibly can and face their own situations in the best way possible. I want to be able to live in a world where, instead of everybody being weary and fearful of others, we can instead be welcoming and kind to others. To achieve this dream of mine, I will make myself the prime example of what I want the world to become.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Ali Conteh I’m a first generation immigrant, my parents hailing straight from the west coast of Africa natives of Gambia. My upbringing wasn’t the greatest I was the youngest of 4 kids with my single mother running the household. For the first 10 years of my life my father was incarcerated and shortly after deported. Coming up I fell under the influence of many things leading me down the wrong path at times, as I grew older and began to see the cycle of events I was partaking in wouldn’t lead me anywhere I wanted to be I decided to make a change. Now I run one of Columbus, Ohio’s most unique and trending clothing brands, REAL R$CH EMPIRE. Over here, what we do is provide fashionable streetwear for our customers who are seeking the latest and best fashion. We are known for our superior customer service and the unique designs we’re bringing back to the culture; not too many people have graphics, and we decided to go that route, bringing a different vibe to the streetwear scene. This is exactly what we pride ourselves on.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Building a wave: at the beginning stages of my brand, it wasn’t the easiest to get many customers to buy my clothing. To get past this dilemma, I made the decision to build a wave. Now when I say build a wave, I mean make a trend out of my clothing. I spent a lot of time studying people and how they act, and I came to the realization that everybody, to a certain extent, wants to be the “star”. Everybody wants to be that guy or girl that everyone brags about knowing. Knowing this, I decided to make my brand the next “thing” that everyone who wanted to be “something” should be apart of to be considered “popular.” To achieve this, I made sure to post and make a big deal out of each and every customer I got, creating a much bigger illusion for others than reality. I looked at every single sale, even the message of hyping the brand up as an advertisement in and of itself. I sort of faked it till I made it. In the process of making a big deal, growing my social presence, reposting, and hyping up each and every sale I made, I eventually got to the point where I created the “wave.” Others who watched what I was doing were seeing people participating in the purchase of my brand’s clothing, and they willingly jumped on the wave so they wouldn’t feel as if they were getting left behind. They would repost and buy my clothing on their own, and eventually it got to the point where I didn’t even have to post any of the sales I made on my own; the customer would post and advertise it themselves. Building a wave is a very long process and takes multiple steps. They don’t always last forever; one wave may fall and end in a week, so you’d have to create another one and another on top of that. It’s sort of a rat race constantly creating content for others to watch that’ll push them to purchase. You have to be able to make something out of nothing to attract more customers. All in all, playing off of the human need to fit in and be the “star” was the most effective strategy for me in regards to building clientele any and everywhere I take me and my brand.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There were many times throughout my business journey where literally everything that could possibly fall apart fell apart. As a business owner, each and every time I’d face these circumstances, I’d have to find a way to get around them and weather the storm. One of the first instances of this type of problem happened during my summer 2023 season. I was expecting my hoodies to come in, but because of delays, I had to find a way to get some type of clothing out to my customers. The demand for my brand was rising at an extremely fast rate, and I didn’t have any supply for my customers. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s wasting money, and me not having clothes while people are consistently messaging me ready to spend money quite literally drove me crazy. With that being said, I spent many nights and days brainstorming the next move. In the spur of the moment, I finally came up with the decision to make my own T-shirts, “MONEYB$G” tees. For this drop, I utilized the various connections I’ve built from the networking and studying of the fashion industry in my city. To say the least, it was a hit and exceeded my expectations. I was using corner store shirts, printing on them, and flipping them for a little over double what I paid to produce them. It was during this process that I realized it’s not just the quality or the type of clothing; it’s honestly all about the name behind the brand and the hype behind it as well. If it weren’t for the “wave” that I built behind my brand, using each and every customer as an opportunity for an advertisement, I definitely would not have gotten nearly as many customers as I did. Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely ups and downs throughout the process. It wasn’t all peaches and gravy; I faced many obstacles. Machines would go down, bringing production to a full halt, and with orders pending, I had to find new printers. The new printers were horrible, and the T-shirts I got cost far more than my other printer. With a whole batch of shirts with printing that wasn’t up to par for me, I decided to negotiate with corner stores and drive-thru’s in my city to get my clothing in there for a discounted price. This really boosted my brand; my clothing was in the eyes of many more people, and many people who were on the fence ended up jumping right over and purchasing a piece. To sum everything up, this clothing brand business and just business in general will face many obstacles. You cannot let them hold you back or put you in a hole alone somewhere in the corner of your room. There were many times where I felt like giving up and moving on, but the passion I have for creating and changing my circumstance pushed me each and every time. I never gave up, and each challenge I faced I overcame. Now I have the intelligence, experience, and confidence to face any obstacle that comes my way from now on. The obstacles won’t ever stop, so I won’t ever quit.

Contact Info:

• Website: Realrichempire.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realrichempire.studio/
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@REALRICHEMPIRE

Image Credits
@Juice_visuals @goodlifestudios