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

Christian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Here at Spinny Brand Co., the mission is our entire blueprint for the company. The reason why the brand was created, and what it can do for society. Here is our mission, “Our brand is based off two ideas, consisting of “Enable the Disabled”, and “Rewrite the Assumptions”. We want to create representation for those who are handicapped, disabled, or have special needs. Building a brand for them, by someone in similar situation. In hopes to instill, and encourage those to take a chance, and embrace their disability. So that they learn who they are beyond it, and embrace their fullest potential. While helping them realize that this world is vast, and there is a place for them in society. By spreading this message, we hope to rewrite those assumptions that negatively connotate those that handicap, disabled, and blessed to be different.

With this clothing brand, we believe we can be a pillar of change. This is our goal, and together, disabled or not, we can make a difference.”

Over the past few years, I’ve been able to create a brand for myself and my toy business. Spinners Toys & Collectibles was created in 2019, and has grown a lot since then. I went from selling at small local shows, to now selling at big conventions across the state of Texas, and am preparing to visit other states in the year to come. Throughout my career, I’ve never fully ignored, but never embraced the face that I am a businessperson, in a wheelchair. I never really tried to draw attention to it, even though it was obvious. Even the name “spinners” wasn’t exactly intentional in regards to me being in a wheelchair, it just kind of worked that way. But I feel as time has gone on, I’ve grown and see the world differently.

What I’ve seen is that, there aren’t many organizations, businesses, clothings brands, movies, music, etc, run or marketed or accommodating to handicap/disabled/special needs people. Not to say, that accommodations aren’t met, but the requirements met, are always the bare minimum. I started to see that there’s many assumptions by people, who are not disabled, nor have anyone close to them who are. Many of these assumptions are that, disabled people don’t exactly live lives, the way normal people do, or perhaps maybe not even at all. Assumptions such as we don’t go out or have fun, or stay out past a certain time. That people in wheelchairs, “can’t feel our legs” even tho there are many factors as to why we are chair bound, or don’t have full movement. That we don’t have a voice, when it comes to speaking up for ourselves. Yet when we do, we come across as bitter, angry, seeking empathy or feeling sorry for ourselves. That we can’t be independent and accomplish things on our own. That we aren’t mentally sound enough to be our own person and separate ourselves from our disabilities. These and so much more. The disability itself doesn’t define us, it’s just a characteristic of us that we can either ignore or embrace.

Because of these factors. I decided to start my own clothing brand. A new brand is upon us. Directed, marketed, towards those disabled. An accumulation of jokes, slogans, taglines, graphics, and even stories told on clothing from people who are disabled or handicapped in some way. Doesn’t have to be physical. Any disability under the sun. The stories deserve to be told. Whether it’s by them or a loved one. A clothing line where those who are fortunate to be blessed with the gift of being different, can feel represented. Representation isn’t just about being seen, it’s about being chosen. In this case, chosen to show that there is more to be offered to this world than your societal norms. A clothing line created to enable the disabled, spark confidence in those who feel like they are being held down by their disability, and show representation in society, and rewrite those assumptions that are put onto those that are disabled. That boundaries can be broken, and those different can make an impact. Actions speak louder than words, but words can be a haven for those unable to act themselves.

You do not have to be disabled to support. You just have to have an open mind and believe that changes can and need to be made. I have high hopes for this, and whether it takes off or not, I am glad to be able to say I tried. Since I started the brand, many people have supported the cause. Either from someone who is either disabled, or has someone in their family who is disabled, or even just wanting to support the movement. The support has been amazing, and we are growing. We aren’t big yet, and my focus is split between so many avenues, from my toy business, my event business, and life as a whole. Although, Spinny Brand Co. is my baby. It will take off, and it will grow. The world will hear us, and hopefully, we can have some effect on the world. I believe in it, I believe in my community, and I believe in myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Spinny Brand Co. is an idea I’ve had in my head for about 3 years. Back when Covid and lockdown was going on, I had a lot of time to think about life, my career, my legacy. For about 4 years before this, I have been selling toys and collectibles. I was already the owner of my Toy business, called Spinners Toys & Collectibles. I had grown somewhat of a following by that time, but nothing crazy. I was in a place where I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue doing this, once life went back to…”normal”. I’ve been running my toy business for about 7 years now, but seriously for the last 3 years. I started up at small, one day, few hour events here and there. Just as a side hobby, something fun for me. As time went by, the business grew, and 7 years later I am now at events that I couldn’t fathom attending as a vendor. It’s truly been a blessing and an experience, that I wouldn’t trade for the world. It definitely wasn’t easy. I had to learn to talk to people, understand people’s thought process, negotiate, bargain, sell, and so much more. But, one thing I’ve never wanted to shy away from was authenticity. I will always be me. No matter what I do, I will not change, or be someone I’m not. I can definitely say I’m different. I won’t force a conversation with someone who doesn’t want too, I won’t put on a persona that is different, from when I’m not out there working. And I will always try to do right by people. As I believe other people should do by each other. That’s why I created Spinny Brand Co. To create something that can both encourage those, who maybe lack the confidence, or drive to put themselves out there. But also create a society where everyone is accepted by each other, and understand each other, without the pre assumptions.

So I started brainstorming new ideas, things I wanted to do, things I would be proud of. I already was doing design and graphic work on the side. But, somehow it’s not as fulfilling doing work for other people, besides the proudness you feel, when you see in that logo or design being used by the client. Eventually I started thinking about possibly starting my own clothing line. Partially because I had released a new logo for myself, and sold shirts containing this logo. I enjoyed the feeling of seeing my logo on a shirt, and it made me start looking into the idea a little more. After some light brainstorming, the idea of starting a clothing line, marketed toward those who are disabled and handicapped. I wanted to create something for us. For people, who were like me. Dealt with limitations their whole life, pushed through, and continued to go on. Yet, somehow didn’t always feel fully part of society. Eventually, I spoke to a friend about the idea, and he hit me with those hard questions. Who’s your target audience, how am I going to do it, what exactly was the brand going to be. Ultimately a bunch of questions, that I didn’t have the answer too. I ended up putting the idea on the back burner. Things in the world started to normalize a bit.

Toy shows started up again, and business began to pick up. Fast forward to December 2022, about 2 years later, and my toy business is thriving. Since then, I’ve attended a bunch of conventions, throw my own events, cross items off my bucket list, and overall found success, and began to be too busy to even think about a clothing line.

But this past November/December, something was different. For some reason, I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, even though I was fully booked for the final quarter. But I realized, I didn’t mean doing enough for me, but for society. For my community. For the people like me. Out of nowhere, the clothing line popped back into my head. I realized it was time, and here we are, 7 months later!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The things you really have to teach yourself to not do, in both business, and your daily life, is too not be a people pleaser, don’t listen to the hate, and don’t compare yourself to others. I don’t mean don’t take advice, or ignore your customers and following. But besides the people who are with you on the journey, seeing how much work is put in, noone really knows the efforts that go into both running YOUR business, and building YOUR brand. There’s many people out there who are constantly waiting for the big break, or for the opportunities to come to them. The thing is, you have to work hard, and constantly, for anyone to even notice. And even when people do start to notice, that doesn’t mean you now can take a break. You keep working hard, until you’re satisfied. Until then, keep at it, and good things will come.

But with all good things, there’s always bad. Always someone wishing negativity on you and your ethic and success. I’ve been told, “oh don’t you think you’re doing too much”, “why are you doing this, you always doing something crazy”, and the “you think you big now”. As someone trying to build something, you have too ignore all these things. Stop looking for approval from others on how to run your own business. Everyone’s experience is different, and we all have different journeys to success, and failure. The journey is beautiful, and without failures, there is no growth. We will not always win, those losses come. They can definitely hurt. But dwelling on them, will get you nowhere. I had to learn that. I had to learn that what I’m going through, I’m going through, and whether I’m successful or not, I can say I made the effort. If I do fail, I’ll pivot, and go a different direction. There’s never going to be a “well it didn’t work out, so I’m not going to do it.” It’s always a, this way didn’t work, so here’s my solution to improve the situation. These are the ways we grow as people, and mature in our careers. You don’t level up by repeating the same challenge in a game. You beat that challenge and go to the next one. The win doesn’t have to be perfect free of obstacles either, as long as you overcome it. There’s no perfect journey, nothing is perfect, because within perfection there’s no room left to grow. And isn’t constantly growing, what we’re after?

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This goes back to me being in a wheelchair I think. By no means am I saying I’m successful because of my disability. For the first 3/4 years of me selling, it wasn’t even really mentioned. But it wasn’t until I fully committed to the business, that I started to realize that I was making a sort of impact. The reason I say this, is because for the past 3 years, I’ve been working nonstop. Committing all my time to events, my brand, my clothes, and everything in between. I rarely rest, I don’t usually have weeks off, and I’m everywhere, in terms of events. For the past year, I’ve been getting alot of compliments on my work ethic by my supporters. Telling me, they see what I’m doing and respect it. That they feel inspired by what I’m doing, and that I inspire them to keep working hard at their business, or brand. Mentioning, that many, able bodied people, don’t work as hard as me. While I don’t sit here with the mentality that I’m an inspiration, I can appreciate it people see me that way. If my work ethic can inspire others to get up and work themselves, I’m completely fine holding that responsibility. That just makes me want to work even harder for them, and my self. I love seeing people put effort into themselves and their brand. People who go out searching for their next challenge. And I want that for my community. The disabled community. I want people like me to be confident, that the world around them in all their endeavors, and welcome them with open arms. There’s not enough of us out in the world, kicking ass, and there needs to be!        

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spinnybrand.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinnybrandco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpinnyBrandCo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-leal-09aa331a9/