We recently connected with Dareil Irby and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dareil, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later
Absolutely, much Sooner !!!!, without question…I honestly wish I would’ve started both f.Aa.T Brand & SURF Collective Management in high school, I had everything except the staff and names of the companies (laughs), and well of course the artist. However, that’s how the universe aligns things, I can’t question it, I just roll with it. I’ve honestly spent A LOT of time, energy, and money invested in other peoples dreams/visions, and that’s where my delay was. Planning and executing for others, and while I enjoy the process, you often find yourself at the will of your partner/clients, their emotions, their change of plans, their personal shit, their direction. And while it’s all part of the game, it’s very counter productive, and usually ends up with zero results. I’m no longer interested, I’m only working with like minded individuals. Both f.Aa.T and SURF will grow from there, I have no doubts. I’m into esthetics, most people just hurl shit at the wall and see if it sticks, and if it sticks, they run with it full throttle. Not over here, I’m into the complete look, the full flow, visual and crafting of the product we’re selling. From album art to music to fashion to cannabis. Fly $H!T Only !!!
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 a true 80s baby that experienced the 90s as a teenager, unobtainable fashion and pop culture were all around me, and I was simply enamored. With f.Aa.T. Brand being the streetwear leg and SURF Collective being the musical component, I wanted to encompass everything that represents me. From the record, to the song artwork, visuals, to merchandise. It’s all about the esthetics, a lot of people just slap designs and fonts on clothing and call it fashion. Even with the music, most artist have no identity so they spend their time doing the most to “make it”, following social media trends, and mimicking others. They become a hamster in a wheel, usually resulting in a burn out. To each it’s own, but I’m into the look, the overall “dopeness” of it all.
f.Aa.T Brand has a clothing look book that I begin sketching in late 2021, however I placed that on hold for another project. I move with the universe, so I feel the timing is right for f.Aa.T Brand’s pieces to be seen by the public. Again the esthetics matter on this side, from the hand picked models to the camera lense chosen it’s all synergy, all my vision. I’m not looking to appeal to the masses, just the like minded. With SURF Collective Management, it’s the same artistic concept, we’re really not even management in the traditional music business sense, we just want to help artist curate their “dopeness”. From the music down to the merch, we want to capture the feeling of cool, and authentic. If your dope, the SURF will find you. Our first partnership is with Baltimore based hip-hop artist PHANNUM, he’s the most complete artist I’ve ever been around, he just gets it, and that’s so critical to the process. Everything he does is art, he recently had a run in with local law enforcement, we conceptualized it and turned it into a beautiful visual. That’s what I always set out to do, capture the art first.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
That working hard leads to success. I worked diligently on a music festival project for the first nine months of 2022, morning, noon, and night. I literally ate, slept, and dreamt about this festival. Daily Zoom meetings, FaceTime conferences, texts/emails and constant phone calls. Valuable time spent away from my wife and kids. And still took a MAJOR “L” in the end. However, I was provided with a festival blueprint and now that I have the playbook, the plays can be run PROPERLY, I’d love to throw a SURF FEST, but only curated by our team. So a lesson I had to unlearn is that sometimes all hard work leads to is another valuable lesson learned. And I was vividly reminded of two; trust YOUR vision, and two, trust YOUR F*CKING VISION ONLY !!!!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes, Every entrepreneur no matter your forte, should read Gary Zukav’s “Seat Of The Soul”. It’ll completely shift your perception of the world around you, how you engage with everyday society, and help you comprehend how life’s many complexities shape our existence. From a philosophical standpoint, its an awesome read.
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