We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gabriel Gardner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
I believe that the most important things you need to be successful is passion. Passion is the bridge to success. Without it, you don’t have the drive, ambition or hustle to accomplish your goals and make strides in whatever your focus is in. Passion is what helps you get through those rough periods where you aren’t making sales or dealing with difficulties in the business. People who are passionate are also able to fulfill their wants and needs, big or small.
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 was born and raised in Jackson, MS. I had a pretty normal childhood with a lo of support from family growing up. I graduated from Jim Hill High School n 2016 as the valedictorian of my class. I went on to receive my undergraduate degree from Alcorn State University as well as a master’s degree from Jackson State University.
I started my brand during my senior year at Alcorn State. Throughout my undergraduate years, I was doing flyers and graphics for organizations and people so I’ve always had a creative mind set. Even before then, I was in the band and made beats so being creative was a part of me since a kid. One day, during a class, I randomly made a logo. When I was showing it to my friends they told me “That’ll be a cold design for a shirt”. I never thought about starting a brand before then but something clicked in my head and I began to do my research on starting a brand. After I convinced myself to start one, I invested $700, ordered blank shirts, and had a printing company put that same logo on the shirt. This was the creation of Take Risks, Apply Pressure.
I had big aspirations for my clothing brand and growing it on campus but, shortly after, COVID came and changed my plans. With everything shutting down, it was hard for me to figure out what were my next steps. I started promoting and pushing my brand on social media to see what the reactions would be. Once I started to sale things, I noticed the following of the brand growing from just friends and family to customers all over the United States. Once I realized that this brand could be bigger, I took a step back and rebranded to what it is now, Trap Luxury.
I rebranded to Trap Luxury because I wanted to create a universal brand anyone of any parts of life could relate to. I took the time to source out the best quality garments and designs all for an affordable price. Over the years I’ve had many celebrities, artists, and professional athletes to wear my brand. K Camp (Recording Artist), Daniel Gafford (Professional Basketball Player), and Duke Dennis (Streamer) are some of the few that have worn the brand.
I tell anyone that Trap Luxury is for anyone. The goal is for each customer to wear our pieces and feel good about their purchase. Each customer plays an important part in building the brand to be a household name in the world of fashion. Also, the brand is an inspiration to the youth to just take that leap of faith with their creativity.
How’d you meet your business partner?
Well Ace is practically like my brother. We’ve known each other since elementary school. From kindergarten through 12th grade, we were at the same schools and in the same classes. We played sports together. We had a music group together. I can write a whole book about our friendship to be honest. Demetrius has always had a creative eye as well and a passion for business. It was only fitting to add him to the brand because why not? The great thing about our partnership and friendship is the honesty. If he’s not feeling something, he will tell me and vice versa. In business, you need someone to play “devil’s advocate” because that what happens in the real world. Everyone is not gonna like a product you may put out so if you’re getting that same honesty with the person you work with, it helps you push past that.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I think the best strategy for the brand growing clientele is putting it in the right hands. We live in a social media age where a lot of people rely on social media for news, trends etc. So in the world of fashion, people are wearing what they see on those with status. If you give LeBron James a Trap Luxury shirt, millions of people are gonna wonder where he got the shirt from, thus bringing you more clientele because they want what he have. Being from Mississippi, it is a little more challenging to do that due to the lack of “high profile” attention we get cities like Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, or anywhere that receives a lot of celebrity traction. So anytime I hear about someone famous being here, I make moves to get the brand to them. I also reach out to stylist and managers as a way to getting it to those people as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.trapluxury.us
- Instagram: @trapluxuryus
Image Credits
Instgram: @rjg_jpeg