Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kyle Fitzgerald. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kyle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
The idea for Alabanza was born during my sophomore year at Hampton University. I remember sitting on my tiny twin XL bed when the light bulb went off. My honors professor had given me an assignment for my community service class. The task was to design a community service program, and I cleverly imagined a way to mix my joy for music, faith, and friendship. I longed to make friends and mingle like most young adults in college, but I ran into a huge problem. Every “cool” opportunity was off campus. The popular place was called the “Harbors.” It was an apartment complex just off campus. It was far enough to where the school had no jurisdiction but close enough to walk. There you were sure to find friends but also negative influences such as drugs, alcohol abuse, as well as remarkably inappropriate music. I thought about going, yet my school was extremely strict. Even though the Harbors weren’t technically on campus, the school could still enforce punishment from police reports. We had a saying at Hampton, “Out by 5:00 pm,” meaning that you could literally be out of school by 5:00 pm. The school reserved the right to kick a student out of school, and you would have needed to have all your things out of your room by 5:00 pm. I was terrified of getting kicked out because I would hate to have to tell my parents that I needed a plane ticket home because I got kicked out of school over a dumb party. Also, did I forget to mention that if you get kicked out, you don’t get any refund of your tuition?
So with all this that in mind, I said, “Self,” and then I said, “Huh,” and I said, “Wouldn’t it be phenomenal if there was a place where young adults like me could go party but be safe!?” I feel as though there are tons of youth who get into trouble that carries considerable consequences just from being guilty by association. Fun isn’t harmful or wrong, but it often gets tarnished with negative elements. So Beautiful Music Over Organized Noise (B.M.O.O.N) was born! It was a Christian hip-hop club that I hosted. I knew to scale my extracurricular club into a full-blown movement, I needed lots of money, and I believed that I could earn the required capital rather than filing for a business loan. So I jumped and decided to start designing apparel to finance my dream! I decided to call the company Alabanza because it means to give praise in Spanish, which I learned after watching “In the Heights Musical,” and because it sounds way better than B.M.O.O.N!
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 Kyle Fitzgerald, and I’m simply a child of God who believes that faith and fun belong together. I’m like 20-something years old with a humble soul! I started Alabanza hoping to show youth that Christianity doesn’t have to be boring but the most phenomenal adventure of your life!
I desire Alabanza Apparel to be more than just a clothing brand because there are already tons of clothing brands out there. However, none with the mission Alabanza is shooting for. I pray that Alabanza grows into a lifestyle through the basis of clothing. Alabanza will plant seeds in Christians and non-Christians through the influence of apparel, music, and experiences. Alabanza Apparel will finance a safe place where Christians and non-Christians can have fun while making friends. Clothing and retail are just the beginning of Alabanza Apparel’s mission. From our sales, we want to create a Christian Kickback on a regular basis. Youth ministries at Churches sometimes have events that Alabanza will have, but they only happen on occasion. Alabanza will essentially be a Christian club that welcomes non-Christians and even positive non-religious music.
This idea was born in college because I longed to make friends and socialize like most young adults; However, I also wanted to sidestep negative influences such as drugs and music. Alabanza will be a force for joy and holiness in a community where youth can do what they were born to do, socialize and enjoy life with God on their side.
Currently, we sell T-shirts and accessories like backpacks. We want to expand in the apparel & accessories world to hoodies, bottoms, jackets, stickers, mugs, blankets, and more!
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
It all happened 27 years ago on my birthday when I met Mom & Dad. My co-founders are my parents, who invested in Alabanza to afford the initial capital to purchase the business license to help get Alabanza on its feet. My parents have been highly supportive of my business, providing not only funds but also ideas and inspiration. Another “honorary” co-founder is my wonderful Fiancé, as she was the one who convinced me to leap and go after my dream. I met her through a Christian dating app about three years ago, and we’ve been together ever since. She has given me hope and dedication when my cup was low, and I felt as though my idea was worthless. I would tell future small business owners to look inward into finding investors, both with money and morale. I would ask them who are the people who already believe in you?
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
I currently use a business model called print on demand or P.O.D. This model was the best choice for my financial situation and starting a new business. With P.O.D., I avoid manufacturing, storing, and shipping my product. I also avoid the fear of investing a lot of capital into a shirt design that doesn’t sell. With P.O.D, the product is only made when a customer places an order. The cons to P.O.D is that the profit margin is low, but I plan to use this to get started. Once I see that I can sell, I plan to expand to a dropshipping model where I would have a higher margin by storing products stored and shipping them by a third party.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alabanzaapparel.com
- Instagram: alabanzaapparel
- Facebook: Alabanza Apparel
- Other: link tree: https://linktr.ee/Alabanza_llc Tik Tok: alabanzaapparel