Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shawn Owens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shawn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

MY STORY BEGINS LIKE THIS… There was a time where fashion took a break, and clothing or design of clothing had taken what i would call “A LEFT TURN”. This was around the year 2000, and i had t bought myself any new clothes for about a 4 year period because of what was in stores on the racks. Now this was on the heels of when WE(HIP HOP CULTURE) lost TUPAC & BIGGIE so the culture had been in limbo since 1998 to around 2005-6. During that time getting dressed especially for an occasion was A TASK, i usually ended up opting out because of it. Then in the summer of 2005 i was in need of work and i found a job at a very popular but dying company by the name BLOCKBUSTER warehouse, I was about 31 years old at the time. Well one day i had missed work but when I returned the following day my coworkers were telling me about a situation that took place the day before. It was actually comical what had happened, I responded with a remark, and then i told one of my coworkers “I GOING TO MAKE A SHIRT THAT SAYS THAT.” So at that point i went home and told my then ling time girlfriend what happened and what i was going to do. A short time after that we moved addresses but when we got to our new place, i sat down nightly thinking of how i was going to design this shirt. As i kept at it, i came up with a few other sayings, and the ball started rolling. But after the third night i was working at it and i said to myself, “THIS LOOKS LIKE IT COULD REALLY BE SOMETHING,” and i sat there and stared at the note pad and what i had written down, and thought about what i would call this. I played with a few names and then i settled on one. I wont say what it was because i still may apply it to my LINE in the near future lol. But as i came up with that, i sat and stated at the pad again. It ran threw my brain for a few days and then I had a realization that I could do something bigger and better than this because what i had at the time seemed to have no longevity and i wanted more. I wanted something that had a long shelf life so to speak. And at that point i pivoted and began to sketch random things that came to mind. Then my focus started to take aim and my mind started opening up. Now let me mention that im not now or have i ever been talented with drawing so i tried to get help from a couple people i knew that could draw. That ended up being more of a task so i took on the task myself. I said to myself as long as i can make what i want clear enough for the next step i should be ok, and i began to draw. Using anything around the house i could to make things as clear as possible so that nothing was lost in translation. So i decided i was going to develop a full on CLOTHING BRAND. And my first order of business was what was i going to call it… I sat in that chair for hours rambling off names that just didnt seem to roll off and that really fit what i was about to attempt. So I believe the next day i was at it again and a light went off in my head. I had been playing with SIGNITURE type logos and as i loomed at something i had on paper and it started speaking to me, kind of morphing in my face, and then the name came to me..”ESSDOT CASUAL” THAT WAS IT!!!💡 So the next day i called a young man by the name of PHILLIP PHILLIPS that worked at my daughters school that was really handy with computers and graphic design. I had told him what i was doing a week or two before and he said he’d love to help, so actually i dropped by his office at the school showed him what i had and he git just as excited as i was and we met up the next day at my house. He brought his laptop and supplies and as i showed him the logo i had settled on he began to put it together. But as he was working, taking every piece matching them up, i stopped him abruptly and yelled, “ STOP!!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!! THAS IT, THAYS MY LOGO!!!” It was the signiture “S” broken in four places with a circle or a “DOT” at the end. And at that point that was when ESSDOT CASUAL URBAN BRAND APPAREL WAS BORN. That was in 2007, Now fast forward to 2016… But in between i begun printing and trying different things that weren’t really working like i would like so i took several breaks from creating and i would just sit back and watch how the game was going in fashion. It was very unstable which propelled me to step back even more while i figured it out. So enter 2016 and i begin working at a Automotive warehouse where the setting in the dept. i was in was very music friendly. So as i got settled in and started my own routine a year in, i began to watch youtube videos in the daily while on the clock. I was attempting to gather information that would take what i was trying to do to the next level, and i found it!! I would look up people in the industry i revered and who i felt like were doing what i wanted to do. But then i started to watch docs and interviews on people who were in the music industry, not because i was trying get anything from it, i just like music and i was a fan of the people i was watching. Then one day as im watching ac couple of those interviews i heard something that resinated deeply. It was extwhat i needed to hear because it was the blueprint for what i needed to do with my not just my line but for my BRAND AS A WHOLE and the 💡went off again and i said to myself again..”THATS IT!!! I KNOW WHAT IM SUPPOSE TO DO NOW!! NOW I HAVE SOME DIRECTION!!” IM GOING TO INFUSE A MUSICAL COMPONENT!!! AND I WENT DOWN THE RABBIT WHOLE. Watching as many interviews and documentaries as i could until i was rewatching and taking hella notes until what i heard was burned into my brain and they became second nature. Now the supervisor at my job was a friend of mine and i bounced every idea i had off of him and he said to me, “BRO, YOU ON YO WAY, I SEE IT.” Now i knew nothing about music except that i liked it lol BUT, i had a whole host of family members that was alllll about the music. So maybe a month or two later once i got a game plan together i began to EXECUTE!! I didnt want to wait another second so i started reaching out to my family members. My cousin LIL FACE WILLIAMS💙🕊️RIP, my nephew Joeronte Gray(JOE FLOW) my cousin Deandrae Stevens(DRAE STEVES🕊️♥️RIP) my cousin RAYNARD GOLDSBY(4SEAS🕊️💙) i had just recently united with which is a whole nother story VERON GREEN (LOUIE SLUGGA). I would add a couple more later on but they were the nucleus. Everybody was on board 100%.. So at the beginning of 2018 i held a meeting at my apartment, ran the play by the team and two weeks later we were in the studio. I would name this conglomerate “THE KINGS TABLE” as our grandparents last name is KING. We would go to record our first project which was a album called “THE KINGS TABLE.. DIRECTING TRAFFIC VOL.1”. The group started having difficulties as things outside the music started taking place. Before we could get into the studio we lost LIL FACE to gun violence in 2018…. We would then lose D$(DRAE STEVES) 3 years later in 2021 to the same issue, and now on June 26th of this year 2024 we lost Raynard Goldsby( 4 SEAS) to illness. So needless to say ive been threw it. We now have 4 members left including myself but theres been setbacks that haven’t allowed is to record in over 4 years. But with every loss it has but a battery in my back to get to where we were suppose to get to together!! This last loss of my cousin Ray really hit the family hard because it was like we list DRAE all over again. Im tearing up now just writing this.😢 I learned so much from them about music and about studio life, they made me the person i am today in the studio. Im doing things i never thought i could or would do.. Im so greatful for them i wouldnt be here if it wasnt for them, ESPECIALLY SEASONS. Whatever comes from this i owe it all to him!!

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 SHAWN OWENS, also known as “ESSDOT” I am the owner and CEO of ESSDOT CASUAL CLOTHING & I am also the OWNER & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER at “CASUAL MUSIC”. Im a Barber by trade but FASHION AND MUSIC ARE MY PASSIONS. How i began my journey in the fashion industry in 2007 was basically behind a two year drought where i hadn’t purchased any new wears simply because i didn’t like where “INNER CITY” fashion was at the time. Its was a bunch of loud colors with no direction or meaning, it just felt like no one cared anymore. So along with a few situations that pushed me towards my purpose ESSDOT CASUAL URBAND BRAND APPAREL was born. We have endured alot of ups and downs trying to figure it out and now that we have done that we look forward to providing our target audience with what it is they deserve so we never have to experience a time period like 200-2005 again. We are in the process of rebuilding our Production process as well as updating our website so we can provide the ultimate EXPERIENCE for our patrons. As for the MUSIC side of things, I began that journey in 2017 with an idea i had to support the clothing side of our brand. With the help of some very talented family members.. Two nephews and 3 cousins, i formulated a group called “THE KINGS TABLE” and we release our first project as a unit in 2019 tittled “DIRECTING TRAFFIC VOL.1”. I was green when it came to the music but so i leaned in my experienced family members to help me navigate threw it. And from that first trip to the studio i was locked in and i haven’t looked back. Since that time ive EXECUTIVE PRODUCED 14 projects and counting. The amazing thing is that my work has been received and respected to a point I couldn’t have ever thought. Im just a late bloomer that wanted to try to make a way out of no way and bring my family along with me. At the root of it all thas what i am, a FAMILY MAN.. what i do i do for the ONES I LOVE. This whole thing is bigger than me. Outside of making clothing and music, on both sides we offer some consulting, we help with marketing strategies, A&R work for projects, Executive Producing of course, we handle Beats acquisition, Studio booking, Promotion, Song distribution and cool stuff like that. One thing about me is that what you see is what you get, im a throwback with real life morals, im a CANCER/LEO so integrity, honesty, accountability, and family values are high on my list, and these are words i frame my life around, so when you deal with me these are the things you will see in what ever it is we build!! Im a realist so i take everything for what it is. But on the other side im a hustler and i dont do alot of talking, i like to move in silence until its time not to, And youll rarely hear me speak about myself, or my accomplishments, id rather let my work, and the people speak. Overall my brand is a Lifestyle brand, Yes. But our focus is to inspire self worth, not MONETARY VALUE.. We want to set the tone that we are more than GOLD CHAINS, 40 oz’s, Gold Fronts, Athletes, RAPPERS, and CRIMINALS!! WE ARE BUSINESSMEN, FATHERS, HUSBANDS, UNCLES, LAWYERS, TAXPAYERS, ROLE MODELS, COUNSELORS ,AND PILLARS IN OUR COMMUNITIES!! JUST KEEP YA EYE ON US AND LET ME SHOW YOU!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY!!#ESSESUP

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The best effective strategy that brings me attention has been networking and being lucky enough to come across the right people. Because what i’ve learned is that alot of this is about WHO YOU KNOW.. AKA “RELATIONSHIPS”. Because relationships can get you in places money cant, plus at some point money runs short if not out, Relationships have the potential for forever. And also i would say Persistence, you gotta stay at it even when you don’t feel like it, and that’s something i still struggle with myself, but thats how i know lol. But what keeps me on track is that ive had people tell me how much they admire the persistence because it translates to the public as “CONSISTENCY”!! And that’s a good thing😉

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

So when i started to work on the first music project “DIRECTING TRAFFIC VOL.1” we were about 80% finished with the recording process so it was time for me to start thinking about a cover for the album. So one of my cousins, SEAS’s big brother actually Marshawn Lewis had told me a while before that about an app for business needs that had good work for the player price, and I remembered that so i went into my phone, found the app and proceeded to look threw it. I find the section i was looking for and began to filter threw the designers.. I found two or three, and i contacted two of the three, the first person was a female whos work i liked but it took her forever to get back to me, but look how GOD WORKS… the second one responded but I didn’t, something told me to contact the third person, so i did. That person was JASON SOTO of HARLEM N.Y. I told him what i needed with the details, and he got back to me with a design that was alright but not quite it. So i let him know and he said, “OK ILL GET BACK AT YOU.” I said ok. Then i think it was about 6:00 in the morning pst when i got a text that said i had a message on the app. Then i got a email alert, ot was Jason telling me to check my email. So all groggy i go into the app and i see this new cover. AND THIS WAS THE ONE!!! So i wake my wife up excited to show her, and then I check my email with all the files. So i text him to thank him and i pay him and he gives me his number which was against policy for being a provider on the app but he did it anyway, and he told me anything i need in that tip he got me and don’t hesitate to call. From that point he has been my Art and Promotions director!! He takes care of all my artistic needs on the promo and media side. He’s such a big part of what i do, he’s really the backbone that makes this thing i do look like its suppose to. The advise he’s given, to the looks he’s provided when he definitely didn’t have to including this one. Im probably one of the only West Coast artists to play regularly on his radio show, and the attention and connections im making threw that has been eye opening. And its funny, whenever im not really feelin it, or im in a low vibration, i STG NO CAP my phone will ring or my text messages goes off and itll be him. And it’ll say somn like “Im just checkin in on you makin sure you good” or he’ll just remind me of who i am, what ive done, and where im headed and it’ll wake me right up. He need to be a Motivational speaker lol. Because you know we all have our days when we question ourselves or we don’t feel our worth, but he’s always there to give me some perspective on my position and my potential. I never question anything he says because i know where it comes from, and its always good game. And now we about 7 years/20 projects in & counting. And we’ve created some great bodies of work together but i feel like we just getting started. I think God willing we have a long way to go and whats about to come with it neither one of us can probably fathom. Its like i said before about this business being more of who you know or who you’re aligned with, talent is secondary.. You don’t need 100 people around you to make it go, YOU JUST NEED THE RIGHT PEOPLE AROUND YOU and i got one of the best there is!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: Under construction
• Instagram: @therealessdot
• Facebook: Shawn Owens
• Twitter: @iamessdot
• Youtube: ESSDOT CASUAL
• Other: Check out my ArtistPage: https://unitedmasters.com/casualmusic

Image Credits

PHOTO CREDITS:

EDMG (ESSDOT MEDIA GROUP)

RAP OLYMPUS MEDIA