We recently connected with Tiffany & Isaiah Hamilton and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany & Isaiah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Did you know that 85% of autistic individuals are either unemployed or underemployed?

That’s an alarming problem we are trying to solve with Victor Wear – our new inspirational activewear brand dedicated to empowering and employing the autism community. We sell stylish, colorful tees and hoodies with inspiring slogans and our signature “VW” flame logo. And we aspire to grow and create jobs for neurodiverse individuals. In fact, we want our brand to be a leading employer of people with differing abilities.

Just imagine…a brand as iconic as Nike, but centered on overcoming obstacles and largely operated by people with differing abilities. This is what we aspire to with Victor Wear. By garnering widespread love and support, akin to major brands like Nike, we aim to change perceptions, foster inclusivity, and effect change.

The company was founded by yours truly, mama-preneur Tiffany Hamilton, and my teenage son, Isaiah Hamilton, who’s the inspiration behind Victor Wear. Today, Isaiah is a straight A student, gold-medal winning swimmer, talented artist, competitive bowler, and video game designer/coder. But despite his many talents, Isaiah, like the vast majority of autistic people, will face high rates of unemployment and underemployment in the working world. It’s a reality we’ve worked our entire lives to rise above.

Our Victor-ious Autism Journey
Early on, Isaiah faced issues with communicating, making new friends, succeeding academically in large classes, and feeling ashamed of being “different.” He started early intervention therapies at just 12 months old and went to five schools before we found the right educational formula that worked for his learning needs. Throughout his teenage years, he struggled with bullying, anxiety issues and confidence.

And he wasn’t alone. I, too, struggled! I had to realize that I could never change Isaiah’s autism – no matter how many schools, or therapists, or other specialists I threw at it. Nor could I change any of the other challenges life threw at me. Isaiah and I had to learn how to accept our challenges, live with them and make the best of our lives, where we were, with what we had.

And through it all, we’ve worked hard. Fought hard. Remained committed. Persistent. Determined. We have survived and thrived because of our commitment to self-acceptance and perseverance. And through our brand, we empower anyone – regardless of ability or circumstance – to find their victory

Our Theory of Change
Our vision is to create a more inclusive world – where people with disabilities are seen, heard, understood, accepted and respected. Achieving these goals depends on dismantling stigma around disability, driving awareness and proving the extraordinary things people with disABILITIES can do.

By becoming a highly profitable and popular enterprise run primarily by people with differing abilities, we can change the disability narrative and create a more inclusive world for all.

Tiffany & Isaiah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Products we sell
Bright, bold colorful tees, hoodies and pins with inspiring slogans and our signature “VW” flame logo.
Our best sellers include our signature VW Flame logo
Victorious
Be All In, Go All Out
Rise Above It

We are launching a new collection 7 new designs in November, which we will share with you very soon.

Problems we are trying to solve
Unemployment in the autism community: We didn’t intend to be fashion designers. Not sure if that’s even what we consider ourselves to be. We just wanted to create a product that could reach the masses and become popular, so the world could see the amazing things that people with disabilities are doing and can do in business and in life. Brands have a lot of power to shape hearts and minds. And through our brand, we aim to make society more inclusive and accepting overall – especially when it comes to people with disabilities.
Easy way to give back: Our customers are generally caring parents, especially mothers, who may or may not have experience with disabilities (such as being a parent of an autistic child.) Teachers also tend to love our brand. Many are busy professionals who are looking for easy ways to give back but who may not have the time to volunteer. By purchasing our shirts, they contribute to bringing our vision for change to life. It’s an easy way for these folks to look good, feel good and DO good.

What sets us apart
Definitely our story. It’s our story. Our lives. It belongs to us. And it’s a story that seems to resonate with a lot of people. A story of struggle and triumph. The story of a mother’s love for her son and determination to do anything to help him succeed. And the story of resilient autistic young man who went from being bullied, struggling with his confidence and self-esteem, and having difficulties accepting his own disability and succeeding in school – to embracing his own power, finding passions like video game design, bowling, swimming and art that made him feel confident in himself and today…thriving as a video game design major in college. It was a journey that took lots of schools, therapies, hard work and commitment. And we are still on this journey together. It can be so hard navigating autism and all the twists and turns. You go from the highest highs to the lowest lows, but you have to hang in there and not give up. That’s now you become victorious
Commitment to employing neurodiverse talent
Trademarked name and logo – and our logo is dope!
Victor Wear Expo – our annual employment expo and disabled-led business showcase

Tiffany: The biggest thing I am proud of is the change it has made in my son’s life. He is so proud of our business and is our most passionate brand ambassador. His word-of-mouth
marketing has helped get so many new customers. His confidence has skyrocketed. He is connecting the dots and understanding what work means while embracing his uniqueness and feeling empowered. I know that we can have that same impact on many other autistic individuals – and in the process, I believe we can create a more inclusive world.

Isaiah: We want Victor Wear to be an inspiration for other businesses. We want to show that people with differing abilities and autism are capable and deserve a world where there is no discrimination. The more employers will see and know people with disabilities are more than what they think they are – they will believe in them. I am proud to be a part of
that. It makes me feel victorious!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Our whole story, our autism journey together is all about resilience. In fact, our brand revolves around the idea of being a victor, who we define as those who overcome obstacles through grit and determination. That has been our autism journey together and I’d describe that as our business journey as well. It has been very hard to get funding as a black-owned, disabled-led start-up. And we’ve had to rethink how we are showing up as a company, evaluate if we should remain a for-profit or non-profit and really figure out how to sell our product and where it fits in the marketplace. We are still figuring it out but we’ve had some amazing resources at our disposal: SCORE, the SBDC, 2gether International and SeedSpot. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to stay humble and know that you don’t know what you don’t know. But there are people and resources out there to help. You have to be 100% committed to learning and never giving up.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think we’ve had to unlearn traditional ways of defining success. If we defined success as making millions and having tens of thousands of followers, we would feel unsuccessful – because we are just not there yet. And who knows if we will ever be. But if we define success as staying committed to our mission, inspiring others and creating work opportunities, then we’d say we’ve been very successful and we have so much promise for achieving more. You have to define success in a way that keeps you motivated. You have to celebrate the small wins. Because those wins add up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://victorwear.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victorwearco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorwearco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/victorwear
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@victorwearco — Just launched page

Image Credits

Tony Lake Photography LLC