How Patience and Self-Teaching Turned a Young Boy into a Global Fashion Brand with Darius White

Building a Fashion Brand on Your Own Terms: The Journey of DW Styles

Note: This episode includes some audio difficulties, but the conversation is still fully worth the listen.

Discover how self-taught designer and entrepreneur Darius White, known as DW Styles, quietly built a global fashion presence from South Bend, Indiana. Through patience, resilience, and unwavering belief, DW shares his story of overcoming skepticism as a Black male designer, reinventing his business during the pandemic, and dreaming big for the future of his brand.

In this episode:

• DW’s early fascination with fashion and the importance of silhouettes over celebrity admiration
• The philosophy of designing for everyone, not a narrow demographic
• His self-taught journey into sewing and why he avoided traditional fashion school
• Building confidence and patience while waiting for the right timing
• Navigating skepticism as a Black male designer in a still-evolving industry
• The innovation behind his pop-up sitting shops during COVID and quick execution mindset
• How he maintains emotional discipline and trust-building with clients
• The power of creativity fused with technical skill in product development
• His experience walking into New York Fashion Week and the significance of belonging
• Crafting a community impact through partnerships like Black Rodeo and sustainability efforts with Goodwill
• His vision for the next five years: a sewing academy, manufacturing, and small capsule collections
• The importance of belief, perseverance, and vision in shaping a life on your own terms

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome and introduction to DW Styles and his journey

02:13 - How DW’s early experiences shaped his design philosophy

03:58 - Seeing potential in fashion beyond conventional influences

05:52 - Designing for the world, not just for a niche audience

07:45 - Self-taught sewing: freedom versus formal education

09:08 - Patience in waiting for the right time to grow

10:45 - Overcoming skepticism as a Black male designer

12:11 - Building resilience and reinventing during the pandemic

14:12 - The importance of freedom and creativity in design practices

15:35 - Recognizing mastery and continuous learning

19:02 - Walking into New York Fashion Week and feeling belonging

21:43 - The delayed but impactful journey of success

23:54 - Letting fabric and material guide the creative process

26:39 - Combining skill with creativity for limitless potential

33:40 - The story behind his pop-up sit-and-shop during COVID

42:20 - The emotional and trust-building aspects of styling clients

47:12 - Fashion as an intimate, trust-based relationship

57:49 - Sustainability rooted in personal history with Goodwill

62:47 - Future vision: a sewing academy and manufacturing hub

71:14 - The importance of belief and faith in entrepreneurial success

72:43 - Final thoughts and encouragement to follow personal visions

Resources & Links:

• DW Styles Website 
• Black Rodeo
• The Self Discovery Blueprint 
• The Mental Edge Coherence Diagnostic 
• Books That Built the Life 
• Wanting to learn more about The Coherence Program? Email podcast host directly at thisisthelifeispodcast@gmail.com

Connect with DW Styles:

• Instagram: DW Styles
• DW Styles on TikTok
• DW's Linktree 
• Work with DW
• Kristo Jabari Collection 

Remember: Your vision is valid. Quiet the noise, believe in yourself, and take action. The transparency of DW’s journey reminds us that persistence, authenticity, and continuous learning are key ingredients to building a life on your own creative and entrepreneurial terms.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Life Is Podcast, where creativity, culture, mindset, and intentional living come together through real conversation. I'm your host, Cloy Brown. Each week I sit down with entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, travelers, and visionaries who didn't stumble into a life they love, they built it. We go deep into how they think, how they reconstructed themselves, and what became possible on the other side. This is not just about what people have accomplished, it's about the internal work that made it sustainable. Because when you build from the inside out, life expands. Let's get into it. This week, I'm sitting down with someone who's been building something from scratch, stitch by stitch, show by show, platform by platform, for over a decade. DW is the designer behind DW Styles, a fashion brand rooted right here in South Bend and reaching the world. He was not trained at a fashion school. He did not have industry connections. He taught himself to sew in a boutique his wife felt fun, waiting patiently while the world caught up to the idea of a black male designer, and eventually walked into New York Fashion Week and felt for the first time that he was exactly where he was supposed to be. His story is not about fashion. It is about a person who trusted a vision nobody else could see yet and built it with his hands anyway. Here's what that looked like. Well, hello, uh everyone, and welcome back to the Life Is Podcast, hosted by myself, Choy Brown. And today, you know, I have a very special person, uh, Darius White with us today, as I know him as DW, join the Life Is Podcast. We're gonna share about his story, his journey through fashion, um, and kind of how he built his brand, the journey behind the scenes, of what it took to really get there. But those who don't know DW, he's an entrepreneur and a fashion designer, self-taught fashion designer, and uh someone who's also local here from Top End. And uh just super excited to have you on, DW. Uh we'll just like I said, talk about your journey and what you're doing now. So before we kind of get going, uh I would say kind of set the stage and just welcome to the show and uh you know, ask you how you're doing, how you're feeling.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Doing well, man. Can't complain, no complaints.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

That's what's up, man. I love it. I love it. Well, man, as we as we get going to the podcast, man, we got a we got a packed uh you know layout of questions for you that I think are gonna be uh great for those who are tuning in, for those who are listening, who are watching this when this when this comes out. But before we get to anything, DW, if you can for everyone just you know, here and then, you know, tell the people, you know, who you are, you know, where you came from, you know, what DW Styles is, and what's brought you up to this point.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Yeah, so um, my name is Darius White. My um personality brand is DW Styles, my clothing brand is Chris Ojari. Uh, it means Christ is Supreme Ruler and Swahili. Uh, it's very dear to my heart. My godmom kind of gave me that name back in the day. She gave me like this whole pamphlet of uh names, and she was like, pick out something that's meaningful. So that's pretty meaningful to me. I mean, Christ is my center, so that's kind of how I move. I'm originally from Benn Harbor, Michigan, born and raised. I moved to South Bend years ago, and then I started uh a wardrobe styling brand, which is why I started up DW Styles. Am I still connected? Say it again. Am I still connected? Yeah? Yes, it's a little it's a little bit in and out. Yeah, there we go. It's a little bit in and out there. Okay. So DW Styles was started with my coat, with my um actual wardrobe styling business that I started years ago, um, working with artists in South Bend. And then I curated a clothing line after that. Um, I self-taught myself how to um sew. And then um I moved from there and I've been traveling and selling clothes and doing retail and different things of that nature. So that's me in the nutshell. Yes, sir, man.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Yes, man, I I appreciate it. Appreciate the well and introduction and and give me an idea of kind of what you do, where you came from, and what you're doing now. And and actually speaking of your fashion, man, I think that's exactly where I want to lead into is that really the kid, because you started as we spoke on farm when you were small, where it kind of all started in fashion.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So obviously you started at a young age, and really not from conventional sense, if you will, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

You didn't really admire any designer or celebrity um that you wanted to dress like. You really kind of just in the personal awareness of cuts, silhouettes, and I'm pulling fish different moments, which is really when I heard you speak, I think that was really unique. Someone at a young age.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

What were you actually like seeing that other people were not seeing at that time? I think as a young kid, I was just more I more so identified with uh events and places that you had to be that kind of streamlined what you should really wear. Um, and I was at a very young age, I think I identified with that. And uh that's what kind of led me towards fashion. I would know that I was going to a certain place and it would be like, hmm, maybe I shouldn't wear this, maybe I should wear that. Um, maybe if it was like a church service, maybe I should wear a a Brooks Brother suit, or maybe I should wear a three-piece or something like that. So I really was like identifying with that as a 12-year-old, which I didn't even think was big back then. But now I'm thinking in my mind, like I was really already on this path.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yep, yep. Absolutely. Well, just curious too, like, was there ever a time when you were young at that point, like where you looked at something and thought, you know, I could make something better than that, what I was seeing?

SPEAKER_03 5:39

I don't know if I ever thought if I could make something like that. Because I really um, like growing up, it was kind of taboo for me as a 12-year-old black male to be doing designs or designing clothes. So I think maybe I have some suppressed memories of wanting to be a designer and not knowing because after talking to some of my siblings, they say I used to walk around and say that. But I don't really remember that, nor do I identify with it. But if I walk past something right now, today I'll be like, yeah, I could have made that a little bit better. Uh so I don't so I would guess people's personalities in my mind really don't change unless they want to. So I would guess I probably was walking around as a twelve uh as a 12-year-old thinking the same thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yep. Yeah, man. Love it. So I want to move forward here. So my next question, right? Just speaking of like just your fashion at a young age and as you were kind of growing, yeah, you described your philosophy as like designing for the world, right? Not for a narrow customer, not for a specific demographic, but really for everyone, right? Which is really a you know, you know, enormous creative vision for someone at that point who had not yet built anything. I guess my question to you, DW, is like, where did that come from so early that you didn't want to like narrow yourself in?

SPEAKER_03 6:58

So I've gone through several like business courses. I worked in retail for years, and um, fortunately, I ended up working for this one company. I really won't say their name because this is about me. But I worked for a company, and uh their customer base was really everyone. So I used to tell people you can shop from the club to the church in here. So I always thought that from the beginning, but I think I needed to identify with the brand that was more mass-produced to really be confident in what I was saying. I don't think I have a customer base. The world is my customer. Like I build clothing for everyone. I'm not just making a two-piece set for a celebrity or something. Because the everyday woman is gonna shop every day. So, you know, she's the person that got some issues with her uh the with her shape and different things like that. So I'm really supplying clothing for her. Not so much. Now, would it be great that a celebrity wears it? Yes, but that's at an event. That's a one-time thing. You know, they may, they may tag me, they may not tag me. So the thing is, I'm designing for the world at large. And my brand has gone really, I mean, I don't really talk about it a lot, but my brand has been global. I I got clothes in Ghana, I got clothes everywhere, you know, people have worn my clothes all over. And those were what people would say everyday people are. You know, I got a therapist that wears my clothes to every one of her platforms, but she's an everyday person, you know. To her friends, she's an everyday person, but she wore my clothes in Dubai. So the thing is, is because of my philosophy and the way that I think that I don't have a customer base, I'm led to different customers. And I don't think everybody thinks like that. So when you, if I was to design just an urban clothing line, just urban individuals would buy that. That's not my thing. You know, I I'll create a piece, and if a male, female, or whoever wants to wear it, if they buy it, that's my customer. You know, I didn't make it for a woman, I didn't make it for a man. I made an outfit. So the thing is, whoever wants to wear it. So my brand doesn't really, at that aspect of it, it does not have an identity gender base. I think anybody can wear it. You just gotta piece it together. And because of my work prior to this, I can style a woman in a man's suit. I can style a man in a in a man's suit. So the thing is if you buy a piece, then I can also articulate to you how to make that fluid in your clothing. Uh fluid, whatever word I want to use.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, yeah. I think yeah, you really kind of flip it on its head, right? Coming from a fashion stereotypical, right? Fashion world, it's very one one one specific kind of size. Very one-dimensional. And it's exactly. You're just like, look, I'm flipping on the head. Like, I don't got, I'm not arrested to any type of demographic, nothing. Like, I'm serving the NU to everybody. Nobody is.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yes. So I want to talk about because speaking of your fashion, you really didn't even start until your mid-20s, which you were telling me, right? You didn't be able to run, you didn't start like 24 or 26. So between 12 and like 24, you were kind of carrying this vision of internally um wanting to become a you know fashion designer. What was that period like? Or like what did you do while you were waiting in that in between?

SPEAKER_03 10:25

I think while I was waiting, um, I think because I mean you really got to think of who uh who I am. I'm a 43 and a couple year old man, you know. So the thing is, is at that time it really wasn't, it wasn't okay. And now you got kids and men, I mean, men are some of the biggest fashion houses. You got Pharrell that's over Louis Baton. You got the the guy that did it before him, Virgil Tibbs. You got so it's it's so many different guys that's doing this now that really, when you think about it, are my age. You know, so they really have the same story. It was not acceptable. So the thing is, is um, I went through something during the pandemic one time because I had had a store forever and I had inventory, and I stepped on my bottom step, and when I stepped on the step, it was like you were stockpiling. So if you ask me what I was doing, that was God talking to me, telling me that all the things you didn't sell was stockpiling. So from 12 to 24, I was stockpiling. I got crazy ideas. Things that, and some things I have seen, I have seen like mainstream that I know that I drew out 10 and 15 years ago. And nobody, I can't really tell nobody that I'm gonna say it on the podcast, but but really I got ideas that I drew out, which is really why I stopped drawing years ago. Because I was giving those things energy already. And if I don't do it fast enough, God gonna get it to somebody else. So the thing is, I would so in my stockpiling, I was also stagnated by fear. I didn't, so I would I was afraid of what people would say, oh, he's gay, you know, oh he not, and I'm not saying nothing about a gay person, but the thing is they that wasn't my identity, but people would have labeled me that, and I wasn't okay with that. I would I wasn't adult enough to be labeled that or mature enough to take that label and still flip it and be okay. But now if you call me that, I'm gonna be like, hey, nah, you know, that's not really my cup of tea, but whatever, if that's your choice, if that's what you want to call me, just buy something from me. You know? Exactly. So I don't really care now. But uh that would be uh from about 12 to 24, that's probably where I was stuck at.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Yeah, that's that's an honest, that's honest, man. I think for you know, anyone who's in fashion, specifically black and brown folks, that's that's a challenge. That's a personal, you know, some of you wrestle with identity-wise, like you said, that's not your identity, but you can still be felt by those words or those labels or what people place on you. And then how you're standing that, like you're still being mature enough, confident enough, secure enough to be like, look, that's not me. And you can either distance yourself from those people or be like, look, that's you know that's watered off my back. You know, I'm just out here creating. Right. You know, your your beliefs on me are not the reality of who I am. So I think that's that's that's uh I appreciate you hearing that because I think that's that's a real uh mental barrier, emotional things people go through, whether it's fashion or really any any other industry, I'm sure there's others that people have to deal with. So I I appreciate the uh the reality going on between that time. I wanna I wanna transition your DW actually to like you know, really you building with your hands, the boutique, the skepticism, really the self-teaching uh of you kind of evolving and kind of taking this craft from formal training and now to the project design uh going forward. So speaking of 2020, right? You talked about COVID, things kind of shifted. You mentioned also your wife put a down payment and kind of funded your boutique where you taught yourself to store from 2015 to 2018. You spent three years in that space while learning, doing really not from like any you know, curriculum, not from a formal training, really just from fabric of repetition, right? From from just feel. What um what did that specific kind of learning give you that a faster school could not have gave you?

SPEAKER_03 14:23

I think what it gave me um traditional, I mean, what that did for me not having traditional training, I think it gave me a sense of freedom because I didn't learn from patterns. Like I didn't go get a macaw or I think it's macought pattern or something. I didn't go to like a Joann's and buy a pattern like that. I literally sat down. My wife got tired of me talking about I wanted to be a designer. She went and purchased this space for my birthday. I was not in a headspace for it. I wasn't ready for it, but she was ready for me to be ready. And she was like, do this. So I sat down there. I didn't have customers or anything, and I taught myself how to sew. I looked up YouTube things. Sometimes I just grab a piece of fabric and cut it out. And now it's the best. Some of those, um, because I didn't, I didn't learn from someone, I learned from like trial and error. So some of those put me in different spaces and allowed me to deal with different customers that I would never be able to deal with or make something for if I had learned from a pattern. Because, first of all, I would have had to run to the store and buy a pattern. But I taught myself how to make them myself on the equal measurements. So it gave me a sense of freedom. And um now in my, now in my mature age, I'm going to learn the technical skills from that, but I still have that freedom in my head because if the if the pattern doesn't call for it, I can create it myself. So it gave me a different sense of creativity, and I think freedom probably is the biggest thing because I would have been in this package of whatever I purchased, and now I'm really not. So I think.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Yeah, you see the other side. Like you knew you knew you knew it's there. Say it again. Yeah. I was saying you you you seen the other side, right? Because you have so much freedom, you've seen what was possible and not in this boxed in area. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

You know, limiting that creativity. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

And I'm just was was curious, was there ever a moment where you actually realized, like, hey, like you actually became really good at this? Like you really genuinely skilled at it?

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Was there a moment like I realized that every time I create something different, I'm not a person that ever thinks um I have arrived. Life is never going to be good enough for me. I don't, I I think some people say that I say that to some people and they look at me like, then you're not, um, you don't show gratitude to what God has given you. It's not that. But he's an he's infinite. And at the end of the day, if he allows me to live 80 years, what I did at 40 is not gonna be good enough for me at 60. You know what I'm saying? So I I want something different. So I always like, so I learn something every time. Like the other day I was making something for a client in um Grand Rapids, actually just yesterday. And I learned how to do something that really I didn't even learn it. In crunch time, I had done it before, but I actually learned the skill yesterday. But I've done this before. So the thing is, is I'm always learning, I'm always evolving. And I want that to be the rest of my life. You know, I don't never want, I never want to be like, I think just because my name is global that I'm it. No. I'm then I'm stepping in a new lane at that point. I'm trying to do something different. So if I conquer the fashion industry. If I conquer the fashion industry, maybe I'm gonna go to landscaping or something. Maybe I'll be on my son's business or help my wife build her business. But I'll never, I'll never feel like that I've learned it all. It's too much information in the world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Honestly, that's that's a good way to look at it. You know, I I think there's uh what's there's a phrase like the more you know, the less you know, right? And really in short, but I think it's a good disposition to have because you're right, man. You can never just feel like you you arrived, you got there. There's there's so much we don't know, right? There's so many skills and lessons that you can develop along the way, even when you think you got there, like you said. Um and to keep that mindset is uh, in my opinion, I would say, you know, a winner's mindset. You know, just someone who's always looking to evolve. They want to get better. They know it's not it's not complete. You're always learning.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

I don't, I never want to be pious or pompous, like, you know, like I just got it. Yeah. That's that's not me. I'm a humble dude. Like people, I walk in a room, they be like, hey, that's DW. I'm like, hey, it's dearest, chill out, you know. I'm just here, like, hey, you know, I'm I'm another person. I'm a normal person. I never want to be that, I don't never want to be that purpose that person. Do I want to have that purpose in life and you know, be influential to different individuals? Yes. But I don't never want to carry that mindset like I'm it. Like, that's never been me. I'm I'm not that guy.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yeah, no, I I I feel you on that. I even get uncomfortable sometimes. You know what I mean? When you hear that, it's like, no, that's look, I'm just me. I'm just showing up. Right. I'm not trying to be a-stand to the party, man. Yep. So I want to take a step back a little bit because you kind of talked about a little uh already in the beginning of the podcast. But you spoke about facing, you know, criticism. Well, I wouldn't say criticism, more sex specifically as a black male designer and living a time in a world that has that didn't caught wasn't caught up to that identity of accepting black males in uh fashion, right? You described as kind of strategically waiting um rather than you know pushing up against that idea. I guess what kind of patience or what what did that actually patience kind of feel like when you were kind of living inside that of like, okay, I know where we were at in this time, but times haven't caught up to where I want to be or where I'm where I believe I'm at, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

So the thing is this is a this is a nice statement to I think some to someone that really don't have anything going on. From like birth, I remember people telling me, like, that boy before his time, like he an old soul. And the thing is, is you have to evolve to that person sometime chronologically for people to even see you that way. Um, and the thing is, is that waiting is uncomfortable. But uncomfortable situations are perfect, you know, for growth and learning and everything. So I that was uncomfortable for me because I felt like I was this, like people know me, like I'm known before even sewing. Like before that, like in my city, people know me, you know. But in South Being, people know me. I've been here like 20 years, but to be walking around knowing that, nah, I got some designs in my head that will really hit, you know, that was uncomfortable. But sometimes you have to get to, everything is about timing. And people think it's not, but it really is. If if I had did some of this stuff before its time, it wouldn't have hit. It'd have been like, um, if you if you know anything about Dapper Dan, Dapper Dan was doing some of the coldest things in the 80s and the 90s. Cold. It took Gucci 30, 20, 25, 30 years to drop this man designs Beyonce C. And the world go crazy. She likes that's diaper dance. But the thing is, he was before his time. And now he's 70 some years old, living off of things that he created 30 years ago. Would have been nice to make money in that time frame and get, you know, get through it like instead of just the dope boys buying myself. Or, you know, it would have been nice. But the thing is to actually be able to live in the moment for your pieces to be running currently, and then you're living in that moment. Like, I make a I make a line in my basement last year and then go to New York Fashion Week in February. Like, it's, I feel like that's better. So, yes, was it delayed? My mom always says this delay is not denial. So it was delayed, but it wasn't denied. So I don't think I really mind that. I think I learned a little bit more because I didn't have the pressure of being in the moment. So now when I'm in the moment, I can live in those moments and still be effective. I don't have all of that nervous, anxious energy because I've had some time to kind of work this craft. So when I show up, I can show up professionally and not this person that was like just trying to get there, you know. If that I think that answered your question.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

No, it definitely did. That was a good ass answer. That was that was it. Uh, that was really good. Because you you really kind of tapped in um really all aspects of what it what what it really looked like. What was I guess my other question to you, just kind of curious as well, how did you keep the belief like alive and during that time when it was like my external world is not confirming what I believe. Say it one more time. Yeah, I was saying, DW, like, how how did you keep the belief alive during a period when the external world was not confirming it? You know what I mean? Like, was that just Yes?

SPEAKER_03 23:55

I guess the thing is, is if I had no other opinions. I didn't have any other opinions but my own. So, like when I put out a line, or if if I um make something, you know, I'm asking my wife, come downstairs and look at this and see what you think. I had none of those moments. So the thing is, if I believed it worked, it's gonna work. You know what I'm saying? I had none of the outliers, I didn't have social media saying, oh, he picked the wrong two colors to put together, or none of that. So the thing is, is I didn't have that um backlash and or hurt from people's opinions and what they didn't believe it would be. It was just me. So I figured out when I put it out, you know, I'll ask then. But I knew some of it was definitely dope.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Mm-hmm. Right. From a get-go. Um, my next question, speaking of your sketches, right? And kind of your your your drawing, or not drawings, but your sketches in general. You you told me kind of offline that you stopped drawing sketches years ago because you found that it limited your creativity. And rather, you know, instead let the fabric guide you, right? You work with the material, what the material wants to become rather than imposing a plan on it, right? But most people, I mean most people would assume that's kind of creative discipline means more structure, but you find it mean meaning less. What did you learn, DW, um, about creativity that changed how you work or in that process specifically of not drawing sketches before?

SPEAKER_03 25:21

I I think drawing, and I I don't want to speak against illustrators. So I let's just make that disclaimer. Like I'm not speaking against illustrators, but the thing is, is I learned when I was drawing, you kind of sometimes your imagination is limited to what you have seen, to things that you've seen. So I I would draw things that looked or mirrored something that I saw before. When I would grab fabric and just go for it, I mean, I might have a leftover, I might have a leftover piece of scrap on the floor and it looked like, oh, that looked like it could be an option, like an um abstract lapel. So I would just grab it up off the floor and sew it where the lapel is supposed to be. And that was totally different. So the thing is, is I guess um was your question is what did I learn?

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Yeah, like what did you learn about creativity that changed how you work in comparison to you know, not when you're sleeping?

SPEAKER_03 26:22

I just didn't, I just did not, I did I did not desire to be in a box. Like, and I think, yeah, I could I could draw a silhouette that Christian Siriano draws right now. I can go and draw a dress. So I can look at that dress and draw it. Um, the most creativity that I'm gonna have off of that after drawing the same silhouette that he just drew would be a color palette. I didn't really want that. That's not what I So I use, I utilized the books to learn silhouettes and structures, how to really draw the female body, how to draw the male body. I sat down for like two or three years and taught myself how to do that while I was at another job. And I I learned the kids would be like, oh, Mr. D, you're getting better, you know. So I learned how to do that only to enhance the creativity that I knew was like waiting for those skills. So a lot of times you're so creative, but if you don't have the skill, then you really have nothing but creativity. So can you now you can speak that into an AI system? You can now you could talk to it if you can, you know, write, write a clear instruction, you can do that. But I didn't have those tools. So I had to learn the skill to meet, to embellish the creativity that I had. So that's that's really what I learned. You some skills you have to have to tap into whatever the purpose is. So that's what I was trying to do.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Man, yeah, you ain't right. Man, you said you have you if you can't, what did you say? You said you have a str uh skill and creativity. Without skill, it's just creativity, which is still still left there.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah, you can't. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

No, you go ahead. I was saying too, like, you know, freedom is ringing loudly, right, throughout your process. You want free range, um, no governor, if you will, right, on the creativity. Because I think you're right. I think if you get locked into one box of thinking, you kind of lose all the resource that you could grab at or um accept or use, um, and you kind of put it to the side if you if you if you you know put a governor on your mindset. So I guess long story short, I would agree with you that hey, like be creative. Don't don't put anything to limit or hinder that creative process. You want to use all you know, systems, processes, thinkings, thoughts, feelings to to drum up what you're trying to create. Definitely.

unknown 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Yeah, no, I agree. And I was just so this is I I can I share this. I was just with one of my friends. My um, one of my friends, uh, Jordan, you know him. I was just with him. And um, we drove around and saw some of the properties that he does, that um he's building. And at first I wasn't looking at it creatively. Not at all. I'm like, it's a house. Like, whatever. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

That's one wall.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Then he started saying, Well, I know you could do better than that, DW. So what what else do you see? So then I saw a lack of a porch. I saw a lack of a, I saw a lack of a gate. Oh, maybe if they had a like white beak of fence, or if they kind of put the letters, the numbers on the side of the house. So the thing is, is he literally confirmed what I'm what I've been thinking the entire time. Like, just because a person can build a house don't mean that it's gonna be desirable. It just looks like a house. So the thing is, is I could make a blazer, or do I make a blazer that's desirable? You know, so it just really made me understand even my thought process, like so some things you use and you don't use them corporately. So I wasn't using that creative curve corporately when I was talking to him. But then I thought about it, it was like, well, yeah, you know, you could put some some some brand, you know, some brush right here, you know, different things right here. So you have to, the skill, yes, learn the skill, but you that creativity, once you, when you can utilize the skill with your creativity, it's it's that's got even the limit. It's not. You can go wherever you want to go. To Pluto or Mars if you want.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

That's that's the fusion you need right there. Creativity and skill. That's it. Yeah, it's funny you said that to Jay. Uh I'm actually we'll we'll be having him on the show as well, but it's funny you're like, that's just a house. But when you look at it from a different aspect, a different perspective.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

And I didn't even tell him this. I ain't I didn't even tell him this. I just thought about it. Sitting in the car, like, hmm, yeah, yeah, he's right. But I didn't I didn't think about it. I I didn't tell him that, but I definitely thought about it. But anyway, on to the next question.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Yeah, that's that's addiction. Yeah, that's that's all right. Well, that's good. Like I said, moving to my next point, man. I want to talk about really just the the crisis, the pivot, right? Closing the store, which we'll talk about here in a second, um, the pandemic, and really your your idea of the seating shops where you were just selling a bunch of inventory. Um and how you kind of rebuilt yourself from that point. So kind of going to that, right, in 2019, your wife had a major accident that really removed the dual safety income net that's been kind of holding the business together. So you closed the physical store down, which you know, most people in that moment would have, you know, walked away entirely or been emotionally depressed. What kept you from letting the brand die like in that season? Because that's that's a big moment, man. That's that's a that's an emotional blow for anyone.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

I think during the pandemic, uh, well, I know that during the pandemic, what I learned is some things aren't optional. Like, you can't, I could, I couldn't afford to give up on my brand because I had product. And my daytime job at that point was selling clothes. So, like, I just thought in my mind, people would think it would be normal for me to be selling clothes. So I ran the idea past my wife, and she was like, let's do a live sale. I made a flyer, and um, from that sipping shop, uh, what was it, sitting shops were burst. Um, it was something that I was doing in the actual building. We was doing um sipping shops, but I said, oh wait, people sitting on the couch, let's do a sitting shop. So I put a couch on there, put some people on the um flyer, and um, I said, have a drink and shop with me. And the first one I think we did in a couple hours, we did like maybe like $2,100 from my basement. I was shipping close to my basement. So the next one was so big that I ended up having to hire someone. I hired a person during the pandemic, which was crazy. I hired a person, uh, paid her really good. She got paid real good. I think she makes like $150 a day. Real good money. And um, we set up her and my wife, we set up a um process. Um, and that time we were able to implement shipping and the purchase all in one. The first time we was trying to contact the people afterwards, they was sending their money and no shipping, you know, or sending their money and I didn't even know where to ship it to. So it just, I don't think, and because and some of these settings are because I'm a I'm a man with a family. You know, I got a three, my, I got a, it's a five family, a member family. So we, it's five us. So like in that setting, I couldn't afford to really give up my um the what stimulated it was is my girls aren't really, they don't really ask for stuff unless they need it. My son, if he needs something, he gonna let you know. So he hit me up. He hit he walked in the living room and was like, hey, my PS4 just blew up. And I'm like, it's the pandemic. This boy don't got nothing to do but play his game. So I walked in the basement, and what stuff what really started the sitting shops, no lie, is I walked in my basement, I had leftover fabric, and I made seven masks and I posted them. And I said, wait, if people will buy these masks, they'll buy clothes. So I told my wife, and then, you know, I'm circling back to how I told her, I told my wife, she was like, let's do it. And I think we did it on like a I said, let's do it on a Friday afternoon as soon as people get off work on a payday. She'd be like, Yep. It worked. That was it. It really worked.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

But I thought I listened to the Justy W, for those who are listening, tuning in, like when this drops, man, I one thing I want to say is I love your execution. Not saying it's like it has to be perfect, but you you take an idea and like it's let's act on it. You know what I mean? Like just hearing that story, you're like, too, I'm gonna head downstairs, let's do this, I'm gonna make this mask, boom. But it was so quick, you know what I mean? There was no friction.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

There was no um slowing the process down. Like, even what you were telling your stories earlier, it was like, yep, I got this idea. Like, I don't know if it's gonna be perfect, I don't know what the results are gonna look like, but I got an idea and a vision, let's work with it, let's run. So, you know, I love from your entrepreneurial background, for those who are listening, those who are entrepreneurs, just to see and hear your uh your conviction. You pick an idea up and just run with it. Right? You're not you're not waiting around.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

So I wanna I respect, yeah. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

I appreciate that too. First of all, that's something from my wife, because she likes analytical and she thinks of all these ideas. So you gotta jump on something and do it. That's that's really not my personality for real. I'm really like, when it comes to doing stuff, I'd really be like, I don't know. But she'll be like, let's just do it. So that really comes for her. But the thing is, is you just never supposed to stop. And I think people get comfortable where they are. Like, I was just watching a lady the Up I might have lost you there.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

They'll lost your audio, but I'll wait till you come back on.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

Oh, we're back. We're back live. My um phone got too hot, man.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

No, hey, that's that's it was picking up on what you were about to say. Yeah. That's so funny. But no, we're back yet. Where we was at, but I'll I'll I'll catch us back up. Really, what you were about to talk about, um, because I asked you, I was just letting you know that. I mean, I appreciate you. You you act on an idea, right? You execute right when you get it. You were saying about your wife, really kind of helps you in that process.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

For real. So um, she comes in stand back a little bit because I still got that hair detection.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Also, DW, can you can is your volume can you it's a little faint and I can hear you. Can you hear me still?

SPEAKER_02 37:15

There we go. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yep, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

All right.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Uh also, too, this might be good just for those who, you know, entrepreneurs and people in the in are tuning in that may have lost something. You know, speaking of the store, what what did losing the physical store, you know, take from you emotionally? Like what did you have to maybe grieve about through that chapter, if anything?

SPEAKER_03 37:34

I don't I don't really know that I grieved it. Um, it was a decision that we made for our family to be able to be stable. Like you spoke about earlier. I shared with you that we had lost that two family income. My wife had gone through a major surgery. She actually went through two more um the consecutive years following that. So the thing was is that I I had no time to grieve that, but a lot of times things are just in your life for a season. And you have to realize what that reasoning is and learn the lesson from that. So I learned a lesson from that. You know, it was to it was to stimulate that creativity for me. It wasn't to build customers, it wasn't to do all of that. It was it's it has served its purpose. Now will I do it again? Yeah, you know, it's the time, but I think a lot of people look at loss, and sometimes loss is a gift, and you have to take it for what it is. So, like you losing a business. I mean, millionaires lose business all the time. Do they stop being business people? No. Do they stop being millionaires? No, they figure out a new path. So the thing is, I had to figure out and create a new path. So that's what I did.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Yep, man. I love it, man. Mindset. Well, well, I guess also speaking of your shops, right? You had this the concept. Was there something that you were surprised about by how people responded to that format? I know this was like 2020. What?

SPEAKER_03 38:56

What? The whole process was crazy to me. I could not literally, I'm sitting online. This in real time. I'm sitting online selling pieces. I'm also calculating what I purchased them for, what I recreated them to be. You know, I'm doing all those numbers, selling them, and some of them items was going nuts. And I'm sitting up like, and I gotta keep a straight face. I was going crazy. Like, I couldn't believe it. Because it was more so like I was saying, you know, in real time, you get to live through those moments. I was living through that moment in real time in front of people. I mean, they sharing the live. It's 20, 30 shares, and it's a hundred people on the live. Like, people mad because I didn't keep going. They inboxing when we was like, do you got stuff left over? I seen some in the live, I want this. So, like, it was it was crazy. It was like nuts.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Yeah. Yeah, it was like animals. They said, I need that. Nuts. Well, I wanna I want to talk about your your uh once again your mindset because you described your approach to setbacks as staying really logical rather than emotional, you know, making decisions based on reason rather than how you feel in that moment. So for someone who operates, you know, in the most emotionally driven industries, being fashion in the world, um, that is obviously a specific kind of discipline. I guess my question to you, the DW, is like, how do you actually practice that when the emotional weight is real, right? Because there's gonna be times like closing a store or things going crazy to kind of handle that. I always uh I do a lot of self-checks.

SPEAKER_03 40:31

Me and my um younger sister. We do a lot of self-checks, and we always say, you know, this is this isn't really a characteristic that a lot of people have, but I self-check myself a lot and like I'm always thinking, like, is this an emotional response or is it logical? So that's that's my always. So like I may, me and you might get in, you know, get into a heated conversation. I might take a couple days to process that because at the end of the day, my relationship with Coi is a little bit more valued than this moment. So the thing is, so do I respond right now when I really want to cuss him out and call him all these crazy names? Or do I wait a couple days and figure out what I really want to say to him? Like, hey, you know, I really didn't like what you said. But I mean, we we're not gonna be, we we still gonna be cool after this, but I just want you to know that I really wasn't digging at. So the thing is, is you also have to lead life like that. I can't, I can't walk in a business meeting with some investors and ask them for a million dollars, they tell me they only gonna give me a half a million, and then I just blow up and crazy. So the thing is, is I'm always practicing for the next step. So the next step could be somebody gonna give me two million, and I'm really only asking for a million. But I gotta be able to take this $500,000 and flip that in order to even get to the next spot. So the thing is, is sometimes we don't understand that your actions don't only affect this moment, they affect they affect the moments afterwards too. So I will hold off how I'm feeling because I validate my feelings. You really don't. So I'll hold off on my feelings for a while before I say something because I really want to be able to articulate to you in a, you know, professional and a respectable manner. Unless it's somebody I don't really with. You know, so that's that's really how I lead life and business. Tell you, man, you're dropping gems. I hope people picking this up.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Because that's really a lot of emotional intelligence, um, just your mental demeanor, how to carry yourself, and very professionalism, how to know how to respond, not like you said, not react without you really kind of really responding to situations. And the the um, you know, I would say lesson in that is that knowing that your decisions now have the effect on the on the back end, right? Definitely after math can start today. So knowing how to address situations um and understanding the magnitude of the moment is bigger than what's happening right now. You know, I mean the emotions, uh maybe what you want to say and so once again, man, you're dropping dropping some uh some nuggets for those who are tuning in. I'm picking them up too. Real quick, uh if you've been searching for a style that feels intimately yours, DW Styles is designing for you. Every custom piece is crafted by hand right here in the Midwest, letting the premium fabric guide a silhouette made for your specific moments. Stop settling for off the rack and step into clothing that treats fashion as a personal love language. Visit shopdwstyles.com to start your custom design journey today. Real quick, I want to tell you about something I created because honestly, I needed it myself. For years I could visualize the life I wanted, I could talk about it, write about it, even teach pieces of it. But living it that was different. There was always this internal friction, like a part of me was trying to grow, and another part of me pulled me back into what felt familiar. And I realized I I didn't have a motivation problem. I had a safety problem. My nervous system didn't know how to feel safe inside change. So I wrote the self-discovery blueprint, not as another productivity guide, but as a way to create internal conditions where growth doesn't feel like a threat. It's grounded in neuroscience, polyvagal theory, belief reconstruction, and everything I've learned from studying consciousness and embodiment. It's for people who know there's more in them, who can see it, but haven't quite trusted themselves to step all the way in yet. And I'm giving it to you free. No email gates, no upsells. Just a tool I hope serves you in the way writing it served me. Check the show notes, download it, come back to it as you grow. Cut it out. Talk about New York Fashion Week, right? Let's let's get back to the fashion here, right? Like a lot of things for you as you spoke offline. Kind of what it felt like to, you know, walk in that moment, walk in that room, and for the first time feel like you belong, right? For all the years you've been really been doing it. So getting to New York Fashion Week required $1,700, right? As you told me, published photos from prior shows, last minute, angel sponsors, and years of foundational work through smaller shows. Um, and really that was really your runway up, you know, spending and doing all the time that you had to do to get up to that. When you walked into that room for the first time, what did you actually feel when you were in in that room in New York?

SPEAKER_03 45:20

Like I told you before, I felt like um I belonged. And it was a long time coming. Just think about like we've talked about this through the entire conversation. A 12-year-old now, 40, 30 years later, and feeling like, oh, this is where I belong. I had had independent shows and everything. You know, like, but in that moment, I really was, and I had prayed to God, and I was like, God, because I get to settings, and my um younger sister, she always tells me this, Janine. She said, we're all in awe in the moment, and then you like a week later processing it. But I told you this is what I do. She like, you're processing this a week later, and we like, what's next? We like, we're all over that. Like, we was hype and kudos and everything. That was the first time in my career that I actually was in a moment, and I was like, God, like actually living it in that moment. And I had prayed to God, like, God, just let me be prepared. Like, I was done with the line early and everything. And when I got there, I just felt like, man, this is where I'm supposed to be. And then to hear people respond that to me, like, where you been at all this time? Like, you supposed to have been, like, your line crazy. Like, what is this? Like, this can't be your first year doing this. And my wife was like, You should have told them, like, you've been doing this forever. I said, babe, the work speaks for itself, though. Like, I don't gotta tell these people. They see it. They like, they know I ain't just wake up last night and make it. Exactly. They know this is getting curated over time. Like, this is not just a skill at this point, this talent, and this is what I'm gifted to do. Um, I really felt, I felt like I belonged uh for a long story short. It was, it was belonging, yeah. That's what it meant.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

That's funny. You're telling your wife, you said I didn't just pop out and just show up. I've been, I've been doing this.

SPEAKER_03 47:14

Yeah, they know it. She like, tell them. Tell them you just did such and such. I'm like, babe. She like, I she like, all right. Now you trying to be humble, trying to be humble.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

Yeah. So you did you described New York Fashion Week, right, as the first time you felt, you know, kind of like fully affirmed as a fashion refresher in the room appears. You also said that it clarified um that this is really a lifelong pursuit, right? That uh the experience you shifted from playing um at fashion, talking well, playing in the field to actually taking it fully and seriously. What is the difference between those two modes from the inside? Because I know we talked offline how you you felt like you were kind of playing around, right? There was this period of time like, man, you need to start, you've been doing this, but like it's time to take to the next level. I guess what was maybe the difference between those two modes of your thinking from the inside?

SPEAKER_03 48:05

I think I don't know that it was a difference in thinking. Yeah. I think it was a difference in action. So, like, I, you know, I was, I think I just shelled out a little bit more than I normally would. Um kind of shocking myself. Like, it was things I I go downstairs to make like four and five different outfits when it was taking me like, you know, I was stopped because I'm tired, because again, I work in the daytime and all that. So I think it was just a difference in my um action, and I would say discipline. I think I was a little bit more disciplined when I started taking it. Um, and I think I had always been taking it serious, but I don't think, well, I know now that my actions weren't really showing that. Yeah, it wasn't reflect. But like I was having a lot more internal battles than I was like succumbing to after I kind of switched it on. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yeah, I remember, yeah, yeah. I I would agree. I think a lot a lot of us, you know, feel that. You know what I mean? It's like you're either um, you know, there's a little bit of fear. It's a little bit like, you know, what if I really go all in and I really fall on my face, or like I'm not what I think I am, or whatever it is, right? You're just scared to step out fully to really give all yourself. You kind of like hold back a little bit, like, well, I'm I'm good right here, but I don't want to get too uncomfortable if I really really, really put it on, you know what I mean? And it doesn't go the way I want to go. Um, my next question for you, DW, is you know, talking about fashion. Uh, you described it really as a love language, and I love that you put this as we spoke offline, really as something that's intimate, kind of trust-based, and deeply personal. Right? Clients are allowing you um into something that's private, right? When it comes to clothes and letting them dress them, right? So it's a level of access that takes time to earn. What have you learned about how trust actually builds in the in this industry that most people outside of fashion would never understand?

SPEAKER_03 49:55

So I like back to what I said when we were offline, that the thing is, is I don't think people look at that as intimate. They don't see that. Yeah, they don't see that. Um a woman doesn't really let you come in and see what their flaws it are or or used to be. Like, they don't want you to see their scars. So like you, it's a journey that you done went on with somebody and to to be able to conquer that, then you can help a person do whatever you kind of and wear whatever you really want to wear. I don't think people understand that clothing is intimate. I don't think that they understand that um the power of what you wear to certain events. I don't think that they understand that if I go to a gala and it's not an urban gala, that I can't wear shorts and things of that nature. Like people don't identify with what clothing. I I learned a very long time ago that the way you look speaks before you ever even enter the room. So that could be, that could be if you're groomed correctly, because you could be a dirty bum and have a nice haircut, and they're gonna be like, dang, DWO haircut kind of fly, you know, that's what they're gonna see. So the thing is, is I don't think people understand what they're saying without actually speaking. And your clothing is doing that for you. So if you go in a room, if I if I go in a room with a governor and it's a setting where I should have a suit on and I got a t-shirt and some jeans on, like, is he really gonna listen and talk to me? Is anything I'm gonna say to him valuable? So the thing is you have to be aware, but sometimes your clothing, like I could look like a million dollars and walk in a room, somebody might give it to me.

unknown 51:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Because they might think they donated to somebody that got it. They might be thinking we pass a pennies. This really a life-changing event. So then the thing is, is I learned too when I was doing interviewing when I was younger, you're supposed to look like the role that you want. Yeah, I don't think a lot of people think of that when you think of clothing. It's so far from their thought process that they don't get it. So don't care. Or don't care. Or even have the knowledge to care. Because some of it is just ignorance.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

They just don't even understand the process. So I think I think clothing has taught me that, you know, and more so with my work with women. Because guys, you cannot, once you kind of cool with a guy, I can tell a dude to put on anything, they gonna put it on, you know. But a woman, there is some work that you have to do to get to that point. And I learned that in a lot of the fitting rooms and different clients that I worked with. I hope that answers your question because I feel like it was right.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

No, you gave you gave a a good a good answer to that. That answered my question. Because, you know, to your point, I think a lot of women, you know, which is aware in our our society, there's a lot of body um dysmorphia. Dysmorphia, right? Like, you know, for of all sizes, right? Don't matter, it doesn't matter. Like, you know, women go through that, and I think men go through that, but women specifically to your point, that's where I think a lot of trust comes from. And when you said it's intimate and you gave it an analogy by my wife, I was like, dang, that's true. Like I, you know, you know, I know she may have insecurities, and you ain't just walking into someone's house in their closet, like, look, let me put that on you, do this, do that. Like it really takes a trust, a level of trust and catering to their body, right? Making them feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

Um, so there's a lot of emotional things. I think things that happen behind the scenes when you said that. And I was like, damn, that is that is so true. And I never thought about that when you said it.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Yeah, it's it definitely goes on. People don't. I I've had women tell me their entire life story after I dress them. I've I've had women cry in a fitting room after I dress them. Like, they, oh my God, like your wife gotta love you. Like, she really don't. I be driving her nuts when it goes to this, like, don't tell me what to wear. And then she's like, oh, it was cute later on. But yeah, the thing is, is like you have to, you have to power through that. And a lot of times when people don't understand, looking in the mirror sometimes tells you some things that you're really not ready for. And a lot of women aren't ready for that. And then when they're not prepared, they don't know how to transition from that. So my job was to help them transition. Like, you can you can be a thousand pounds.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

And still before.

SPEAKER_03 54:30

But I'm I'm gonna drape something on you and make somebody be like, hey, that girl, fine, you know. So that's it's just that, you know, you have to get past that moment of intimacy. And it's just like when you build a new relationship. There's process, it's it's steps unless you just mess with somebody that's just out here. But it's steps before you even get to that point. So the things is is knowing those steps and helping them guide their self through guide guide themselves through it, and then you, you know, you kind of make it work. Yeah. No, absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Just curious too, on another level, have you ever lost a client? Like, and if so, like what did it teach you about, I guess, what trust requires? I don't see you losing.

SPEAKER_03 55:10

I'm giving I've given clients away.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Yeah, that's what I assume.

SPEAKER_03 55:14

I haven't, um, I don't think I've ever lost a client. Um, only, only if it was like in the uh like the transactional part of it. Um a lot of times people want certain things from you, and then when you give them a price on it, they're not willing to pay that. Exactly. Um and sometimes when you know a person too, um, sometimes relationship comes into that, also comes into play with that. So um, I would think some of some clients thought I lost them when I actually gave them away. Yeah, I dropped us offly. Mm-hmm. And that's not me being cocky or anything. No. That's just understanding the business. I get it. Like, because you know me as Darius, you might not want to pay me as DW. You might not want to pay the price for me to sit down and construct a gown for you. And I get that because you're close to me. We have proximity. So I get it. But that's a giveaway process. Hey, here's the you know, some of them you bought for a hundred dollars, some you might have bought for a thousand, but yeah, so losing a client, no, I say inexperienced, lose clients. Um, I'm pretty experienced in this business, and I've actually gained clients by giving them their money back. So then they coming back again. So it's it's the way you do things.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

I believe it. I believe it. I I want to move kind of the next segment here. Really, that was, you know, what we talked about offline as well, kind of intrigued about your sustainability, kind of the world um as a customer and what you're building, right? With the black rodeo, which I thought was super dope, and um some other partnerships you're working on. So you mentioned you're partnering with the Midwest Black Rodeo that coincides with your birthday. So you got fashion, culture, community, all one event.

unknown 57:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

Combination is very speci uh is very uh specifically for you or in general. What does it mean to build something that brings those worlds together in like your own backyard all in one spot?

SPEAKER_03 57:15

You can I always wanted to make some cowboy clothing. Um I used to sit up and watch uh cowboy movies, and I'm like, oh, I want to do, I want to do the wardrobe for this movie. So uh doing this is kind of that for me. I mean, you know, um I haven't even bought the fabric yet, and the show is in July. So it's July 31st, the day of my birthday, and I haven't even purchased fabric. But some of those silhouettes are super easy. But to your question, to be able to build that in my backyard. Yeah, it really wasn't me, Coi. And a lot of things people always think it's your experience that brings you to places. I really prayed for this. I was asking God to like kind of put my name in different rooms, and uh these people call me out the blue and was like, hey, we heard your name and we kind of want to work with you. And I'm like, perfect, thanks, God. Things like that, you know, in a moment, real quick, thank you. I'm gonna pray about it later. But yeah, but uh that that I guess um for someone to come to your community, so and and this isn't really my community, I just say that because I've been like 20 years. Yeah, so for um someone to come to your to your community that you reside in and say, hey, I want to work with this designer.

SPEAKER_01 58:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 58:30

That was it was an honor.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

Yeah, that was big.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

Yeah, it was big. Um my my my next question here was like, what has South Bend maybe specifically giving you, or given your brand rather, that you do not that you do not think that maybe um could have developed if you had started New York or LA?

SPEAKER_03 58:47

Um understanding that everyday people shop more. Yeah. I think because this is a smaller community, um, I was making extravagant pieces that were more so event-based. And understanding that having some simple tees and maybe a fitted cap and different things like that, it made me understand um the broader part of the market. So I think in New York I would have been stuck on making gowns, you know. I would have been stuck on, but here, like, you know, it's different events that's going on. So like I I could sit down and make a jersey dress if you really wanted me to, you know, or I can go and make a gown. So, you know, it gave me a gamut of different places to work. And I don't think, I think a lot of times you get there in more smaller communities than you would, because in New York, I probably would have been the guy that people go to to get gowns, or I would have been the guy that they come and get their suits tailored, you know, because people have certain people in mind. I think because I'm here, people just call and ask, can you do this? And I'm usually not gonna tell you no. I'm gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Right. I think to your point, you get a broader, you get a bought a broader market. Mm-hmm. Yep, a broader market of your everyday, like you said, everyday folks. Right. You're not in this one small little niche on a 1% of certain people. Right. I mean, everyday people coming to you from all different ranges. So you get a good nice little flavor of uh all different backgrounds.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:19

So you said you're working with uh working on a sustainability focused event with Goodwill. Right. So I think the little black dress presentation, which they do here, I don't know when when that is, but I know they do it every year. Yeah. Um but anyways, it's built around reuse and social impact. Um, and that is really a fashion, uh, that is fashion as a vehicle for something larger than clothing. What what does uh where does that sustainability conviction come uh for you personally?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:45

I mean, good Goodwill is really where I started. Um for real. Um looking for different pieces and cause I haven't really always been like I want to wear what everybody's wearing. So, you know, I I got an identity for uh, you know, vintage clothing and different silhouettes from from Goodwill. I bought my first and one and only ever Armani suit from Goodwill. It was like, what, why not? You know, and then um once I started sewing, I went in the back, and they have different types of fabric. So I grabbed a couple of different of those. Um, but I'm guessing like being um Goodwill is somewhere I've always wanted to work with. I always wanted to have, because I that's where I was at. It's the Midwest, like what kind of well-got stores with Armani in it, you know, or Louis Vuitton. You might walk in there and they got a real authentic piece. So that was kind of um my segue into larger brands and identifying with them at that time.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:50

You start so you started there, right? That was that was close to home. Speaking of just sustainability, too. My next question um for you, W is like, what is what does it look like for the fashion world um to genuine genuinely serve sustainable sustainability rather than just performing it? Like, how do you hold and for you too, like how do you hold that line in your own work? Because traditionally we all know you know the fashion world is not good on sustainability or just in general for environment, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:18

With kind of the uh I just dropped out four bags of clothes to Goodwill, honestly. Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm probably gonna go back and buy some of them crazy. But anyway, yeah, I think I think actually practicing it, if people did anymore, like it would help. I don't think people understand that if because we we don't live next to a landfill, so we don't really know what it looks like. Uh, but it's like so many clothes. I mean, and just because it's trash, you know what I mean? Somebody really knows how to patch up this hole. You know what I'm saying? And could use it. Uh and I don't think people understand just because it's you don't want to be clothed in it anymore that somebody else couldn't be. Exactly. And then I I really used uh a lot of the stuff that I get from Goodwill to do sustainability pieces, like to transition them into different things, which is how I was connected with Goodwill recently and did a show with them. So, yeah, that's how I use it. Um, I think people, um, it's more so like if we don't do the cleaning of the world, who's gonna clean it?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Exactly. And it sounds like I said to your point, it sounds like you as the designer are doing it yourself, right? I think I'm sure it's harder from a larger house, right, fashion house to do so, or they may not care as much. But when you're an individual, I think you have a little more um control analogy. Control. Yeah, you have a little more control. Yeah. So my my next question here, you you said you've um right, you've said the world is your customer, right? You built a digital presence on every platform to make sure DW Styles is findable by anyone anywhere. Right? Anywhere, they search it up, they gonna find it, right? Um and you're now connected with sustainable fashion, um, which advocates, you know, internationally. What does like the five-year version of this brand look like if everything you're building right now compounds the way you believe it can? That's a big questionnaire.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:18

My five-year plan, this crazy. I think my five-year plan is all over the place. It's too, it's a little bit, it's crazy. Uh, but you do everything. My sister, my younger sister, I told you we talked a lot, she hit me with me. You do one thing towards your business every day. So that's my thought process. I try, I attempt that. I'm probably at about four a week, but um, yeah. So my real plan is um finally uh I want uh I want a style slash sewing academy. Um, I think that could possibly be built in maybe two years because I'm doing some things to get funding now. Um, so I will want a styling slash sewing agency because I think they go hand in hand because it worked for me. So that might not be everybody process, but I think it's some more people out there that kind of think like me. So I will want a styling slash sewing agency. And then I really want to be my own manufacturer. So that's probably like five to seven years, maybe I would like to manufacture my own clothing. And I think at that point, I'll also be able to breathe back into the school with all of these new designers that's coming out and teach them how to do your manufacturing piece and continue revenue. So that would be like I I would be creating them and two customers. So full circle. Yeah, so I would like to be able to do that because I think my um, if I had been a little bit more adventurous when I was younger, I probably would have been in like China somewhere and get my own brand. But because I try to do it like grassroots type situation. Like I I don't really want nobody after me to go through that. And I don't want them to think that they have to pay all of these astronomical prices to get you know their clothing. Like when I was doing this and trying to deal with manufacturers, they was talking about an MOQ of 200. I don't have 200 customers that's willing to pick buy a pair of jogging pants. So I don't want 200 pairs of jogging pants. It's not advantageous for my business. So I would want to be able to supply smaller MOQs because light drops, if you see it with different companies, light drops really work. So you drop three items and sell them out, and then you drop three more, you know. So that's small capsules, is what they kind of call it. I would want to be able to create that for. So my five-year plan is um helping others, the sewing school slash sewing academy and a manufacturing company. That's my five-year plan.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

Just hey, really quick, what's what's MOQs? I'm assuming with orders, that's a uh amount of.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:01

Yeah, it's um it's it's basically the word for um it's the units that you would purchase. Okay. It's a it's the breeding.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

But for someone listening like myself, I was like, MOKE's not the breeding. I'm in the I'm in the industry. So I had to make sure. But no, to your point, manufacturing, I once again, I'm I'm curious too, because I my own personal things, I want to get some other other avenues with the manufacturing. Do you need a for your vision, do you need a big facility? Or like, can it be a pretty relatively small, you just need the funding for the operation?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:35

Um, I think I might need about maybe like uh what's this? My house is like 2,000 square feet. So I would probably need like 5,000 square feet. Okay, so not yeah, not too long, not not too crazy. Not too big. The biggest thing is having the machines in the place. So being able to kind of strategically place the machines in there. Yeah and then um and then being able to move like that. But I'm I'm now teaching myself through um this company I'm working with how to ru run and work industrial machines. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

What do you what do you believe like one thing has to be true internally? Uh in you? Maybe not in the market, but for the vision to actually thrive. Is there anything you think like, okay, this is you gotta believe it.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:21

Yeah. You have to believe it. Um, and I think a lot of times people think belief is like every day you just know that it's gonna work out. Nah, that's not really how that works. You gotta have the faith to see through all of the poop that's on the floor. Like, all of that. Just get through that. Um, but just believe that it's gonna actually work out. And some days you might wake up and and I say um I learned this from my homeboy, Mr. Clark, uh, really valuable relationship. He's a little bit older than me, but he said you have bad moments, not bad days. So you might have a moment in that time where you really don't believe, but your core says that this is gonna work, and that's what you gotta run with.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:07

Yes, sir. Maska. I love that. Hang on. Before this episode goes any further, DW noted that when fashion generally serves sustainability, it becomes a vehicle for something much larger than clothing. If your brand, institution, or even event is looking to make a true community impact, bring DW Styles to your next project. From sustainable presentations with local partners to culture-driven collaborations like the Midwest Black Rodeo. DW brings global architectural intention to your audience. Connect for Speaking, partnerships, or design collaborations at shopdwstyles.com. All right, so next couple questions for you, DW, as we as we kind of wrap toward the end here. Um, just kind of open recapping, man. You started at 12, right? Paying attention to something that most people walked past, waited patiently for over a decade before building, right? You taught yourself how to sell in a boutique, you navigated skepticism as a black male designer, you closed a store during a family uh uh crisis uh and reinvented your sales model during a pandemic. And now you're building a brand that's reaching the world from South Bend, Indiana, right? Behind all that, right, behind that whole arc that I just went through, which is phenomenal to even hear, what do you know now about building your life on your own creative terms that you could could have not have known when you were 12, just noticing something that nobody else seemed to see?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:26

Ooh, that's a heavy one. What do I know now? Um, I know now that if I had putting the work in at a younger age, I'd be at a different place. But that's hindsight and it's always 2020. So um I know that today. I know that if I would have I actually watched a kid, um the youngest kid to ever present in New York Fashion Week presented this year. Um he's 10. And I know that I could have been that kid. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um I know that if I had put in the work, if I had a pushed it, um and not just dealt with what people were saying, if I had pushed it, if I had told my mom, take me to Goodwill and buy me a sewing machine, she would have bought it. Um and if I had a pushed then, um my family would be living different today. But that's how I say it. It's 2020. We'll just get we'll just get there a little bit later. Yeah, we're gonna arrive a little bit later, but don't worry about it. We'll be fashionably late.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:29

Yeah, exactly. No pun intended. Well, for someone who's listening DW right now, right on the podcast from this airs, who has a creative vision that they've been really caring quietly, just like yourself, maybe for years, um, and has not yet given themselves permission to build it fully, right? What do you say to that person who's kind of in that scenario?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:51

Um, quiet the noise, give yourself permission, and move forward. Um, and never stop. Don't stop. I mean, people are not gonna agree with your journey. They're not gonna, not everybody, because here's the thing a visionary, um you were given a vision for this podcast because it was what you were supposed to be doing, Corey, not what I was supposed to be doing, right? But then you have other people that's attached to what your vision is, right? Because now now I'm attached to your vision because you wanted to tell my story, right? The thing is is you have to put yourself in that mode in order. You're gonna help some people, but it's gonna be some people that just don't give a dang on about what you're doing. They don't care about it. So then at that point, does their opinion matter or not? My opinion of this show matters because I'm now a part of it, right? Everybody's not a part of your vision. It was given to you for a reason. So either do it or throw it away.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

Yeah. It is what it is. Well, that's a yeah, that's that's a good lesson. That's that's good advice right there, man. Take it, keep it simple. For people who want to follow you, man. Uh, where can people find you, DW? Follow your upcoming shows and uh get into your world.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:06

Everywhere. DW Styles. Uh some platforms is DW Styles28, other platforms is DW Styles. Instagram is DW underscore styles. On uh, I think I got a TikTok, it's DW28. I get everywhere. If if DW Styles doesn't show up, put a 28 on the end because that's when I really started my 28th year of life. So put that on there and you'll find me.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:35

All right, we're good, man. I'm gonna I'll ask it up for for the guests, as you guys already know. I'll put it in the show notes. If you attach your name, I'll make sure people can find you, get in contact with you. Um and those obviously in the fashion world or entrepreneurs that you don't want to pick your brain, uh, you know, can can uh you know extend their hand out to you. All right. So my last question for you is always, man, I'm on we're on the Life Is Podcast, as you probably see. So I was asked, man, if I asked you, DW, life is blank, right? And that whatever you want to fill in, that word or phrase, what would you fill in on the back end on that?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:12

Life is what you believe it to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:15

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:16

That's very true. Um, if you don't believe in it, it's not gonna happen. Um, there's a scripture in the Bible it says, so a man thinketh that he is. If you think you're worthless, you're gonna be worthless. But if you think you're a millionaire, you're gonna be a millionaire. If you think you're a designer, you'll be designer. If you think you're Coi Brown, you're gonna be a podcaster, plus everything else, that's what you're gonna be. So if um think.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:42

But that's where God works in your mind.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:44

Yep, that's a good way. That's a good way to end it's your perception. Yeah. That's what you believe, what you work toward, and that's that's gonna be um your reality. That's it. So, well, well, like I said, DW, man, I I I appreciate the time. We we went on a whole gamut, whole journey of your story. You took us there, man. Yeah, and I appreciate the time, man. I'm like I said, I'm I'm super grateful, not even for you, but all the guests, to share your wisdom, your journey, your experience, and your um your heart, man. Because Giannis, you know, everyone on this show, including yourself, you're doing you're doing great things, and I do believe in you. Um but there's also the appreciate it in the scenes, yeah, absolutely. There's things behind the scenes that people don't see, and I think that's that's the heart of why I wanted the show, like the how, what helped you build this architectural um you know, life that you're living, that you've built, and you're continuing to build. So um, you know, with that, man, I just want to say I appreciate your time. Thank you for getting on here and and uh sharing it with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:41

So thanks for having me, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Yes, sir. And uh as always, man, we'll we'll stay in touch and uh continue to create uh great work, and we'll look forward to the uh Black Radio show as well. All right, take care. All right, man. We'll see you next time. Peace. What DW showed us today is that the world does not hand you permission to build something meaningful. You build it first, stitch by stitch, show by show, platform by platform, and at some point the world catches up. He started at 12 with nothing but attention and a vision no one else could see. He spent years waiting strategically, learning patiently, and holding the belief that delay is not denial. And when he finally walked into that room at the New York Fashion Week and felt he belonged there, it was not because the room made him a designer. It was because he had been one all along and that room finally confirmed what was already true. That is not a fashion story, that is a coherent story. Till next time, I'll see you in the next episode. That's a wrap on today's episode of the Life Is Podcast. If something in this conversation landed for you, a shift in perspective, a reminder, or something you needed to hear, don't let it stay there. Take it with you, put it to work. If you're ready to go deeper, I have tools built specifically for this journey, a self-discovery blueprint and a diagnostic designed to show you exactly where your foundation needs attention. Links are in the show notes. And if this episode added value, share it with someone who's building, leave a review, help us grow this community of intentional people doing real work. Remember, fulfillment isn't found, it's built. Life is art in motion, and you are the artist. Until next time, keep building.