Yesterday, I (Kelly) shared a guitarist humor jpg on my wall that Robert said he wanted on a t-shirt... and woke up this morning thinking off Joey Ruiz - an old friend of Roberts who, with his brother Bobby, started screening t-shirts back in the late 80s. They worked out of a small space in Imperial Beach, hitting up local businesses for custom t-shirt contracts to pay the bills. Within a couple of years, they were serious up and comers in a burgeoning national streetwear industry and moved to a warehouse where, instead of hustling t-shirt contracts, they found themselves hustling to fill orders for clothing stores across the US. They worked their asses off, seven days a week, almost around the clock. I often used them as an example of what hard work *really* was to my band, lest anyone complain about grabbing cat naps at the studio in lieu of getting eight hours in a warm bed at home. At the same time Joey and Bobby were building their business, they had our backs covered, literally, in free and fabulous clothes. Really cool gear. American-made, babies. Long before Fender, Zildjian, and Budweiser endorsed Natashas Ghost, the Ruiz brothers - who were just making it financially themselves at the time - took a chance on us. And so, to this day, I love these guys and love seeing that they are still doing their thing over 20 years later. To me, they are an American success story at a time you dont hear much about such stories - proof positive that if you do what you love, learn to recognize gambles as opportunities and take them, and hustle - really hustle - you can make great things happen. Bobby plans on teaching the business to his children. Heres to that!
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 16:58:05 +0000
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