Brand Story

When I was fifteen years old, I dropped out of tenth grade and was living on the streets. That's when I figured out the first truth that would define this fork in the road for me.

The system wasn't broken. It was working exactly as designed. It just wasn't designed for me.

Neglected and more by my parents, I had no one. No address. No blueprint. Just a mind that refused to quit and an ability to sell anything to anybody, which in those days you'd call a hustler, but it was pure survival mode.

So I watched. I studied every person who built something from nothing. Instead of resenting them, I used them as proof it was possible.

And it was.

I lived the late 70s, the 80s, the 90s. Played in rock n roll bands. Ran through the Hollywood streets, from strip clubs to night clubs. Fell in love, lost it, found it again. At one point in the 2000s, I owned six retail stores across Southern California and spent more than 25 years in apparel. 2008 was crushing to me in every way possible. I lost everything again.

I've been knocked down more times than I can count, and I got back up every single time. This time, this time has been the toughest time in my life to get back up and fight through one failure after another, and another. They say, keep failing till you succeed. Let me tell you, it's taken every bit of my heart and soul to keep fighting. I reached deep down and realized I must go back to what I knew best.

And I created NYFN, designed from my heart and soul, with anger, loneliness, sadness, fear, depression, hopelessness, and the mindset of the great Rocky Balboa. NYFN is all of it: the 2am silence, the music that saved me, the tenderness nobody sees, the dumb jokes that got me through, provided by the memories of a very dear friend. Every fall. Every rise. Every feeling.

NYFN isn't about money. The designs and feel of the apparel are everything.

What I would personally like our customers to know: what you choose has a deep story behind the design and what NYFN lives for. When you wear the story, you are responsible for treating yourself with forgiveness and love. You are the most important person in the world.

We live in the most connected moment in human history, and we've never been more alone. Somewhere inside the feeds and the screens, we stopped looking at each other.

My hope is this: two people who have never met see each other wearing NYFN and pass by each other. A recognition. A nod. An unspoken acknowledgment that says,

“I see you. You're not alone.”

That's NYFN. Family.

NYFN is whatever it chooses to be, whenever it wants to be. Forever evolving, just like you.

The future was never written for people like me, or you. So we'll write it ourselves.

NỸFN. Heart n Soul.