Born in Whittier, California, I spent my youth on the inland hillsides of Hacienda Heights. By the time I turned 16 and could drive to Hollywood, I knew fashion would be a life long passion...

My friends and I would tell our parents we were going to the beach, and then go to the Hollywood Palladium instead. We wanted to see every crazy band we could. It was a place you could dress anyway you wanted and not feel the judgement glares like you did back in high school.

Good times!

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We used to build super crappy skate ramps that were way too narrow and had no transition and were made from stolen scrapes at construction sites of the suburban hillside sprawl.

There were no 'sides' skaters were surfers, and surfers , skaters. It didn't matter, they all hated dudes from the Valley.

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Without a clue of how to pursue a career in fashion, I shipped myself off to Architecture school. Once at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the art, architecture, and graphic design all came to fruition and the brand Split was born.

We made everything in Santa Ana, and shipped our gear out of a garage in Huntington Beach. 

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Next came the move into a proper warehouse and the challenging cycle of making samples to get orders, to make production, to pay for more samples, to give to team riders, to influence buyers to buy enough for a production run, to attract capitol investors with connections to China.

AOL, email, tech packs, pants with too many zippers! What a way to finish up the 90's...

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Now the challenge came of taking all that experience and starting something new. I started working for Kr3w in the summer of 2002. We made tees, hats and a steam roller of a denim program! 

The skate team consisted of Andrew Reynolds, Evan Hernandez, Erik Ellington, Jim Greco, Chad Muska, Terry Kennedy, Antwan Dixon. Even with that line up, it wasn't an overnight success, but when it clicked, it was incredible.

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Kr3w did well enough to start Supra, and Supra started the Skytop... What an amazing ride. So many good memories, and a few bad ones too. We were a small team of talented individuals who pushed the boundaries in every product we made.

 

All good rides come to and end and my ride was over in 2013. I soon found a spot at my friend Joe King's company, ROOK, and then on to premium freelance denim for private label company 1721 soon after.

 

In May of 2014, John Putnam gave me a shot to help out with the multiple brands under the PAG umbrella located in Vernon, Ca. The brands included, Original Chuck by Mark McNairy, Amber Rose Collection by Amber Rose, History by Nas, Kirkwood by Future Hendrixx, Psych Ward by Nick Cannon, and Dirty Pig by the Janoskians. It was a privilege to be able to learn about digital showrooms, new web based PLM processes, and direct to consumer web stores.

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Thank you for your time, that's enough out of me.

-Steve

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