Like most things I do design wise with OHMY and anything design wise for that matter it starts in my sketchbook. I had already mapped out that I wanted to create a brand for athletes. Just for athletes. Way back when, years ago I had started another brand with the intention of making clothes for athletes but I let too many voices cloud my vision and next thing you know I was trying to create a shirt for the athlete who also played guitar and who also liked long walks on the beach and it just wasn’t a clear vision anymore.
Fast forward a few years and here I am again. Clear vision in mind this time around. A brand for athletes, by athletes, for the love of the game, at this point in my sketchbook I have even mapped out the Big3. Keep pounding, trust the process, and, compete with confidence. These would become and still are the three pillars of the brand and to this day five years later I still lean on these mantras with the design work and brand work I do.
And I have a name, OHMY. Watch any sports top ten and you’re sure to hear at least one announcer exclaim “OH MY” when a player makes a great play. It was fitting, and I was listening to Macklemore a lot at the time as well, credit My Oh My, his song about the Seattle Mariners for the inspiration as well. But OHMY wasn’t enough, insert an art exercise Jennifer Kirkwood my high school art teacher had us do. Back to sketchbook, I write OHMY at the top and I just start writing whatever comes to mind off of that. No wrong answers, doesn’t even have to be truly related to the brand.
Next thing you know I’m looking down at the page and I have ‘Out Hustle Most Everyone’ scribbled down and I stop. That feeling hits me; I’m close, really close. Circle that one; star it that might just be it. I text my best friend from childhood, athlete, entrepreneur, all around good guy Corey Coker and fill him in.
Few hours go by and he texts back, “you don’t have to use it, this is your brand, your vision but what about Out Hustle My Yesterday?” My reply: THAT’S IT
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