I co-founded Kid Dangerous in Los Angeles in 2005 with three of my childhood best friends. Our original tagline was “quality garments for you to throw up and bleed on,” embodying a zero fucks given brand ethos and a grimy, smart-assy aesthetic in keeping with the LA nightlife culture of the era.

We bootstrapped the entire thing ourselves and got a crash course in building a brand from scratch — a brand that quickly found favor with hipsters and celebrities alike and could be found on television shows, in movies and on the shelves of famed boutiques like Kitson, Fred Segal and H. Lorenzo.

Almost twenty years later, Kid Dangerous (and sister line Girl Dangerous) are still thriving, and I feel a true sense of accomplishment and gratitude whenever I encounter a Kid D garment on the street or in a store. Building a clothing brand is hard. Building one that lasts two decades is something else entirely.