Welcome to Dbrowns Life.: Stop Asking for Free Shit. It’s Ghetto.

So, since my sleep schedule is way the hell off after getting back from Ethiopia, I figured I might as well address something that has been bothering me for a while.

Why do some people think they are entitled to free shit?

Seriously, what does that do for me? How does giving my product away for free help my business? And do not say promotion, because if you buy it and wear it, you are promoting it just the same.

I get very annoyed when people ask me for free stuff. If your idea of support is asking me to give you something for nothing, then respectfully, I do not want your support. That might sound harsh as hell, but someone has to say it.

I have invested a lot of money into my business. Time. Energy. Meetings. Emails. Manufacturing. Planning. Stress. So when someone who has not purchased a single item asks for free product, I take that as disrespectful. People really think running a clothing brand is easy. Trust me, it is not. There is a lot that goes into this that nobody sees.

Can y'all at least wait until I hit a million first?
Alright, a million is wild, lets say 100k.

And no, that is not an invitation to start asking me for free shit when I hit 100k either. But damn, the begging needs to stop. That shit is ghetto. How am I supposed to grow when people are constantly asking me to give everything away?

That is not support. That is enabling. And I am not in the business of enabling.

So let me be clear. Stop with the guilt trips. Stop with the "I can promote this for you" angles. I see the game, and it irritates me every time.

I dealt with the same issue when I started photography. People wanted free shoots or wanted to pay me like I was the photoman. And when I say "photoman," what I really mean is cheap, undervalued, and not respected. I did not spend thousands of dollars on equipment for someone to offer me $ 75 to $ 150 for a shoot. If that is the budget, go to the photoman, not me.

I am not the photoman.
I am not the shoeman.
I am not the clothesman.

I am not that guy, and I refuse to let people treat me like that just because I did not take the same routes they did to get where I am.

Everybody has a hustle, but you are not about to hustle me.

You can pay for Buffs? You can buy a tee.
You can cop purple jeans? You can afford Double B's.

My shit is quality over here, and I stand on that. I do not run a cheap home setup, printing shirts in the basement. No disrespect at all to anyone getting it out of the mud that way, that is just not my route. I am big on quality.

I work with manufacturers. My products are made from scratch. Materials matter. Construction matters. Longevity matters. Because y'all are not about to pay 55 dollars for a tee just for the print to start peeling after a few washes. Fuck no. I will not put my name on that, and I will not sell anything I would not wear myself.

So when people ask why I do not just give shit away, this is why. Too much work. Too much intention. Too much pride goes into what I make.

For example, I am dropping tote bags next month, and I can already hear it now. The asking. The guilt tripping. Then, you know, we go way back.

If I give anything away, it will be to my paying customers as a thank you for their support. Not because we are family. Not because we have known each other forever. That kind of support is dead to me.

All I am asking for is respect. Respect for my business. Respect for my work. I built this shit, and I refuse to let anyone, friends or family, try to guilt-trip me into giving them something they do not want to pay for.

That is enabling behavior, and I do not fuck with it.

Anyway,

We have an event coming up on February 28th. Bold Basics The Reveal. I will have merch on hand, and the tote bags will be available for purchase.

Hope to see you there.
Details below.