Road Rash and Our Legacy?
Road Rash was created by father and son, Gavin Swan and Kevin Swan. Both with a goal to create a brand that was purposeful and unique in every way.
Kevin Swan was a fashion designer for a luxury brand, MADE IN ITALY. He started this brand in 2011 with the financial help of several business capitalist, interested in investing in the luxury fashion industry. As the brand began, the silent investors became less silent, vocally expressing in board meetings what their idea of "THE STORY" should be, falsifying a fake lavish stroy to make the brand seem well established.
While Kevin's main focus was to design the absolute best quality, Italian sportswear and make it available to speciality stores throughout the world, his brand pitch (boardroom script) became confusing and uninteresting to every store he met with saying, "your quality is undeniable but I don't get the story." This went on for several years. Selling very little, he began feeling the pressure and frustration from his partners, on the verge of pulling out of their deal.
As a last ditch effort, at the risk of loosing his brand and closing doors, Kevin decided to go into his 3rd collection fashion show launch with authenticity, honesty and openness to the REAL STORY. "What else is there to loose?"
That season, Kevin had his best collection launch, opening many store partners throughout the United States. This was attributed to not only the best and finest Italian men's clothing but the favoritism and appreciation for such a raw and real designer, following his dreams of success. GOD blessed him.
The Legacy of Road Rash
Many years later, his son Gavin Swan came to him and said, "I want to be a fashion designer like you, however I want to design my style of clothing."
Excited for the potential teaching moment, Kevin saw a valuable opportunity to teach Gavin international business while creating a brand he would be proud of. The first question that needed to be answered was:
Why Do You Want This?
It needed to be so much more than "I just want to design cool clothing." It needed a purpose. Kevin did not want this brand to be a false identity maker. In fact, it needed to the exact opposite. Kevin felt the best way for this NOT to be about a false identity was to expose all that is that.
Kevin and Gavin sat down to discuss real life issues people (both youth and adults) face. A kind of testimony and expose it on our sleeves, literally.
Guardrails
At the core, the inspiration behind Road Rash the brand is a study by Andy Stanley and Northpoint Ministries called Guardrails. Essentially setting boundaries in your life including your finances, your marriage, your businesses, relationships, etc.
"It was this life study that saved my marriage, my business and reset the way I was doing life" Kevin said. "Guardrails are designed to keep you from running off the road into certain disaster."
Road Rash is what you get when you hit those guardrails and the secrets you have been hiding begin to reveal and expose themselves.
What is your Road Rash?
When you hit the guardrail, you get road rash, tearing your clothing and exposing what's hidden
