Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Kantrowitz and Janelle Lopez.
Aaron and Janelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The birth of TYPE stems from my personal and professional experience and the skills that I have developed in my professional life. The main driver to starting TYPE was to raise awareness about mental health. I have a fraternal twin who, at the age of 15 was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Witnessing these changes to my twin was devastating and I felt a sense of helplessness. Society has made mental health a taboo topic and my goal is to remove that stigma and to leverage e-commerce to donate to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Health. $1 of every purchase from TYPE Clothing is donated to NAMI. Professionally, I have more than 10 years of experience working with Fortune 500 brands and startups including Home Depot, AutoZone, Thermo Fisher Scientific, & Accumen. Later on, I became a leader at BVAccel, the largest Shopify Plus eCommerce agency in the world, managing web design & development builds & optimizations for top brands including Red Bull, Proctor, and Gamble (P&G), MVMT Watches, Frame Denim & Zendaya. More recently, I now lead a team of developers at a digital marketing agency in addition to running TYPE Clothing. I leveraged the eCommerce and web development skills I’ve accumulated over the years to create my own store with the purpose of establishing a sustainable company that also gives back to communities. The initial conception of TYPE happened In 2017 on a walk home from work, I thought to myself “I love hats, I know eCommerce and I can code… I can do this.”, TYPE Clothing was born.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Due to my experience in the e-commerce space, the initial build and foundation for TYPE was pure sweat equity. Building TYPE and juggling project work for the agency I am/was working for as well as taking on some freelance clients through my AKANTRO e-commerce web dev and freelancing business has made it difficult for me to invest the time needed to build and promote TYPE Clothing. My partner Janelle Lopez has joined the TYPE team and is now helping manage social media, content creation, ad promotions, and design. TYPE’s initial inception was solely a headwear shop, however, with Janelle’s involvement TYPE has expanded its reach to include clothing.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
TYPE Clothing is a mid-market headwear and clothing brand founded in 2017 by Aaron Kantrowitz in San Diego, CA. Our goal, mission, and what sets us apart from other clothing brands is that we are introducing an entirely new generation to the possibilities of impacting mental health through our brand. In the current time, we live in TYPE Clothing feels that it is our responsibility to make an impact in our communities. With TYPE Clothing’s involvement in a community initiative like mental health, we hope to spark a similar interest with other businesses to get involved in a community initiative that they are passionate about.
Every time you make a purchase from TYPE Clothing, $1 is donated directly to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
What were you like growing up?
As a young kid, growing up in New Jersey and in the Bronx, I was somewhat of a scrappy kid that was into hip hop. Some of my biggest heroes growing up were Jay-Z, Nas, and the Wu-Tang Clan. TYPE clothing is reflective of my exposure to the hip hop I had experienced in New York. As I got older, I moved around a lot and due to my father’s addiction and my mother’s battles with depression my twin brother and I had to live in a group home. During this time, I became more introverted and even more so when my brother had to be institutionalized for his mental illnesses. Music and computers were always huge outlets for me and still are to this day. Both of these outlets have enabled me to be artistic.
Pricing:
- Every time you make a purchase from TYPE Clothing, $1 is donated directly to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
- Free shipping & returns on all US orders
- Use discount code TYPE10 for 10%off
Contact Info:
- Website: https://typeclothing.com
- Phone: 858-716-6483
- Email: aaron@typeclothing.com; janelle@typeclothing.com
- Other: https://akantro.com
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
