Retro House began with me selling sneakers out of the backseat of my 2007 Kia Rio.

My favorite memory from my time selling sneakers was the day the Yeezy 350 "Pirate Black" was released. I had gone around to everyone in my first-period class and asked if I could use their laptops.

I had three desks lined up with 12-15 computers across every inch of surface available, all sitting on Adidas's queue. I was laser-focused on each, hoping for one of them to go through.

I never got those sneakers, but it was still neat to see everyone come together like that.

I still remember how excited I was when it finally came time to launch our first website. After months of selling t-shirts out of my trunk, I would finally have a space to sell my products and showcase my brand.

My excitement quickly plateaued when I realized how big of an undertaking doing it myself would be.

One day, I received a call from my screen printer at the time; He wanted to give me a heads-up that he was about to stop printing. After my initial freakout, he told me that he just so happened to have a buddy who was selling a screen printing press and needed it gone as soon as possible.

I haggled him down to a price I was comfortable with, and he told me to come pick it up. I called my football buddy for some extra muscle, but there was still a massive obstacle in my way. At the time, I was driving a 2-door BMW convertible, not ideal for moving large pieces of equipment, but that was not going to stop us now.

When we arrived at the destination (an apartment complex) and I put the top down on the convertible, I looked over at my buddy, saying with a laugh, "It's basically a truck now!”.

We loaded the equipment up, and I paid the man his money. I never really understood what I was buying, I just knew it was a good deal. So imagine my surprise when I realized I could put the top back up, but we were already there.

So we started our hour-long drive back home. My friend was pinned against his seat by a flash dryer, and the wind hitting our face at 70+ MPH, was definitely some illegal stuff. However, the only thing on our faces was a smile from a job well done.

The following 6 months of my life were spent sitting in front of YouTube, trying to learn how to screen print, and more importantly, how to do so in a 1-bedroom studio apartment (it was really more like an attic). It was by no means a graceful process by any stretch of the imagination. Eventually, things started to get easier, and my prints continued to improve. Before I knew it, I was making my own streetwear.

I met Hazelkorn and his manager, Q through a massive "share-for-share chain that was going around on Snapchat at the time. At the time, Hazelkorn was an up-and-coming model, and seeing that we both worked in the fashion industry, building a relationship seemed like a no-brainer.

As time passed, I often told him that Retro House would come down and do a photoshoot with him one day. It always seemed like a pipe dream until Caleb and I started our 6-hour drive to Cleveland, Ohio.

Meeting Hazelkorn and keeping my word from so long ago was one of the most surreal feelings ive ever felt. I remain eternally grateful to have been given that opportunity.