The biggest lesson I learned from 11 years of running my streetwear brand

August 22nd, 2012.

Picture the scene: A crowd of 1200+ people waiting.

The vibe? Electric.

Rumpels (our street art character) are alive showing off their parkour skills. Rumpelinas are showing off the ladies’ collection. A dog painted as a zebra. Up-and-coming DJs (who are now big shots).

All for the "Life is Porno Beginning" - our brand’s launch party.

Fast-forward to yesterday, which marked exactly 11 years since we launched our brand’s journey.

Looking back, if I could whisper a piece of advice to my younger self, it would be this:

Everything takes time. 

Yeah, usually at least twice as much as we think.

But guess what? Time's on our side. It’s like things unfold just the way they're supposed to.

Jump to 2015, and I found myself in New York for a game-changing pitch.

Heart pounding, lights glaring. I'm pitching our brand to a major showroom.

“Let's do this,” the guy says.

Goosebumps. It felt insane.

But reality check? We were far from ready.

Passion, balls, a strong brand? We had that for sure.

But the production, the capital? Not quite.

We aimed for the stars but lacked the rocket to get there. And if we had somehow jumped on that chance, I'm pretty sure we'd have crashed and burned.

Then came a chat with Gary Vee a few years later that flipped my script (btw. you’ve gotta watch this “web2 Tino” video).

“What would you do in my shoes to expand?” I asked him.

Gary hit me with: “If I was your new partner, I’d ask: ‘Wait a minute, why are we worried about America, Asia, South America? Are we doing that for our ego? Have we maximized our home market? Have we squeezed that orange enough so there is no more juice?’”

“That's why most entrepreneurs lose,” he continued. “They over-expand. They go wide and not deep. And when the shit hits the fan, and you're shallow, it's very easy to kill you. So I would ask you: ‘Have we maximized the markets we're winning in?’ I can promise you, you haven't.”

Man, was he right...

We felt we had peaked in our home markets. But since that conversation in 2018? We grew 400%.

Well, 2012 felt like the beginning. But now? I feel like we're just getting warmed up.

The real lesson? Life’s biggest game isn’t speed; it's endurance.

And I’m forever grateful that Life is Porno…

Tino