Gone fishing

So I am in Greece and Macedonia till the 14th of June for those of y’all that didn’t know. I just wanted to make a special offer while I am gone to those who make a shirt order. Since I am gone I can’t handle shipping while I am over seas. So every shirt purchase while I am gone will get a random free shirt! June 17th is my birthday so I thought that would be a good day to end the deal. So take advantage of the offer while it lasts!

To check out the web store click HERE

Greece and Macedonia is amazing by the way! It is awesome to just hang around the city and explore while working with God at the same time. So many people have been encountering Jesus and experiencing the Holy Spirit and it’s so cool to just be a part of it. I have so many stories to tell and so many memories are being made. I have been meaning to blog about everything but it is hard to find time to sit down and blog. In due time though. Peace out y’all!

-HIJ-

Amy’s Nicaragua Benefit Concert

If you live in San Marcos, TX or are close to the area then make sure to stop by Wake The Dead tonight! My good friend Amy is having a benefit show to raise money for her mission trip to Nicaragua. It is only 3$ and there will be a couple vendors including HIJ Clothing plus an amazing line up of talented San Marcos musicians! The local musicians playing include Kelby Rae, The Oh Hellos, O Victori, Those Know It Alls and Tactics. It is going to be a legit show with some of the finest musicians in San Marcos! I will be out there selling some tee shirts and a percentage of my profit will help go towards Amy’s mission trip so come by and support y’all! It is all going towards a good cause!

To check out the event details and directions click HERE!

Chi Rho Mission

This summer I will be going overseas on a mission trip to Skopje, Macedonia. I am taking a missionary class through my church to be equipped on how to live on mission daily and be discipled on how to follow Jesus. It’s going to be almost 2 months since we started the class. It has been great to spend a couple hours of my day twice a week with great people who Love the Lord and are all working on getting to know him a little bit better. We are learning how to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and be prepared to share the gospel.

To raise money for the trip I have released a special shirt in order to raise all my funds for the trip. The design I used is the Chi Rho Symbol. The symbol stands for the first 2 letters of Christ in Greek. In the early 300’s the emperor Constantine who is considered the founder of the Eastern Roman Empire took control and was favored by the population because he decided to legalize Christianity. Before that Christians were meeting secretly in people’s homes because they were being persecuted. After time the believers grew to make up ¼ of the Roman Empire population. Constantine used this to his advantage to gain control and used the Chi Rho as more of a military symbol. Yes, a lot of good came out of the legalization of Christianity but a lot of the main points of Christianity got lost with the sudden change. Some forgot what it truly meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ and not just a believer. I don’t think there is anything wrong with organized religion because there is a lot of good that can come out from it. I just believe that some organized religion is letting traditions and rituals get in the way of letting the people experience the love of Christ and how he died on the cross for us.

Constantine used this symbol more as a military symbol and put it on his men’s shields. I want to turn the original use of this design and use it as a symbol of love and hope for our nations. As Christians one should not force anything of anybody except offer someone love and compassion towards another human being. Our faith is reflected upon our actions. In Macedonia we will be sharing the gospel and the overwhelming love of Jesus but by genuinely caring for people rather than handing someone a bunch of knowledge. A team of about 5 or 6 of us will be going to Macedonia for 2 weeks to help support our church ministry partners, spread the gospel and help spread the love of Jesus Christ.

Any support with prayer would be much appreciated and if you would like to purchase a shirt click HERE! All the money is going to be used for airfare, transportation, food, shelter and basic necessities while I will be gone for the two weeks. Thank you for your support and I know God is going to do something great with this trip!

HIJ Clothing Official Logo

What up HIJ Fam! It’s been a while but I’m finally working on focusing more of my time on HIJ. I really need to make blogging a habit! I have been slacking a bit on HIJ but Jesus, my part time job and school is also a big part of my life. I just need to work on prioritizing my time better! I got a couple new blog posts in the works so I’ll get the practice. Last semester I was going through some tough times which slowed things down with HIJ but this semester has been amazing. I am filled with happiness and excited for the future! I am sure by now many of y’all have noticed the new logo. I know it was not too long since the last one but this one is here to stay! Let me explain.

Many of you might know that I came up with the symbol above to represent my initials during my sophomore year in High School. This was around the time I was obsessed with the movie Scarface and wanted a cool symbol for my initials like Scarface had on the back of his chair in his mansion. So after messing around with the letters of my initials I came up with the symbol above. I would use it as a sort of tag and I would draw it on desks, whiteboards, bathrooms and I would sketch it out all the time. It’s funny to think that close to 3 years after the creation of the symbol I would be using it as a logo to start a clothing company.

So I really liked my original symbol and I had it as my initial logo for my first 3 tee shirts. It was the HIJ Clothing official logo up until a year in business. After a year of testing the waters I realized I wanted to change up the design. It took some thinking and consideration but I eventually decided to just do it. So I did a simple update to the logo and I came up with the symbol pictured above. I’m not even going to get into the many reasons for the logo change but I am glad I did. It has led me to create something even greater than I ever imagined that has so much more meaning to me.

I released my first series with the updated logo but after 6 months with the updated logo I decided to change it once again. It’s awesome because it wasn’t up until after the design process that I found so much meaning to my logo and immediately fell in love with the design. All it took was a friend’s simple comment to bring about the idea of the design. My good friend Dale had mentioned that my second logo looked like half a shield. I didn’t see it at first up until he pointed it out. That comment stayed with me for a while and I was on Photoshop one day and decided to mess around with the idea of having a shield looking logo. Using what I already had, I made a copy of the logo and then mirrored it to make it whole. Then I saw that the HIJ letters were still noticeable. It was in a different way but the letters were still there even with the major change. I showed it to a couple people and one of my roommates noticed that if you looked even closer that you could see the letters of CLOTHING. That is when my mind was blown and I knew that I had to do something with this design! I then remade the design on illustrator which turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I am happy to announce that this new logo is now the official logo for HIJ Clothing!

In honor of the new logo I have released these crewneck sweatshirts. They are limited to 50 and it might not be sweater season in Texas anymore but I like to where mine when I can. Maybe you live up north or you’re in a lot of cold rooms. I don’t know, but you can always find a good excuse to wear a sweatshirt. Especially a sweatshirt that is super comfortable! I am not lying when I say that I don’t want to take mine off sometimes. They are printed on American Apparel California Fleece and are not too thick either. I finally added Hem tags to HIJ production and they double as the size and care label to have extra tag less comfort around the neck! Slowly but surely HIJ Clothing is becoming what I have always dreamed. I assure you that I will never quit working on HIJ and improving HIJ. I am sure that I will always find something to make HIJ as best as it can be!

To buy your Crewneck Sweatshirt click HERE or click on the Web Store button on the top menu!

Mini Update!

Sorry for the lack of updates! I have been busy with the holidays and finally getting everything together with the Big D release. On New Year’s Day I updated the site with the new logo. Since then I have been working on other small details with the site. The next major update will be a compilation of my life story up to now. It is basically about how I grew up, my inspirations and the risks I took to start my brand. Any brand is a reflection of the type of people that started or run the brand. It is important for me to inform everyone about my life in order for you to understand my brand a little better. To do this I have collected all my old journals, paper work and sketches. I even have my old sketchbook where HIJ Clothing was created!

I’ve kept a journal since 8^th grade so that has been helping me like no other with this process! It’s been awesome reading old journal entries and going back through all my old memories. My journals are super personal to me and no one has ever read any of my journal entries. I plan to keep it that way but I want to share with you parts of my life that were important in making me the man I am now. If you ever wanted to know all about HIJ then this will be your chance!

HIJ Clothing 2012

2012 will be a year of change for HIJ Clothing with a new mission, logo and products. HIJ Clothing is going through another re branding. Only this time I am truly satisfied with my plans and the way I am running things. I am continuously learning and growing with my brand as each day comes.  HIJ Clothing was once a hobby but has quickly become a huge part of my life. It has been a fun year and a half with my brand but it is now time to get serious and get things going. Thankfully I love all that I do with HIJ Clothing so getting serious with my brand means more fun! When your work is something that you love and doesn’t even seem like work than that’s when you know you’ve got something really special. Thankfully I have great people like you on my side who support and keep HIJ Clothing alive. I have also had great opportunities arisen that have helped me realize HIJ Clothing’s potential. Now the only thing to do is reach that potential. I have so many plans and goals that I hope to achieve and honestly I am just excited for the journey! Why the sudden change? Well I will explain when the New Year comes. New Year means new HIJ Clothing!

One of the new things I will be doing with HIJ Clothing is an annual “Big D” tee shirt. The first “Big D” design did so well and I received a huge amount of requests to bring it back. So I listened to the public and figured out a way to keep the design going but at the same time keep the design special. On New Year’s Day of each year I plan to re-release the “Big D” design but using a different color way or maybe even adding a theme to the design. I will decide what to do with it when the time comes around but this year I have decided to keep it simple with an inverted version of the original design. Keeping things limited edition is really important to me because I like to make my products as special as they can be. I made a promise to myself that I would never sell out. It has never been about the money but solely because I love working and growing with HIJ Clothing. I figured this would be a good way for more people to enjoy the tee shirt design but still keep each run unique. Well with that being said. Enjoy!

The 2012 “Big D” design is on pre order and sales are going! This year there will be 35 tee shirts total so if you want to secure a shirt I recommend you buy on as soon as you can. The link to the “Big D” Pre Order is below.

HIJ Clothing Web Store

HIJ Clothing Series 1 Sale!

I officially put the 1st series on sale to make room for the new year! From now on all Series 1 tees are 15 dollars flat and as always shipping is free. I got big plans for 2012 so I need some more room for new products and hey right in time for the holidays too! Get a shirt for your loved ones! The link is below. Happy Holidays!

Web Store 

HIJ