An idea 2 years in the making finally comes to life. Junior Emmanuel Kasongo draws/creates his own designs to put on clothing and sell on his website.

“I’ve had the idea for almost 2 years now but I didn’t start until now because everyone told me I was too young. When I first started the brand it was called Zeel and was just based off of a song I heard and really liked. From there it just kinda evolved into something that represents me and what I do,” 

One day bored at home he decided to do what he usually loves doing which was create some art. From there it began. 

He creates the designs all by himself and gets his inspiration from an artist he used to follow on Instagram.

“All designs are made by me and I made most of them because I was bored honestly. Art is my hobby so I’d stay up making art, my art style is inspired by an artist that I used to follow on Instagram, no one else helps me art-wise but I do have someone helping me run the site.”

First starting up he just wanted to create clothing for him to skate in. His pieces are based on his friends and random characters. 

“Once I started Daybroken I just wanted to make clothes that I could skate in and most of the time pieces are influenced by pictures of my friends or random people”.

The process of making the designs starts off from an app on his phone and then it transfers over to photoshop to be printed on T-Shirts and other accessories ready to be sold on his website.

“ I make all the designs on my phone using an app called ibis Paint x and then I move them over to Photoshop when I get to school after I’ve cleaned up the image I save them as a png file and get them printed on shirts.”

Of course, not every entrepreneur has an easy path. Kasongo faced some obstacles at the start of the business and is still facing some now.

“The first big problem I ran into was when I first started was having the funds to start and I didn’t have a debit card so even if I was making sales I wouldn’t get the money because it had nowhere to go. Besides that my biggest problem right now is advertisement and getting myself out there. Hopefully, I can get that taken care of soon enough.”

Kasongo understands that those problems are just part of this journey and still pushes through to reach his goal for the future

“As of right now Daybroken has been around for about 3 and a half weeks going on to a month and I’ve made about 80$ in sales, it may not seem like a lot but considering that I’ve only been around for about a month I’m not too worried about it, I do hope I’ll make more sales in the upcoming future though.”

“Ultimately my goal is to go from making clothes to making skateboards with my own custom prints on them because I want Daybroken to become a brand recognized by all skaters.”

If you’re interested in Emmanuel’s work and want to take a look at it or order some of his products, visit his website daybrokenofficial.com and Instagram @daybroken_tm