Victoria Eytchison, a first-year in exploration, and Tait Fischer, a senior at Huron high school, founded sustainable streetwear clothing brand Established Since Youth as an LLC last month. Credit: Courtesy of Victoria Eytchison
As a potential alternative to fast fashion, an Ohio State student’s streetwear brand aims to promote sustainability in clothing.
Victoria Eytchison, a first-year who is undecided and an artist, and her business partner Tait Fischer, a senior at Huron High School in Huron, Ohio, created the streetwear clothing brand, Established Since Youth. Eytchison said they took inspiration from elevated streetwear styles such as Kanye West’s brand, Yeezy, and designed their clothes to be comfortable and clean-looking, including items such as sweatshirts, hoodies and other streetwear-focused pieces.
Fischer said he had a vision for a clothing brand in early 2021 and pitched his idea to Eytchison, who attended his high school at the time.
Using their own age and demographic for inspiration, Eytchison said she and Fischer curated their brand to represent clothing items they would wear themselves and appeal to younger buyers.
“It’s so nice to be young because it’s like, I’m drawing up a design and I look at it and I’m like, ‘I would wear that,’ ” Eytchison said. “On the flip side, I’m drawing something, and I’m like, ‘I hate that.’ We’re able to provide that firsthand perspective.”
Fischer and Eytchison said they quickly began working to make Established Since Youth an official business, becoming an LLC as of Nov. 1. Fischer said they are planning to start dropping items in the next few months on social media and their website, which is currently being developed.
A lot of the brand’s progress is due to help from Lucky Stone Promotions, a clothing printing company in Huron, Fischer said.
“I was fortunate enough to make a connection with them,” Fischer said. “So my biggest thing with if you’re trying to start something is connections are key. What you learn through connections is more than a website will tell you.”
Eytchison said she is doing creative marketing for the brand and is working toward building its image before items are released. She recruited model Jaila Fletcher, a first-year in fashion and retail studies, to be a representative for the brand.
“Diversity and inclusion is a very big thing for me because I’m a fashion major myself,” Fletcher said. “I want to be able to include as much diversity as possible in the fashion industry, and I think it’s awesome that [Eytchison] also wants to do that and show it right off the bat.”
Eytchison said she wants their clothing to be accessible to everyone and values inclusivity regarding size, gender or race.
“We want it to be accessible to anybody,” Eytchison said. “We don’t want sizing to be an issue. We don’t want to just have only, like, a white girl. We want different colors, we want different sizes, different genders.”
Sustainability was also at the forefront of Eytchison and Fischer’s minds when creating Established Since Youth, they said. They said they wanted to use a wholesaler that would not just work with them to produce high-quality products, but that would also be green and employ ethical labor.
“It’d be nice to make a huge profit off of a cheap wholesale, but I wouldn’t want to buy a cheap product,” Eytchison said. “For me, it is sustainability, but also paying your workers well. You see huge brands who are like Shein and where they’re outsourcing from. No matter how big this brand gets – hopefully big – I do not ever want to employ those types of people.”
The two said they hope the launching of their brand will not only help expand their audience but also inspire other young entrepreneurs like themselves.
“Do a little bit at a time,” Eytchison said. “Like, it’s all about managing your time, and if you really want to do something, you will.”
Eytchison and Fischer said they project their first clothing drop will take place mid-December or in early January 2022. Updates will be posted on their Instagram page.
