Our Story: From Humble Beginnings

Before I talk about Bando New York, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Ryan and I was born and raised in Long Island, New York. I am currently studying marketing over at a nearby private university. I have always had a passion for clothing. I felt as though clothing is the ultimate form of self-expression because it is the first thing people see when they look at you. The old saying goes as follows: "don't judge a book by its cover," but that's exactly what we all do. There's no shame in admitting that. I do it, you do it, your neighbor does it, the list goes on forever. As I got older, I started to realize that most popular clothing brands lack this sense of self-expression that I always looked for in clothing. Rather than having a deeper meaning behind the designs and styles, everything today is just giant logos with little to no backstories and are being sold for hundreds of dollars. Due to this, I was able to realize that I genuinely wanted to make clothing with meaning behind each piece.

It is also worth noting why I settled on the name Bando New York. As you might be aware, the term "bando" in pop culture usually refers to an abandoned house. I interpreted the word as a sense of abandonment. I wanted this company to be catered towards to people who go outside of the social norm that emphasizes popularity and clout. My pieces are catered to those people who don't care what people have to say or think about them. As long as you are happy and content with yourself and who you are as a person, no one else's opinion matters. 

Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I was actively seeking ways to express myself. I was somewhat of a troublesome kid growing up due to my inability to express myself correctly. I would become frustrated and would act out because of this. Around the time I entered my senior year of high school, I realized that I wanted to do something with my life rather than being another lifeless zombie slaving away at a desk from 9-5 every day. This was when the initial idea of Bando New York came into fruition. The was only one problem: I had no idea how I would accomplish this due to my lack of knowledge and lack of resources. I let this dream of starting up my own clothing brand sit in the back of my mind until I got my first job that summer. Things didn't last long, as I encountered more problems regarding my lack of self-expression. I would end up leaving after two months and focusing most of my time into my studies at university. After finishing my second semester at university, I had finally felt prepared both physically and mentally to seek out another job. Luckily, I found a nice place not too far from my house and got hired on the spot. The atmosphere and the people in this new environment added a much-needed change of pace in my life. Everyone was very warm and welcoming, and I had finally felt comfortable enough to express myself without any restrictions or limitations. Because of this, I decided it would be a good time to finally pursue my dream of starting my own clothing brand. Now that the biggest obstacle (insufficient funds) was eliminated, I was eager to get to work. On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, I officially had turned my dream into a reality and Bando New York was founded.

When I founded Bando New York, I had three very simple core values that I instilled into the company. The first was that quality comes before quantity. I would rather sell one shirt that meets my own standards in terms of quality of the material than sell one hundred shirts that didn't meet my own standards. The second was that each piece that I make available to purchase has a story and a meaning behind it. Rather than just making designs that I found "cool" or "trendy," I went about things by having each piece tell part of both Bando New York's story and my own. The third was that I would always put 110% of my effort, my time, my blood, my sweat and my tears into this. I previously had a bad habit of procrastinating and giving up when things didn't necessarily go my way, but that all changed when I founded this company. I will abide to these three core values for the rest of my life.