Graduate high school, and then go to college. It's what many parents want for their children. But that's not always possible, and even when it is; some people simply have other plans. Bigger plans.
For 23-year-old Courtney Campbell and Ross Schilling, 21, those plans were to start their own clothing line and become one of the top clothing companies in the business. And for these two young fashion entrepreneurs, those plans have finally started showing some payoff with the creation of their clothing line Circle of Success or COS.
The two didn't meet until about three years ago, but they grew up near each other in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, about an hour east of Los Angeles, and had similar experiences.
Campbell grew up in Riverside, California in what he described to be a very loving home with his younger brother Jordan, 21, two younger sisters, mother Colleen, and step-father Titus.
But it wasn't always like this recalled Campbell, who said his birth father ran-out on his family when he and his brother were young leaving his mom to struggle as a single mother with little money. This was his first taste of poverty; something he said he never wants to experience again and will do whatever it takes to make sure of that.
After a few years the family moved in with Campbell's grandparents who were very wealthy and had several family businesses. Following that, his mother got remarried to stepfather Titus Campbell whom he and his brother consider their "real" father.
Campbell said he learned a lot about businesses from his family who has always been his number one supporters.
"My family means everything, they're so supportive of what I do," said Campbell. "I mean to have a mother who fully supports [me] skipping school to follow my dreams. That's a pretty awesome thing."
Campbell's love for fashion started early.
"I always loved fashion, when the other kids were out buying videogames, I was buying the newest Jordan's. That's what I loved. I always came to school with new outfits. I was a trendsetter," Campbell said.
This was possible because Campbell's mother always tried to make sure he was able to get the clothes he wanted if she could afford it.
But this wasn't the case for Schilling who grew up across town in North Corona, California and didn't have it easy as Campbell. His family was always poor and he had a bad relationship with his father until recently.
"I never had nice things when I was growing up. My parents were pretty strapped for cash. I didn't have new clothes like all the other kids or the new videogame systems," said Ross
Schilling's mother works for the school district, and his father works as a machinist for a company that builds rockets. Neither made a lot of money and both parents worked long hours. This left Ross alone a lot growing up.
But according to Schilling, that was a blessing in disguise. It gave him a lot of time to himself to hone in on his drawing skills and inspired him to work harder so that he could get the things he wanted for himself.
Neither Campbell nor Schilling was very interested in school growing up.
"I played sports, but other than that I wasn't very involved [in school]. I just didn't really want to be there," Campbell said.
Campbell played football in high school alongside his younger brother Jordan Campbell, who now plays linebacker for the University of Southern California.
"My brother is in college doing his thing on the field and getting an education. I'm happy for him, but that just wasn't me," said Campbell.
He graduated from Norco High School in 2005, and has since focused his full attention to getting the business off the ground.
For Schilling, school was a chore. He said he was never good at school, and became easily disinterested which led him to discover and practice his other passions.
Passions like drawing and graphic design.
"When I was bored in class, I would constantly doodle. All day, every day, all I did was draw. I loved it and it got to a point where people started noticing my talent," said Schilling.
Initially, Schilling envisioned himself becoming a tattoo artist and has designed a few tattoos for friends so far. Including a "moneybag" tattoo Campbell has on his right forearm, which is symbolic of their business. Ironically, Schilling doesn't have any tattoos but says he plans to get many later on. All of which he will draw himself.
Schilling's love for drawing eventually led him to discover Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator which he taught himself how to use and has now mastered. Ross is the sole graphic designer for COS.
He and Campbell met through a mutual friend while the two were both trying to launch their own separate clothing lines three years ago. Campbell started Freshwith a couple other friends while Schilling and some friends started a line called Try Harder. Neither or their respective lines were as successful as they would have liked which made for a major disappointment.
Both lines gradually started falling apart leaving Campbell and Schilling the only people still working on the businesses. Determined not to give up, the two combined efforts with an idea for a new company. They would call it Circle of Success.
The idea behind this business was that it would still be a streetwear line, except it would be built on the idea of success and a "winners circle," which is a moniker for COS and signifies keeping good company.
"You're only as strong and successful as the people you surround yourself with. We want to be successful and we want to put ourselves around like-minded, driven people. We ARE the winners circle," said Campbell.
Once they developed the concept, Schilling would be in charge of creating and designing the graphics for the clothing while Campbell would help with ideas and take charge of the marketing/sales side of the business.
The road wasn't easy. They had a lot of work to do and many people doubted them because of their previous failures. But that didn't stop them.
Both men were determined to get the business going. But they stressed that even though it was a struggle, it was still fun.
"I love my job, I make my own hours, I'm my own boss, and I'm doing something I love. It doesn't get much better than that," said Campbell.The next step was finding people who wanted to buy their clothes.
"We started pushing our product to everyone. While Court would go out to parties or concerts he would always be working and making connections. Our products are geared toward the hip young crowd, so that's where we went to preview our clothes," said Schilling.
They were handing out their products to athletes and rappers around L.A. As people started seeing their idols wearing COS clothing they became interested and started asking questions.
Campbell has always had a knack for networking and using his connections, so in this case he turned to his brother because that gave him easy access to USC football players who would be eager to sport his clothes.
"It was a win-win. We got some fresh new clothes, and [Courtney] started getting recognition as people saw big-time D1 athletes wearing his brand. All my friends started asking me where they could get their hands on some COS gear," said brother Jordan Campbell.
In addition, Campbell made a connection with famous rapper Snoop Dogg over the summer and gave him some of his shirts to wear.
"If kids see their favorite football players or rappers wearing our clothes it works out great for us because the kids want to look just like them," said Schilling.
Now, the men have more than three different stores around the IE carrying their products and are constantly working to get their foot in the door at different boutiques in Los Angeles.
Over the past two years that they have been working on COS, they've made vast progress, much in part because of Campbell's networking.
Pena said Campbell is a natural salesman and his skills helped both of their clothing lines because he made connections for both of them. He said that's something you can't learn in school.
Even so, both Campbell and Schilling do plan on going back to school down the road. Schilling wants to go to college for business and Campbell for Psychology.
"I wanted to get real-life experience with this business, not what they teach you in school, but later on I do want to go back to learn all the advanced concepts," said Schilling.
But that's a ways away. For now school will continue to be on hold as they focus all their attention on building their business and seeing where that takes them.
BY MASON WEHRLI
