Daily Inspiration: Meet D’Vontre Dotson

Today we’d like to introduce you to D’Vontre Dotson.

Hi D’Vontre, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started T’FUŁA Attire® in May 2019 as more of a hustle/hobby than a business. About a year before I established it as a company, the name came to me out of nowhere while riding down the highway. Somebody was staring at me and naturally, I just thought “The F*** U Lookin At” then I instantly knew their eyes were peeled because the vibrance of my łook was so extravagant. I glanced at this building in the distance and could see it was an acronym that you could pronounce and I still had the starting situation on my mind so I thought to put together the first letters of the words I said and got TFULA (tee-foo-luh). I was excited about the acronym I just come up with and decided to make a design for it on some white sneakers I had. That design was the first of many to come but it would take some time.

Although I’ve always been passionate about Streetwear and style and really just the culture in general, when I made that design on my shoes I had no intentions of being a designer or having a clothing label. A little over a year after that design was made I met a friend that printed shirts at her job, I had the idea of putting 5 stars with the original logo and had her print a few tees, I thought it would be a good hustle real quick because my pocket wasn’t looking so good. When I posted the shirts on social media, I got way better feedback than I expected. It was like people wanted an encore for my “debut” into the streetwear world.

That’s where I put it in my mind that I am now a brand owner and must treat it as such.

About a month after the first shirts dropped, I had officially come up with the name of the łabel, T’FUŁA Attire®. By now, you already know what T’FUŁA stands for but you may not know that the apostrophe is between the T & F because my name (D’Vontre) has it between the first two letters & also is how it’s pronounced, and the Ł has a line through it because in this life we take no łosses, in one way or another you’re going to win.

I’ve always used the colors Purple and Orange with my design because both together or individually they represent extravagance of creation & vibrant energy that must be expressed. Even before I was familiar with what those colors represent, they would always be my go-to colorway for when I want to be seen.

People will have their eyes on you whenever seen in this Attire but no reason to get aggressive with them, T’FUŁA will do the speaking and always remember their eyes are on the prize 💥

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road is not always smooth in this business or any business for that matter. The struggles I go through with this industry as a startup are things like Manufacturing, learning to market yourself, the actual designing, funds, etc… I could go on and on about the struggle but truly the struggle is beautiful because on the other side of that is everything you’ve wished for.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have a Designer Streetwear Łabel, T’FUŁA Attire®. I’m so well known for this sometimes when people don’t know my name, they’ll literally just call me T’FUŁA. I’m most proud of the fact that I started this right before I graduated high school and years later I’m still building this business while having to balance my personal adult life and business life. It’s not easy but I know my discipline to go out and go get it sets me apart from others who may think whatever “it” is will fall in their lap.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I’ve actually never had a mentor but one thing I will say is you must always stay around like-minded people. Show your face and speak in those smaller rooms to be able to reach the bigger rooms that you are destined for.

Pop up shops & fashion shows whether it’s in my state or in the bigger fashion states have always helped me get to know more people in my industry.

Contact Info:

• Email: Info@tfulaattire.com
• Website: TFULAATTIRE.COM
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tfula.attire/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/tfula.attire/?ref=bookmarks
• Other: https://bio.fm/tfulaattire

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