Brent Yancey, a 28-year-old up-and-coming fashion designer from Sarasota, Florida, has spent most of his life dreaming of becoming an NFL star.
But when that dream didn’t come true, he decided to focus on Plan B.
Designer, stylist, image consultant, and “all-around fashion guru” Yancy may not have been able to make it to Draft Day, but his apparel brand, 3RD, is in many professional football stadiums. I have advanced.
His designs are worn by some of today’s NFL players, including Rikel Armstead of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Keith Kirkwood of the New Orleans Saints.
In 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, he opened 3RD We+Re Create Studios in Unit C, 5205 26th St. W., Bradenton, where he sold his clothing collection. He also sells exclusive brands such as BAPE and Supreme, as well as used clothes, new and rare sneakers.
He opened a store in the same city where NFL dreams first began to come true.
Yancey attended Manatee High School and was a solid defensive player on the Hurricanes’ varsity football team in 2011 when he won the Class 7A Florida High School Football Championship and was ranked #1 in the nation.
Yancy said she wants to bring the art of fashion back to where she grew up.
“I feel like this is a sports city and fashion is underrepresented, so I wanted to show young people how to build a successful fashion brand from scratch.”
3RD is bold, colorful and tells the story of his personal experience.
“I think life is infinite,” he said. “So when I design, there’s no limit to using the whole fabric to create a mural.”
His fall collection, which he debuted in November 2022, has a vintage ’70s flare featuring bell-bottoms, silk button-downs, oversized shirts and zip-ups for a high-fashion look. To do.
He designs his collections with athletes in mind. Everything from the fabric to the fit is made to make you feel ‘comfortable’. Yancey said it was inspired by the pre-match warm-ups he wore as a player.
another route
Yancy didn’t originally plan a career in fashion, but he believes it was a divinely organized route designed by God.
After graduating from Webber International College on a football scholarship, Yancey decided to transfer schools, play football at Bethune-Cookman College, and focus on pursuing a degree in criminal justice.
He said he left Webber to play football at a Division I school.
However, he lost the sight in one eye in 2016. A large cataract developed in his eye, and doctors told him he was the youngest patient he had treated.
“I went blind in college, but I knew for a fact that no one in the criminal justice field would hire me with one eye.” , must have other qualifications, and since I had one eye, I knew I was at the bottom of the totem pole.”
A new idea came to my mind, and that year I launched my own fashion brand, 3RD, online.
He named the brand 3RD for many reasons. For one, he symbolizes the awakening of fashion designer Brent Yancey and the retirement of footballer Brent Yancey.
I needed to open my third eye. I was so stuck, stuck in football and the NFL,” he explained. “I thought I might go to the league and then work in clothes, but it was a much deeper mission than that.”
who is who in fashion
Within six months of devoting himself solely to his apparel line, Yancy was invited to New York Fashion Week by another Manatee County native, fashion writer Rashad Benton.
“But I had to have eye surgery. I couldn’t go to New York Fashion Week,” Yancy said.
It was more of a push to his destiny than a missed chance.
“After receiving that invitation, I stopped pursuing other careers. Fashion is my vocation,” he said.
Two years later, Benton presented Yancey with another opportunity to put himself and his brand in front of who in the fashion industry, becoming a Certified Fashion Designer of America (CFDA).
“All top fashion designers are members of CFDA, including Pharrell Williams, the late Virgil Abloh, Jerry Lorenzo, and Kanye West. It was a big deal for me to receive it.”
infinite design
“I can see that it’s not like someone is looking over my shoulder and saying, ‘Hey, that’s a little too much.’ My designs are endless,” Yancy said.
He admits that most people may not understand or appreciate his designs at first.
“Most people might not like it, but they want to know how I came up with the design and why I chose certain fabrics. I think it just catches their eye.”
But his bold designs stay true to his own artistic expression and are constructed from a lot of life experience, which he says is what his customers buy.
“Experience, you can experience what I have experienced, where I have traveled.”
Yancy infuses his personal grief and life lessons into every piece of clothing he designs.
one and done
“I travel to Spain and get all the inspiration there and put it all together in one piece,” he said. “Then I dropped the piece and never dropped it again, so it’s a one-off collector’s piece.”
All of the Yancy clothes and shoes he releases are one-of-a-kind, and that’s what makes his line so talked about. He’s now limiting quantities of each item to keep up with growing demand.
But when it’s gone, it’s gone.
“I released my first sneaker collection and sold 156 pairs in four days,” he said. Once these are sold out, that’s it. We will never sell this design again and people will have to wait for the next collection. ”
Since launching his own fashion brand in 2016, he has released a total of nine collections.
pop up fashion scene
Opening a store in his hometown was a personal goal and he wanted to show young kids that coming from Bradenton they could be successful. He had to move out of town to grow up.
“My brand is for young people who aren’t here yet,” he said. “Bradenton is an old town, but when older people here find out about my clothing line, they love it. They love it.”
Many of his clients come from fashion pop-up events in Miami, Atlanta and Texas, many of which are invite-only.
Participating in pop-ups has allowed his brand to grow rapidly and organically, allowing him to interact more personally with his customers. He was able to meet more people at events than the few he met from the local store traffic.
“Just staying local will get you bogged down,” he said. “You don’t want to be local, especially in this area. You want to be global.
Pop-up fashion events bring together artists, athletes, fashion designers, social media influencers, and musicians to share their creations, gather around like-minded people, and sell their products to a curated selection of It is growing in popularity as a creative space.
Future Plans
Yancy plans to open a second store in Sarasota with enough space to house his creative studio.
“Next we want to open a big design studio, where all designers and artists can have an environment to create and connect,” says Yancy. “A place where kids can come, design sneakers for a few hours, and be in a creative space and mindset that isn’t part of the school they have to enroll in as a student.
Since launching her own brand, Yancy says she has helped people in the Bradenton area launch their own brands, eight of which have become instant successes.
“I was telling them what to do, but their products started selling out,” he said. “They were seeing that success, but the problem was that it turned into a money problem.”
Yancy said: It’s not for money, you can’t do it for money or other people. you have to do it for yourself.
He also plans to use the space at his second location as a permanent pop-up event location. There, Black entrepreneurs can set up shops and gain experience running physical businesses instead of relying solely on digital sales.
Fashionistas interested in purchasing his work can visit his store, 3RD We+Re Create Studios, 5205 26th St. W., Unit C, Bradenton, or visit https://www.3rdexperience.com. / to go to the online shop.
