founders' intro.

third grade.

We met for the first time in third grade. We would catch each other on the soccer field during recess and in reading groups in the elementary school classroom. After school, we mutually mined ore together on Runescape or slid down icebergs on Club Penguin.

project genesis.

In high school, we got together with two other friends and had the idea to start a fitness brand. Project Genesis, we would call ourselves, an idea spontaneously birthed from a series of text messages at 2am on a school night. We suddenly all found ourselves sleeping over at the same house, waking up at 4am to prep for a 5am workout with a goal to obtain footage for our first ever hype video. We blasted X Ambassadors during the car ride to the gym while sipping on pre-workout to counter our three hours of sleep from the night before. I remember getting the worst workout of my life, hopping from dumbbell to dumbbell and more focused on getting shots instead of the exercises themselves. After posting our first Instagram video the very next day, as time passed, we all started losing interest. The four high school seniors who loved working out eventually would just continue their hobby without the flare behind it.

achoo.

In my sophomore year of college, I remember walking back to my dorm room but suddenly getting a text from Sean about expanding his art towards a clothing brand. After reading his message, I replied, “I was about to text you the same thing.” Three years after Project Genesis, it was just the two of us working on an entirely new brand. “achoo” we called it– “think about the action of sneezing,” I remember Sean saying.

successful samples.

So, in 2018, we started to build achoo up to what it is today. Going to school in Texas, it was difficult to retain mutual conversation. I would squeeze in phone calls when I could, but most of the initial planning was done through text messages, lots and lots of text messages. Spring and winter breaks became our best in-person working sessions. Through continual conversation with suppliers, occasional obstacles with marketing and design, and finally a few successful samples, we were able to push achoo out in February of 2020.

elicit audience wonder.

Clothing inspiration, art influences, modern styles and urban looks can come from all around us. However, we wanted to build a lifestyle clothing brand that was simple, comfortable, and made the wearer feel free. However, before we are a clothing brand, we are a family – a family of Asian American culture sharing, background storytelling, reminiscing on our upbringings, and everything in between. We are a clothing brand where the merch supports the wearer, elicits audience wonder, and leaves feelings of awe. Fashion is a creative canvas and combined with our love for it, it became the perfect medium for our stories and yours. We are an Asian American brand. We are a fam. We are achoo.

-achoo international