Well, truth be told, our first thought had nothing to do with selling T-shirts! Why not? Because it just seemed like the market was already congested with far too many t-shirt companies and we wanted to do something altogether different. Our main focus has always been motivating and inspiring people with the power of our words. Words have the ability to influence people negatively or positively, depending on how the message is delivered and how the message is perceived.
Our biggest challenge was trying to figure out the best way to convey our message and then figure out how to reach a large enough market that wanted to hear what we had to say. Let us tell you, it wasn’t an easy task. We have a binder full of ideas and research data (which we started building in 1996) but, we were all over the place when it came to bringing these ideas into a real life perspective. After giving many of our ideas considerable thought, this was one we continued to come back to.
We’re big Oprah fans (like many of you) and can remember watching her show one day, on a topic about Successful Entrepreneurs. There was a lot of good information that came out of that show, but one thing that stuck with us, was Oprah saying “Whenever an idea keeps hitting you in the face, coming up in a conversation or you can’t get it off of your mind, take that as a sign and act on it. Trust your gut because it’s always right.” Being the logical people that we are, a T-shirt line just felt right. Our next biggest challenge was then to stand out from the rest of those who were building their brand as well.
Between the two of us, we have a broad range of skills and experience, in-depth knowledge on many subjects and consider ourselves experts on one or two things. However, the apparel industry was certainly not included in any part of our resume. Our knowledge in this field was very limited and we had to learn everything (from A-Z) what it would take to run a profitable clothing business.
We didn’t waste any time – we immediately educated ourselves by reading books, taking classes, attending various seminars, consulting with professionals, training on all aspects of our business, started working for companies in the industry so that we could learn first hand and then applied our knowledge as we built a database of resources that we could reference along the way (you name it, we did it!). It took 1 ½ years before this business would come full circle and during this period of time, every obstacle imaginable hit us. Our desire to make this business work, helped us overcome many of the oppositions we were faced with and so here we are!
CaTwa Fitz, LLC, was established in 2005. The name derived from the duo founders, Catrina and Twana, who created this unique clothing line to represent positivity, equality and heart-felt times. The company specializes in timeless teesTM to fit a variety of personalities and lifestyles. The statements on the tees are meant to get attention and get people to think objectively about the message being conveyed. Our intent is to encourage people to feel comfortable with who they are, to raise awareness in our communities, to put a smile on your face, to be influential to those who seek empowerment and to eradicate behaviors that surround us with ignorance and negative energy. We do this by reflecting on good times and hard times; by combining images and words to display pride and self-worth and by instilling peace and unity to our divided union.
It takes many different types of people to make the world complete. As our LOGO symbolizes, CaTwa Fitz is only one piece of the puzzle that’s missing from the globe and we are reaching out to each of YOU and connecting. This is our way of representing UNITY and continuity of freedom, equality and respect. The best part yet, is being able to give back! We donate a portion of our revenues to charitable organizations; Progressive organizations that focus their attention on some of the same or similar issues that we address (i.e., civil rights, women empowerment, black-on-black crime, the gay lifestyle and embracing one’s past). We are completely passionate about what we do and that in itself has brought us priceless rewards.
