13-year-old Trey Brown is on a mission to make his fashion line a household name
At only 13 years old, Trey Brown has already accomplished so much.
He is the CEO of his own clothing brand SPERGO, inspires his almost-30,000 Instagram followers daily with videos and quotes, has had his face on a billboard in Times Square, has chatted on the phone with celebrities and made enough money within the first year of launching his company that he helped his mom retire.
Brown didn't anticipate any of these when he started SPERGO in Jan. 2018. He told In The Know that he turned to fashion designing after witnessing the violence going on around Philadelphia.
"There was kids killing kids. I just wanted to show the youth, look, you could do this. You could get on a jet without being violent, without touching any drugs," Brown said. "A lot of times in Philadelphia, where I come from, there's not a lot of possibility, and I want to show them that it's possible, you know, to do great things."
The business started out small. After saving up birthday money — and asking permission from his mom, Sherell Peterson — Brown made his first few shirts and sold them over Instagram. He'd also carry inventory to barbershops and hustle there, selling out each week. Once he built an online store, he was shipping his designs out to cities in Germany, Africa and Bermuda.
"I'm managing everything. I'm shipping, I'm at business meetings, I'm doing interviews, you know, I'm promoting the brand," Brown said. "I didn't believe I could do it, but when I did it, it came out big."
"He's going to be that kid who's going to be a millionaire, a billionaire. I believe that wholeheartedly," said Nehemiah Davis. "He gets successful, he makes something happen —what's next?"
Davis is a mentor and entrepreneur who sent Brown online business classes and watched the 13-year-old soak up the information up like a sponge.
"He came back to me with like four pages of notes," Peterson said. "He knew what type of shirt he wanted to get, he had a list of different places for us to go to get printing."
"I've always just had an older spirit," said Brown. "I was always interested in always learning more."
Brown feels confident looking towards the future for his brand. With the massive success he's generated since selling his very first shirt over Instagram, there's a lot more he's willing to take on and conquer.
"Anything is possible, so anything I want to do? I'm going to put my forward because the sky is the limit."
Watch the full episode of In The Know: Next Gen above.