If you stroll through the brightly lit Riverwalk Outlets in New Orleans, you’ll come upon a kiosk that demands you to “believe.” It’s not anyone yelling at you verbally or even that the text on the T-shirts is in your face. It’s the bold simplicity of the design and the careful curation of the product that you can’t help but stop and say, “You know what? I need to believe today.”
The Believe kiosk is the storefront of Stephen Sutton, a personal trainer from New Orleans. He is part of a fitness company called Sweat 2 That Beat and he breaks down BEAT into the motto: “Believe in yourself. Endure the fight. Achieve your goals. Transform your life.”
Sutton has overcome his own hardships on the journey toward making the Believe clothing line. He holds onto the belief that life is about learning and betting on yourself. He has a cool confidence that allows him to relay the brand’s mission without hesitation.
Business will be booming as Super Bowl LIX descends upon New Orleans when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Officials expect to welcome 200,000 visitors to the Big Easy throughout the week. Sutton is ramping up to handle the increase in customers and also embracing the inspiration that comes with such a high-profile event.
Kick The Concrete spoke with Sutton about the story behind the Believe T-shirts, creating community around his brand and what the Super Bowl means to the city.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Kick The Concrete: What inspired you to start your Believe T-shirt company?
Stephen Sutton: So, I started as a personal trainer and I have a company called Sweat 2 That Beat and we work out to the beat of music. I would always tell my clients that your beat should be about you believing in yourself, enduring the fight, achieving your goals and you can transform your life. I had no intentions on selling clothes. I had a client who needed a kidney transplant. He was on dialysis, he was always manifesting a new kidney after class. So I made him a T-shirt that said, “Believe” since I always tell my clients to believe. And after I made that shirt, so many of my clients was like, “I need a T-shirt,” “I need that T-shirt,” “I need that T-shirt.” So I said you know what, let me get in a pop-up shop and see what these T-shirts do. And the response was amazing. Everybody gravitated toward the brand. From that point, I jumped in a festival. The festival’s a little bit bigger than a pop-up shop and I sold out of everything. So I was like, you know what? I have something here. Let me take it serious and start an LLC and continue to inspire people through fashion.
KTC: What does the message mean to you and how do you keep yourself believing in yourself?
SS: Everything kinda aligned for me around the pandemic. That’s when I started this brand. I was personal training, but also I had another stream of income. I was doing marketing for the Wyndham Hotel. The Wyndham fired everybody due to the pandemic. No one’s traveling, so there was no need for employees, so I lost a stream of income. So I was like, well, I have these T-shirts, I jumped in a pop-up shop and did well. Let me bet on myself and believe in myself because I have responsibilities. The bills not stopping. I have kids and I need to continue making money. So let me invest my severance pay from the Wyndham, let me believe in me. I was forced to kind of believe in myself due to the pandemic. It was a blessing and a curse at the same time. I just looked at the bright side of things. Hey, I have an idea to start making money doing these things for myself rather than going to a 9-5 and nothing’s wrong with a 9-5 because I did it for a number of years and I loved several of the jobs I had, but I was forced to pretty much put that belief in myself and it worked out for the best.
KTC: The pandemic hit so many people so hard, but it offered new beginnings in a way, too.
SS: For sure, absolutely. It was definitely a new beginning for me and I’m still learning as a business owner. Before I was told what to do for eight hours in the day. Now I have to plan everything and make sure everything’s in order. You’re doing everything on your own and you’re wearing so many different hats. And now I’m learning to become a better leader because I have to hire people to help me these days, so definitely a big blessing.
KTC: You mentioned music is essential to what you do. What is your favorite music to work out to?
SS: We started out to Bounce music, that’s a New Orleans thing, right? Bounce music is really high tempo, a lot of bass. That’s one of my favorite types of music. But also a little Afrobeats. And we also go in the studio and make some of our own music as well. So we will pick a track and make positive music and we chant those things throughout the music, the Believe, Endure, Achieve, Transform. So not only we’re telling you to walk by your own beat and sweat to that beat, but you’re literally sweating to that beat, our beat, positive vibes.
KTC: I noticed this design is very New Orleans. What does it mean to represent your hometown?
SS: Each parade line, it starts with “Krewe of,” so you have the Krewe of Endymion, Krewe of Zulu, Krewe of NOMTOC, Krewe of Rex. I don’t call (my people) “customers,” I call them “Believers.” For all my believers I made a shirt that says, “Krewe of Believe.” It’s not believing in one thing in particular. Some people may say it’s a religious thing or a spiritual thing. But it’s more of believing in something positive, believing in something good. Doesn’t matter if it’s Jesus, Allah, yourself, productivity, as long as it’s something in goodness, I’m on your team and you’re a believer. You can be a part of this Believe team.
KTC: Then what is the significance to the rose design?
SS: It’s really about just giving people their flowers and letting people know that you’re worth it. So it says, "Believe you’re worth it.” I had another design, I think we maybe sold out of it, but it talks about recognizing your flaws and imperfections. We all have those, but also using it as a stepping stone to embrace your uniqueness. We all have something different to offer to the world. So I’m different from you. You have something that I can’t do. So why would I get mad at something that you can do well when I have my own set of tools that God gave me that I can do well? So it’s just focusing on the good and not really paying attention to the flaws. Recognize it and acknowledge it, but don’t dwell on those things. Dwell on the good, the positive.
KTC: What does it mean to have the Super Bowl back in New Orleans and be part of the excitement?
SS: Oh man, it’s such a blessing to have the Super Bowl here in New Orleans. There’s so many entrepreneurs here that’s getting a boost of their business because of the flux of people coming into town. So it’s great to have, to see the yachts parked outside, we don’t see that every day in New Orleans. So just seeing that it’s possible to earn that type of money. I don’t have to be that rich, but just to see that it’s possible to make a living. You can believe that hey, these things are possible. We’ve got so many billionaires flying into town, so it can inspire little kids here in the city, seeing those type of people here knowing that it’s possible for them to make a change in their lives and their families’ lives. I wish my team was in the Super Bowl, which is the New Orleans Saints, but I believe that they’ll be there later on.
KTC: Is there anything else you’d like to share or make sure we cover?
SS: You can check us out at @sweat2thatbeat on Instagram, sweat2thatbeat.co. We all have our own beat. Your beat should be about you believing in yourself, enduring the fight, achieving your goals and you can transform your life.
Yorumlar