The Story Behind The Brand

Conceived on October 24, 2013 and established on January 15, 2014 out of Slaughter, Louisiana. Back Roads Apparel was merely a drunk idea by founder, Josh Riley, while riding back roads with buddies on the night of October 24, 2013. Back then, weekend nights would start at a friend's house and end in the early hours of the morning riding back roads. This night started similar to all the others but would prove to be a life changing night.  The following morning Josh started the Back Roads Instagram account, after only learning what Instagram was 3 months prior to this morning. After starting the page and inviting friends, he started working on a logo and the first designs. After a couple of weeks of tinkering with designs, two were sent off to a local print shop for production. In mid November the shirts were ready and the website was launched. From mid November to the end of December there were only 15-20 shirts sold out of 100's that were produced and most of those sales were to friends trying to support the start up brand. Not the start he had hoped for but thanks to Josh's determination and the support of his then girlfriend and now wife, Jade, they pushed forward. In late December of 2013, Josh received a picture through text from a childhood friend, Ryan, who was dabbling on a ripped sheet of loose leaf which had the words "where the coke has crown and the lost get found." Josh had recently had a similar idea of "where the cell phone service blows and the cold beer flows." After a day of playing with the words, the dictionary design was born. There were only three people who knew about this design until the day it was released because of how poorly the first two designs sold. On the morning of January 3rd, 2014, Josh picked up 120 shirts from the print shop. Twelve hours after picking the shirts up and putting them online, we were sold out. We realized on this day that what was once and idea and a dream, could quite possibly be a life changing reality. We established the official company on January 15th of 2014 and the rest is history.

 

If you read this story, we hope you will take away 2 inspirations from it. 1. Don't ever give up on your dreams. When something doesn't initially work, that does not mean that the dream or idea was not meant to be. It simply means more work, both mentally and physically, are required. 2. You can do anything when you have the support of your loved ones. Remember that for when you need the support and when your loved ones need the support. It works both ways and when one succeeds, you all succeed. Nothing is more important than God, Family and Friends. 

We can not thank you enough for supporting this brand and dream of ours. We strive to produce a brand that represents an authentic lifestyle and remains unfiltered. When you purchase something from us you are telling us you believe in what we are doing here and for that we are forever grateful. 

- Back Roads Crew