The Beginning

So, I never thought I'd have a small business but it happened and this is how it started.

One day back in 2021, I was talking to a friend about military slang. They were going through Sandhurst at the time and so we were laughing about the whole new military vocabulary you acquire: jack, threaders, dits, hanging, ally, clip - the list goes on!

I was driving along a little later, heckling to myself about all this, and how it kind of bonds us, when I though about clip. I said to myself " I'm constantly in clip these days!" because I'm doing all the boring fitness all the time since leaving. Something in my brain at that time said "Ooo that could be something".

And the idea just stuck, and then started growing. I started thinking about logos and products and who would even give a crap about some vet talking about his aching body. Logo wise my mind instantly went to this meme I had seen:

And then it all came together! That's the logo, right there! Then I was pumped at starting the design process. I started thinking about the current 'Veteran Market', as I call it now, which was stuffed with operators who had left and were banging on about ally t-shirts about killing, kicking down doors, machine guns, samurai ronin warriors and bearded vikings. You know that sort of cool warrior ethos stuff.

While I think this stuff is cool too, I didn't want to pile on more of the same, especially when the only door I ever kicked in was the scoff house!

But Constantly In Clip was going to be different. Clip was indiscriminate. I thought this could be something everyone could connect with, regardless of cap badge or service. Because everyone, at some point in their career, has been in some form of clip. Whether its just in clip, turbo clip, or clipstate alpha.

So once I got home I started brainstorming ideas in trusty old Microsoft paint, trying to get an idea of what I wanted this to look like. I won't lie, my first bashes at this were shocking. I even went to fiverr to hire a 'designer' but it turns out they were worse than me!

My cousin, however, is a designer, and she was kind enough to put  together the main body of the image and then I was able to sort out the font myself. 

With the logo sorted the next step was getting trademark/copyright to make sure everything I do is mine. So, while I started that - getting quotes and all that fun stuff - I began working on the first batch of tees.

Needing some startup cash I sold some fresh-in-the-packet Crye Precision G4 Combat trousers I had acquired to cover the costs of 30 t-shirts, the online store, the copyrights, packing bags and a label printer. The first batch of t-shirts were mostly bought by friends but as my social media grew so did the customers. I was officially a business! All I had to do next was selling and promoting, and, erm, other like things.

Since 2021 there have been some ups and some downs. I've shipped stuff globally. I've made designs that are cool and some that are just terrible. I've made new friends. Collaborated with other businesses. Supported other veterans. I've had people who love what I'm doing and equally had people who really don't like it. I have seen success but then I have seen recent failure which has pushed me to make this better. But damn, it's been a fun ride so far and I plan to do my best to grow this as best as I can.

Even now I'm still in turbo clip and I don't imagine that will change anytime soon!

Yours in clip,

Luke