Whether it be athletics, performing arts, fine arts, or technology, Montgomery County students have excelled at pursuing their passions since the founding of the school district. A shining example of this is the creation of the brand RagingApparel©️. Though based in New York, the company was founded from the ground up by none other than Reuben Till, a junior at Walt Whitman High School.
Reuben has made a name for himself as Reuben Till, a name reserved for the stage and his brand. Having been in the fashion industry since the start of his career at eight years old, the concept of being an independent model and designer in the fashion world has always appealed to him. “One thing I always noticed was how underrepresented designers were in the big picture of modelling,” he said. “I aspired to give them a platform to be proud of.”
Reuben is, among other things, an actor, model, and activist. He is also the CEO of his brand, RagingApparel that kickstarted a few months ago. As an umbrella company, RagingApparel exhibits designs created by independent designers in order to give them a platform to sell their designs in the form of different apparel items by working with clientele directly. To give an example of how this works, Reuben said, “I have a designer in my company named Joshua. He makes animal design shirts that incorporate your name or social media tags.”
After Joshua finishes a design, he logs into the RagingApparel domain and posts it, allowing clients to view and purchase the design. “People can buy it directly from RagingApparel and he gets a percentage [of the profit],” Reuben continued, “and so do we as a company.” The design is created by the designer and they receive full credit for it, but RagingApparel serves as an outlet for the promotion of products by the designers, hence the title of “umbrella company”. The promotion of independent models, designers, and their products are a focus of the creation of RagingApparel, according to Reuben, who aims to use his brand to be able to introduce them to clientele that would be interested in their specific work and allow them to benefit.
The company kickstarted this year in New York, and though it has not launched as a public entity yet due to its status as a private corporation, it has a documented clientele of over a hundred loyal clients. In the interview, Reuben described the process of making his dream a reality: having accumulated a manager and business connections through his status as an independent model, business relationships were formed and he began working with people who expressed interest in helping him follow his aspiration. “From there, it was magic,” Reuben stated. “Working with people I have worked with telling them about my new endeavors, speaking at business dinners, to now having open model calls once a month in New York.”
Of course, it was not all a walk in the park, and as with all things, there were challenges he had to overcome. Negativity presented itself as one of the biggest obstacles Reuben had to face in pursuing his passion. “I really had to overcome negative comments of it being a failure. The speculative looks from my business team when having the very important project meetings, and I just overcame that with the help of my support team who [are] very strong, and just believing in myself knowing that my brand was something that people would love and that even more people would be able to prosper from and just gain a platform,” Reuben said.
Giving people a platform, Reuben elaborated, is one thing that he’s extremely sincere about in his philanthropic ideas, offering clients the ability to expand their ideas and showcase them. He cited this as a source of motivation that allowed him to adopt a determined attitude towards pursuing this, leading to some of the greatest achievements of his career. “When I had my first open model call in New York City, the energy in the room was just so amazing,” he recalled. “That was my greatest achievement. The eager looks of all the models was a priceless feeling that I’ll never forget.”
Reuben’s journey is one of the many examples of Montgomery County students honing their creativity by pursuing the field of their dreams, and his story is one that serves as an inspiration to many aspiring artists, independent designers, and models around the county. “I’m glad to be the CEO and president of RagingApparel,” he expressed. “I couldn’t think of a greater thing to be a part of in the fashion world.”
Article written by MoCo Student staff writer Lauren Tan of Walt Whitman High School