Stay Fresh & Break Away JULY
Kyle Rheiner, center, is the creator of BreakawayINK Apparel
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rban isn’t the first word that springs to mind when you meet Kyle Rheiner. In fact, it would be rather far down the list of adjectives. But, I suppose the same could be said of designer Marc Eckō, a comparison I doubt Kyle would object to. They’re both good-looking, young entrepreneurs who’ve created companies marketing urban-styled attire, and while Marc’s designer t-shirt line has taken him to the fashion promised land, Kyle’s line seems soon to follow. In the summer of 2004, while confined to a car for nine hours on a trip from West Chester to a three-day music festival in Toronto, Kyle’s mind began to wander. He found himself thinking intensely about the t-shirt he’d just purchased in Philly. It was simple yet powerful, tan with an American flag emblazoned across the chest and the word “mine” written boldly beneath. Kyle had always been an artistic individual, and in this t-shirt he saw the opportunity to transfer the ideas stuck in his head to a physical medium. He could bring his throughts, his ideals to the public through t-shirts. The company remained an idea, the designs stuck in Kyle’s head while he spent the next several months researching the industry. It wasn’t until West Chester University’s homecoming later that year that Kyle put ink on canvas. He designed and printed 400 homecoming shirts and marketed them to his fellow students. He hustled from party to party, up and down the streets of West Chester. “I was just hauling a duffle bag around campus, giving out some shirts at the right places and selling all the rest,” said Kyle. In less than two days he’d sold all 400 shirts, and it was all the justification that was needed to start his own company. BreakawayINK was born.
Photo Justin Dahl
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July 2012 | thewcpress.com
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