Happy five year anniversary! How has it already been half a decade into running this brand? My guest bedrooms and hallway literally can't fit anything more. This year we had exponential growth in sales, products, collaborations, and in every other business aspect. So much happened this year, so I'll break it up month by month.
December - Infinity mirror release, boxing day sale
January - Battlegang collaboration, Viilante collaboration steering wheels
February - Ovrdue collaboration, anorak jacket release, Valentine's Day sale
March - Car Drugs collaboration, got into 2 retail shopping mall locations in Calgary
April - Low Clique collaboration, Garage Candy collaboration, first So Scare tattoo
May - Deviant collaboration, Slammedenuff Destin
June - Malice collaboration, Cars + Anime Mesa
July - Get Low Atlanta, Complex Union Saint John, Driven Calgary, 4th of July sale
August - Clean Culture North Carolina, Save the Scene Wilmington, Driven Edmonton
September - Ozokucrew collaboration, hosted our local season-ender at UFL
October - Battlegang collaboration, Slammedenuff Gatlinburg, Clean Culture Atlanta, Thanksgiving sale
November - SK Forged collaboration wheels, Slammedenuff Myrtle Beach, FW21 collection, Black Friday sale
Early in January, my wife and I discovered we were expecting a new addition to our family in October. It didn't hit me that we would have a baby for a few months. Finally, another employee to pack orders for me haha. Our steering wheel collaboration with Viilante, based in San Diego, released 500 wheels in genuine leather and alcantara. We collaborated with Battlegang on our "Lucky Koi" collection. We ended up restocking this year-round with the popularity from both sides.
In February, I went on a ski trip with some friends and fractured my arm in 3 places in Kelowna, BC. The pain wasn't that bad; I was more stressed that I couldn't fold a shirt or tape up a box one-handed. This made order fulfillment take an extra 1-2 business days for the next 3 months, LOL. When I got back home, I got a call from a local skateboard and snowboard store called "Sullys" in CrossIron Mills (one of the biggest malls local to me in Calgary, AB). They told me people were always wearing So Scare in their store. They found my website and contacted me to inquire about carrying some products and wholesale on our behalf. After a quick proposal meeting that week, I got into both of their shopping mall locations with full access to the display windows. The first order was 50 hoodies, 50 shirts, and a bunch of other small goods and stickers. It was crazy to see my window display once we put it all up with the backdrop banner, accent tables, and hangers. The mall gets around 80,000 people through its doors every month, so I was super happy with getting that organic traffic. April, we had a few brand collaborations and restocked the mall; they sold my stuff faster than I was online. 8 people had gotten So Scare logo tattoos around the world, insanity.
In May, I was approached by Deviant from Florida; we worked on a collaboration design he could use at his Slammedenuff Destin show. This was huge for getting my name into the Florida car scene, the hardest stance cars in the USA. I made friends with many people there and had them help me grow So Scare in Florida. In June, we released our "Evil Within" collection with Malice, another brand from Florida. The initial drop ended up selling out in less than 24 hours, so I re-ran the collection in September for the shopping mall locations. To start July, my wife and I took a short vacation to Vancouver, BC, for our "babymoon" to get away for a few days. 5 days of eating and sightseeing. Our local Driven Calgary show announced that they would host after Covid postponed last year's show, so I took the tiffany wrap off my Mustang and painted it a custom deep impact black with blue sparkle. Sold the big BCL wing and replaced it with a 326 Japan Manriki spoiler - it looks much better and cleaner now. I'm surprised how well it fits the car considering it's meant for an s-chassis. Shaved the over fenders of the hardware and overall cleaned up the car. Drove 600 km this year with 1 gas fill-up and 2 car washes.
Over in the USA, we boothed "Get Low" Atlanta, a show hosted in Six Flags amusement park. This was our first big state-side show; it wasn't bad trying to get 8 booth cars together to go into a show and represent So Scare with people I've never met in person. August concluded with 3 booths- 2 in USA and 1 in Edmonton, AB. In September we hosted our local season-ender with Custom Decals YYC. Still, we ran into some rain to start the morning. Luckily the clouds cleared out and it turned out to be a nice afternoon. 600 cars and 1,200 people came out to support the last show of our season.In October, we boothed one of the biggest shows in the USA at Slammedenuff Gatlingburg. This was a 2-day event with 15,000 people in attendance from all over the states. We had our booth right at the entrance to the convention center, and it was nice to be included at a huge show with some of the big brands you see all over the scene. The next week we boothed Clean Culture Atlanta for their season-ender. I have friends running my USA booths, and I could not thank them enough for helping me grow in places I can't be. Without them, the USA shows wouldn't be possible for So Scare to attend.
On October 11 at 6:04 pm, our baby girl Violet was born. I can't believe I'm a father now, and it's still weird for me to think of that. Now my time and energy revolve around her and my family, with the brand coming in second place. We released our highly anticipated wheel collaboration with SK-Forged to cap off the year. These took months to design and engineer, but, in the end, they came out amazing. Our FW21 winter collection was released with over 7,500 products - a number I don't think I would have ever dropped on a single collection.
Overall what a year for me personally and the brand. We had orders from 27 unique countries and sent out thousands of packages weekly this year. This is everything I wanted So Scare to become, and I can't wait to see what 2022 has in store. Thank you for sticking along and supporting me these past 5 years. Every one of you has made a difference; I would not be where I am without all of you. 2016- forever.
- Brandon Yuen