How it started

In 1997 I was 14 years old and at the time I was going by Daniel Gonzalez and was often referred to as Dan G.  I figured, if Tommy Hilfiger could put his name on clothes, then so could I.  As time went on, I couldn’t shake the idea of starting my own clothing line and talked about it as often as I could. The problem was that I had no idea where to begin.  As a teenager I didn’t have the first clue about how to start a business and definitely didn’t have the funds to do so. I made a few shirts at a local T-Shirt Plus store in the mall and gave them to a couple of my close girl friends. They would wear the shirts to parties and always got a positive response. It made me want to pursue it that much more. 

 The years go by quickly, as they have a way of doing. I’m in my 20’s now and have a daughter, working jobs in construction, a grocery bagger, customer service for a cell phone company. I was doing whatever I could to make ends meet and support my child. I ended up doing a trademark search and found a third party company that could help me get everything filed and sent out but it was too expensive at the time. No matter the obstacles, I continued dreaming about owning my own clothing brand.

As I got older, DANG began taking on a different meaning to me. I started thinking about all of the things I believe myself to be in life and playing around with the name. I have always considered myself to be an extremely determined person. I have a pretty strong resolve and could even be described as stubborn by some. I was and am ambitious. Once I set my mind to do something, I will do everything in my power to make it happen.  I’ve always been a sports fan. I thought about their qualities and what they need to succeed to become a pro athlete. They are determined, they are ambitious. What else? Notorious. They are famous for their skills. Gifted. You need some type of talent to be a pro athlete. All of these traits applied to the people I idolized, the people doing big things in life, all of the things that appealed to me. That’s when it came to me, that’s what DANG could stand for. For the people like me who didn’t grow up wealthy and had to wake up every day and grind it out.  For the single moms and dads doing their best to give their kids a good life. I wanted a brand that people could relate to. I wanted to make clothes that reminded people to chase their dreams, shoot for the stars, to go after what they want because anything is possible when you want it enough.

DANG Apparel came to fruition in 2015. I spent the money on an LLC and the trademarks. I started out making dart jerseys with my brand on them. It got the ball rolling and I had a lot of support from my community.  We currently have tees, shoes, hats and hoodies. I’m working on my women’s line. Twenty six years later and I am still pushing DANG Apparel to new limits, to be bigger and better. I’m still pursuing my childhood dream and my passion with the support of my partner of ten years and my three beautiful children. My hope is for DANG to inspire people to chase their dreams and never give up. I want to uplift as many people as I can and have them look good while doing it.

-Daniel Silva

Owner and Operator of DANG Apparel LLC