Interview with Dominic Suazo of Party Sober Clothing

Hello, Im here today with Dominic Suazo of Party Sober Clothing, How are you doing today? I’m great, another day sober, just living the dream. Getting ready to release our fall line and working on building our new website for our non-profit we started.

How did you come up with the name Party Sober Clothing & Is there any significant meaning behind the name?

The name was a catch phrase my business partner, best friend, and also roommate (his name is Ferril Davis) used to say for fun. "Party Sober man." & To elaborate, the term Party Sober was an oxymoronic saying that was something Ferril just said for fun, but both of us having our own struggles with addiction and alcohol knew that we wanted to do something to give hope back to other people still struggling. So the term was there and couldn’t be more apparent for us to use as the message for the brand.

When you first started this clothing line did you ever think it would turnout to be what it is today?

We knew we would inspire people with our stories and make some cool clothing, but I don’t think that we expected that the reception would be so welcomed, in fact we braced ourselves for the negative that would come our way with what we were trying to do. We started it as a way to help give hope to people that have gone through the similar struggle of addiction that we had, but what happened was a whole community was already there waiting I think for the right brand to come along to give a meaning to the lifestyle they were already living. Immediately we were exposed to national acclaim, orders were pouring in from all over the country and we were attending events everywhere we could. It’s been an incredible journey over only the last year and a half. We’ve traveled with Warped Tour and literally have been all over the United States meeting new people and have been very surprised by the reach that our brand has seen. It’s a whirlwind and fun everyday, to see our message being lived by so many people across the world I don’t think we were prepared for so quickly.

Who creates the designs for your t-shirts? What inspires the designs on the t-shirts?

I create all the designs and the overall look of the Party Sober brand. Ferril runs the rest of the business dealings, and our guy Preston does all the shipping. Just a three man team. Both Ferril and I are very hands on with everything we do. From the beginning we’ve done everything ourselves from the website, designs, to shipping, hell our living room was the office for the first year. It’s very important to us that we make things we would like to see, wear, and it’s something we live everyday so it’s very influenced by us, who we are. That being said, the designs on the shirts are inspired by what we see, social media, and our own music influences. We go through a process in the office where I’ll draw ideas from our own thoughts of what we’d like to see, wear, and our communities input as well. It’s not only important we make cool clothing, but that it’s still proclaiming the message, movement, and lifestyle. We like to make designs we think everyone would be proud to wear, because after all that’s what this is all about, being proud of our struggle.

Do you currently have any bands/musicians/artists sponsored/endorsed by your line?

We have always tried to emphasize artist endorsement because it’s a great way to spread the message. Due to Warped Tour we’ve had everyone from Matty Mullins (Memphis May Fire) to Falling In Reverse, to The Used, the list goes on, rocking our gear on and off stage because they love the message and like to represent the positive lifestyle to their fans. They themselves have had their own struggles and couldn’t be happier to wear it. We’ve also made a great friendship with the guys in Survive This! who not only understand the meaning, but live it. They’ve all become really good friends of ours so naturally we’ve had a great relationship not only through supporting the brand but also as just guys on a mission to succeed living a positive life following our respective dreams.

Aside from putting out clothing how does your clothing line help promote the “Sober Life”?

Great point, I like to think of the business as 2 halves, one half is making cool clothing, but the other is to represent and show that the sober life is cool. Our social media is big on showcasing our community of followers who buy our clothing and making it known that there are a ton of people out there who are young, attractive, and yes, sober! That goes for our personal lives too. For us personally we try to show in depth our daily lives and how much more positive they are because of our sobriety. It’s important to show others that you can be sober, fun, and have a more fulfilled life after drinking/drugging. That there is an alternative, and it’s an alternative that for me has lead to a million great things. After all it’s called Party Sober, the sober part is only one aspect, the other is to show that life is still fun, it’s a party, you can thrive and still keep it exciting, you just don’t have to be messed up all the time like media says to enjoy it.

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What do you foresee in the future of Party Sober Clothing?

Right now we just started a non-profit side of things called the Party Sober Foundation. From the beginning we’ve wanted to raise money to give back to the addiction community and we’ve gone about this in several different ways, but the most realistic now is the non-profit to raise money to actually give back in a substantial, and long term way. The future for us is to impact society in a way that we can actually make a difference, from raising awareness, raising money, and turning heads in the meantime. The brand will always continue to turn heads by making cool clothing proclaiming something you don’t see everyday, and we’re hoping to continue to inspire a whole new generation of people who support our brand to further the growth of a positive community. We have a lot of deals on the table (that I can’t talk about just yet) but let’s just say you may see our future in front of the whole nation showing what we’re all about as individuals, and a brand that continues to pioneer the way in making sober cool.

How exactly do you “Party Sober”?

The literal term of partying sober, I still go to parties where people drink, but instead of partaking, I drink water haha, nothing like "Kings Cup" with a bottle of water. The term as a lifestyle brand is the idea that by “partying sober” you live life to the fullest being your true self, not inhibited by substance, and that you pursue your dreams without tripping yourself up along the way. To party sober can be meant in a few different ways, but it’s up to you to determine first if it’s for you, then to see how far you can go, it hasn’t let me down yet.

Why should everyone come over & check out Party Sober Clothing?

We’re a group of individuals just like anyone else, we just happened to have had experiences that lead us to make different choices, ultimately I feel everyone can relate to the struggle, whether it’s personal, or a family member, we all have our vices, and we’re just open about confronting them. I think people should check us out because we’re all one community together, and whether you agree with our message or not, we all have stories to share and could all use a little support, even if it’s criticism, we’re always open to hearing and relating to everyone. I know my story and what works best for me, it would be hypocritical of me to judge or tell anyone what to do, but I do know that through all my own experiences both good and bad I can relate to anyone and that is worth looking at once. Clothing, social, it’s a full experience with Party Sober, and we’re just trying to make this world a better place the best way we know how, so buy a shirt, share a conversation, or talk trash, it’s all welcome over here.