Luke Swanson
Dwayne Hubbard is a Senior here at Champaign Central High School, who plays for the varsity basketball team and has started his own clothing line. His brand, called “Different”, is a clothing brand with a variety of different designs, such as giving the definition of the word different on items or simply displaying the Different logo. Hubbard explained why he started his brand, stating “originally I started Different to wear my own clothing to be different, but being different can mean a lot of things, so now the focus is still to wear my own clothing but also help people embrace their differences through what they wear”.
The brand just hit a year since being started on January 16th. They have had no collaborations yet, but hope to have some soon. Hubbard does currently have a sponsorship with the Franklin middle school basketball team, as well as with tracksuits and warm-ups for their cross country team.
Hubbard is not just the CEO of his own brand, but also a student-athlete playing for the Central boy’s varsity basketball team. He explained how sports actually helped him with his brand; “Playing sports may have helped me in ways of reaching out to people that didn’t yet know me”. Hubbard’s clothes vary from t-shirts that start off at $25.00, long sleeve shirts that start at $28.00, hoodies that range from $35.00 to $50.00, and tracksuits that range from $70.00 to $80.00. Hubbard also sells wristbands for $2.00 with the Different logo on them.
It’s crazy how Hubbard started Different by just wanting to wear his own brand around school, and now that people have seen it and people have liked it, it’s become a whole business for him. This brand will keep expanding for Hubbard and hopefully be as big as Nike or American Eagle one day. People can embrace their differences by wearing Hubbard's clothing. You can find his brand on his website at https://different-brand.com/, or as @differentbrand1 on Instagram. This brand will continue to grow in options for clothing or other items, as Hubbard stated “I am looking forward to expanding on apparel and accessories."