HAMMONTON—"8THWNDR” described as a “disruptive streetwear/skate-wear brand” is growing with popularity online with more than 118,000 followers on Instagram. Sal Glorioso, 19, the creator of 8THWNDR, started his brand in August 2017 when he was a sophomore at Hammonton High School. He graduated last year.
“I started taking it seriously back in January of 2019 before that I would just do a release here and there, just like a T-shirt or something like that, but in 2019 I really told myself that I want to take this to the next level and so I introduced one of our concepts the monthly $8 shirts, so every month my collection we drop a T-shirt for only $8, and it’s a little gimmick that people love,” Glorioso said.
Every month the brand drops a collection of items. The 15-piece July Collection, which sold out, included T-shirts, hoodies, bucket hats, shorts, slides, lanyards, keychains and stickers with prices between $8-$58, and once something is sold out, it’s gone. There is no restock.
“My brand is known for its quality and timeless style. I always strive for the quality of garments, designs and everything to be top notch with affordable prices. Basically, there’s always something for everyone in every collection. If you’re more of a skateboarder, there’ll definitely be skate decks or skate tailored pieces, and if you’re more of a streetwear person or some casual person you can go with one of the other options,” Glorioso said.
Some of his popular items include a mischievous, grinning 8-ball named Skate Ball who was introduced earlier this year in January.
“He’s really like an embodiment of myself I feel like because he’s always doing some skateboarding stuff,” Glorioso said who’s been skating since he was 8-years-old.
For one of his designs, included in the July collection, Skate Ball is shopping at a supermarket.
“I used to work at Bagliani’s for over two years, so it had a little bit of meaning to me there,” he said. Bagliani’s is like another family to Glorioso, who said they have some of his items at the grocery store.
Overall, his family and friends have been very supportive. His best friend, Ethan, who lives in New Zealand, also does a lot of the brand’s design work.
Because of the pandemic, people are spending more money at grocery stores and less at traditional retail, but for 8THWNDR sales are going well.
“The pandemic has actually been very well to me because of the influx of online shopping. Everyone’s home; they have time to be on social media and everything like that,” Glorioso said.
The day before the July drop, Glorioso only had three to four hours of sleep. He works on his brand every day. Due to personal reasons, there wasn’t a drop in June, so he said this last one was going to be big.
“Our last collection we did in May was insane. We had 65,000 followers on Instagram and now we’re past the 108,000, so we’re really expecting a huge turnout,” he said a few hours before the July drop.
Since then 8THWNDR gained another 10,000 Instagram followers for a total of 118,000 followers.
How quickly things sell out depends on the items.
“Last drop we did a couple hundred of these pairs really crazy combat shorts, and they sold out in under four minutes,” Glorioso said.
According to Glorioso, the more sought out items like the slides and airbrush tees will sell out in minutes while the other items will probably last a few days.
As for the future of 8THWNDR, Glorioso’s big goal is to open a storefront in a major city in the next couple of years. He would also like to sponsor and maybe host a few skate events at local stake parks.
Glorioso is also looking into doing his first brand collaboration, but he said he wants to grow his brand identity first before he starts doing collabs.
When 8THWNDR is ready for collabs, the first one they hope to do is with Dime, which is a skate brand based in Montreal. Later on, Glorioso would love to do a huge collaboration with Supreme and create skate shoes with Nike.
“I definitely see this taking off. I definitely want to hit a million followers next year on Instagram. I just have really high hopes for this,” he said.
He was asked what advice he would give to young people interested in starting their own business.
“If you want something badly enough, you’re more than able to get it … I literally told myself it’s just going to take time. I just have to work hard every day,” Glorioso said.
The next drop in August will be 8THWNDR’s 3-year anniversary collection. Follow them on Instagram @8thwndr and visit their website 8thwndr.com.