Revere senior combines entrepreneurship and design talent

by Wendy Turrell

At an age when most young people are still exploring career options, Revere senior Trenton Adair has launched two clothing lines featuring pieces he designs and makes himself.

Adair’s first business was born when he took part in the SAVIOURS entrepreneurship and arts program for teens, a collaboration of GEISAS (Greater Expectations Intercontinental Sacred Arts Society) at John Carroll University, and Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland. He presented his idea for CustomFits Clothing to three successful local business entrepreneurs in a “Shark Tank”-like setting. Adair’s business model placed second out of 20, and CustomFits Clothing was born.

Adair described CustomFits as “a custom clothing company that personally designs any artwork to be printed on any clothing that the customer wants,” with the customer choosing the product, color and graphic design. CustomFits Clothing does business via Instagram, on Twitter and through the business web address: customfitsclothing@gmail.com.

Adair described Lonely Hearts Club as his personal clothing line. He said he contemplated the idea for about a year before recently launching the company with his first collection of four shirts, two hats, a crew neck sweatshirt and a windbreaker. Adair said LHC’s style is “designer/streetwear fashionable clothing.” He executes every design, logo, all photography, website design and the videography himself. Lonely Hearts Club does business at the website lonelyheartsclub-lhc.com/.

According to Adair, in addition to creating and selling fashionable clothing, Lonely Hearts Club has a bigger mission: to make “a community of acceptance of those who either personally deal with mental illness or know someone who does.”

Adair explained his logo design is “a black broken heart with the letters LHC making the crack in it” because it is a visualization of his mission to “kill the loneliness in life.”

Said Adair, “I plan to release a new collection of clothing every month. All different themes supporting the same message.”

Since launching the first collection, Adair released his second collection in March, consisting of four shirts and three sweatshirts. An accessories collection was also to be introduced in March and include phone cases, a backpack, socks, a tote bag and a new hat. Adair has an all-women’s clothing collection scheduled to debut in April.

CustomFits Clothing gives a portion of every sale to a charity of the customer’s choosing. When LHC reaches a stage where he can afford it, Adair wants to donate a portion of its profits to mental health causes.

Adair has all the equipment needed to mass-produce shirts: a heat press, inkjet printer, heat transfer paper, a dye sublimation ink printer and sheets. He buys his blank clothing pieces from a variety of retail fabric stores. At this time most of his products come from Gildan. Adair said when he establishes his LLC agreement and federal trademark, he can begin buying wholesale.

Revere Assistant Principal Doug Faris describes Adair as “a dynamic student with an entrepreneurial spirit.” He obviously excels in creative thinking, recently winning two awards for logo design at the high school.

Adair took Joseph Silvestri’s Digital Design Class in the fall of 2018. Students had to complete two assignments: one was to create a volleyball brochure for the school team; the second was to design a T-shirt for the Innovation Team of 20 Revere teachers. For each assignment, Silvestri said the students had to work within the parameters set by him and the client.

“Each student would produce their own design, and then those designs would be sent to the client, with the most desirable design being chosen the winner and printed,” Silvestri said. Although Silvestri said there were several good designs created for both assignments, the volleyball coach and the Innovation Team members chose Adair’s designs as their top choices.

The Innovation Team is a district-wide group of teachers that commits to two years of professional development through a coaching model, integrating innovative teaching methods.

“Many of the students submitted incredible designs,’’ said teacher Theresa Whyte, a member of the team. “Trent stood out as the clear-cut winner to the team because his design embodied in a neat, clean and professional logo what this team is charged with representing to the district.”

Adair was offered three opportunities to further develop his skills after he graduates this spring. On the strength of his portfolio, Adair was offered a $150,000 scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Art. He has also been accepted into the Kent State University visual communications program and to Bowling Green University.  

Although still undecided which offer to accept, Adair wants to work toward a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree, but not at the expense of the design companies he has founded. “I plan on staying committed to my companies throughout college, for that is my passion,” he said.

Featured image photo caption: Bath resident and budding clothing designer Trenton Adair, a senior at Revere High School, sits with members of Revere’s Innovation Team, whose shirts feature a logo he designed.