CO.STARTERS Spotlight: Triston Thomas and Creative Communities

“To any young entrepreneur, I would just say that the timing will never be perfect; the budget will never be big enough, but with the proper planning, the opportunity to begin will always be there,” says Triston Thomas, founder and designer for Crownsville Apparel, a graphic shirt company in Jackson. “They just have to start, knowing there will be failures and stumbles along the way.”

Thomas shares this advice from the first-hand experience of starting his own company from the ground up. He says it took him three years to make time to attend theCO’s events and the CO.STARTERS program, but he says he is so thankful for the opportunity it gave him to grow and to build meaningful relationships with other creatives from different backgrounds.

“The best thing about the CO.STARTERS program has been seeing that almost all of my fellow class members began their companies with the same uncertainty and self-doubt that I did,” he says.

Thomas has seen how the community of not only his fellow CO.STARTERS but also the community of Jackson as a whole has impacted his life and the growth of his business. 

“The Jackson community and my local Jackson customers have been great,” he says. “The way they have welcomed my type of business has been refreshing because I'll admit that I was skeptical of just how vast the art scene was here in Jackson. It's been great to feel embraced.”

His business, Crownsville Apparel, is built upon connection and creativity. He aspired to create unprecedented and unique works of art, so each of his clients can walk away with a graphic shirt of its own independent design.

“I consider my shirts to be conversation starters, and I want the people purchasing Crownsville Apparel to personally connect with the garment so that it may in turn help them to connect with others,” Thomas says. 

Being a professional graphic designer for over ten years has put him at an advantage in his line of work, but he has learned how to overcome the many obstacles and roadblocks starting a business brings. 

“Self-doubt was always a huge thing to overcome, but the one challenge you never see coming is growth itself,” Thomas says. “Growth can be scary when you start receiving larger orders than you initially expected or when you’re shipping more than expected and have to re-budget your shipping costs, but with the help of CO.STARTERS, you are able to take the fear of growth and see it for what it is.”