Daily Inspiration: Meet Aris Schwabe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aris Schwabe.

Hi Aris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Born and raised in Tucson Arizona. Moved to San Antonio TX at age 17 to live with aunt, uncle and cousins for a year. Afterward, spent a few months back in Tucson and moved to Oregon to live with grandparents briefly before moving to NYC.
I did not know many people just a couple friends from home it was a messy intro but very inspiring non the less.
I’d been working for the brand Diesel in PDX, they were able to transfer me to the NY Union SQ. store which I worked at for about 3 months till they moved me uptown where they fired me after a few weeks. Once released from the chains of Diesel I began interning for a friends scarf brand called A Peace Treaty during the day and working in nightlife misery in the dark. Much of the work with A Peace Treaty was sewing on labels and doing pick ups and coffee runs, but it opened my eyes to a new world.
Around this time I had begun taking a textile design class at The Fashion Institute of Technology. Though the teacher and I did not see eye to eye in the slightest I did enjoy the course, creating fabrics with different fibers and weaves on small table looms felt like a great way to pass the time and somewhat therapeutic as well as relevant to working with APT as their bread and butter was manufacturing scarves. I also began working for a brand called Bess NYC, initially working in the shop but soon got very involved with the production aspect, dealing with the cut and sew factories in midtown and setting studs etc.
Shortly there after, I decided to move to Paris. I had never been and it seemed like a good idea, as I didnt really know anybody there apart from a french gal I hooked up with.
My dad got me a one way ticket for my birthday leaving New York 10/6/2009 arriving in the morning of the 7th. I spent about 6 months here the first few essentially homeless, luckily my cousin Elena was studying abroad there for the the first few weeks of my arrival – though the woman who she lived with lacked a heart so It was rare that I could stay there. especially when my friend andres joined me on this wayward journey – we spent many nights in a trash room or an indoor stairwell.
Having only $1800 cash USD and no bank account, or home, or really any friends made it pretty miserable. Eventually however I met with a friend moving back to Paris – Emily Roi who introduced me to a man “Quentin Veron” he was a fur designer at the time and I began working for him hand sewing garments preparing for his first Couture show. This was very long days, I remember getting to the studio around 10:30/11am and not leaving till about 3am sometimes. But he gave me a phone to use plus maybe the bare minimum of pay and at this point I was living with my friend Emily who was not charging me so it was great.
after about 6 months of survival I got a skype call from my step mom that my grandfather had passed away and they were going to fly me back to Arizona. This sad news came as quite a relief, I came back to the USA with open arms and vowed I would never go back to that city again.
A few short years later I was living back in NYC, once again working at Bess NYC and for the very talented designer Alexandre Plokhov who at the time was running his own brand as well as designing for Helmut Lang. It was an amazing experience and I feel I learned a lot. Eventually we had to go to Paris for mens market (first time id been back in 3 years) It was great to be out there with a bit more purpose and work and a bank account. My girlfriend at the time came to meet me out there and instead of going back to NYC with the AP team I decided to follow my heart on a little EU trip, hence I was fired. It was fine because on this trip we decided we were moving to London.
The year in London is a whole other story you can read in my memoirs.
After that breakup, found myself back in Arizona for a bit and LA for too long before riding my motorcylcle back to NYC again.
Upon arrival I got a shitty job and fell in love. Eventually I started a jewelry brand with some old friends under my name Aris Schwabe. I had already been making jewelry at the time and for some reason people were buying it, one evening my friend Shane came to me with the idea of making a proper business out of it, so we did and it ran pretty well. Our first mens market my friend Laura Baker brought us on as one of her designers, we ended up picking up some great accounts a few stores in Japan, Matches Fashion in the UK (RIP) DPTO in LA and Machus in PDX and a few others around the way.
Before this I was mostly selling to a few small boutiques in NYC, The Hunt was and still is a huge supporter and I will always be greatfull for that store.
Eventually I would get burnt out on the Jewelry game and big city living in general. In 2019 I moved back to Arizona, and as chance would have it the world became pretty dormant shortly there after.
A bit before the shut down I had gotten hired by my friend Conrad to “assist” him with hair on a photo shoot for Moncler in Portillo Chile. We were there maybe 5 days, its all a bit of a blur and I think we drank all the wine, as hair assistant my job was pretty simple as some of the models had no hair and the other ones they really just wanted natural so there was a lot of down time.
This trip taught me something though; Moncler – a reputable Après Ski brand really just built a market on the image, I wouldn’t say that there clothing is actually that great to wear on the slopes but it looks cool.
On the flight back to Arizona, I had a thought. A lot of my time spent living back in AZ became working down south at either the San Antonio ranch or eventually the S-V ranch. I figured why not make a product that is actually quality in form and function with attention to detail. Myself coming from a jewelry background knew more or less the way to make certain accessories etc, but I decided I wanted to figure out a way to manufacture my own hardware, and since I did have quite a fair amount of experience with the cut and sew factories I made it my mission to create a quality product with attention to detail. In 2022 I started Rodeo Work Wear LLC. Monica joined in 2023, since then we have actually been able to make this ship move and harness a proper audience.
As RWW continues to grow and evolve we’ve finally begun to find a natural flow about things and even though there is no shortage of struggle we are learning to navigate the journey. Currently we are working to finish our first run with Nordstrom and beginning to work with some accounts in Japan and more in South Korea. This is a very fun and exciting time but plenty more to come.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Countless struggles, life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
what I do –
-for work, I make apparel, accessories and jewelry
a lot of carving, then casting and finishing
-for fun, music. play in different groups – Grim River in NY and The Overland in London or just solo.

what I specialize in –
– maybe jewelry, accessories and apparel

what I am known for –
– my charming personality

What sets me apart –
– usually taller than others

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’ve always been interested in music and spent most of my younger years going to shows and that is where I made most of my friends. As a young gentleman my personality, I may have been a bit difficult as a son but a fantastic friend.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rodeoworkwear.com
• Instagram: @rodeo_tm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Rodeo-Work-Wear-LLC/61581735802643/#
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rodeo-work-wear