It's no secret that parkour nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset amongst many of its practitioners. The sport's main teaching is that one can overcome any obstacle in their path after all. Freedom in Motion Gym itself was founded by real parkour athletes looking to share their love of movement with the world, ready to overcome the many (many many) challenges that operating a large facility and team come with. Today we're honored to showcase one of our FiM coaches and the general manager of our Murrieta parkour gym location, Tyler Trueblood, and his newly founded parkour clothing brand. Tyler is a highly creative individual, did you know he designed the artwork for Freedom in Motion's FiM Gym T? You can see that design and others in our store.
Hops-co's designs are inspired by the freedoms and feelings of exploration that parkour provide. From here, we're handing it over to Tyler as he takes us on a tour of his brand and his journey.
Tyler's HOPS-CO
"Hey, this is Tyler-Coach Tyler as a lot of you know me.
I've been in the parkour community here and around the states for the last 8 years, and coaching parkour here at FiM since 2017.
I've practiced parkour for more hours
than I can begin to count and if there's one thing I can say for sure, it is that this sport of touching walls and spinning around sometimes has shaped my life in a way
I could have never imagined. When I say it's shaped me as a person and been the most impactful activity in my life, I truly mean that. From the euphoric successes to the
unbelievably frustrating failures, I am who I am today because I throw myself at walls and stand on high things a lot.
I was always a creative kid; loved legos and trying to draw. As I got older I got really into skating and downhill longboarding became my passion for years, which is where I developed
a love for skate fashion.
The bold designs on a boxy tee made to take a beating and keep on chugging have been a staple in my heart since Mom gave me a chunk of change and said "go buy your own clothes-.-"
When I made the swap from skating to parkour, one thing’s always stuck out to me: parkour fashion can be a bit...eccentric. Furthermore, most of it either looked like someone gave a 2-year-old a collection of stamps with corny parkour catchphrases and a blank shirt they grabbed from Wallyworld, or they were taken off fashion week and had no sign of having anything to do with parkour. Like come on guys, I just wanted something fashionable and sturdy with a bit of flare that had to do with this crazy and cool thing we do.
Nowadays parkour fashion is pretty decent I think. I’ve still got a bone to pick though. There still just isn't much sign of our community in these products from fully immersed parkour brands, and my love for this community and sport led me to picking up what I've got and doing my best to make what I've always been waiting to see
Carefully designed apparel representing a love letter to parkour culture.
This is the motto and root of Hops Co., my start-up brand that I'm taking initiative with to make some awesome products that breathe parkour culture, with a little inspiration from the good ole skater world. Right now our bread and butter is boxy, tough, and comfortable tees with meticulously created designs that are directly inspired by the feats from our community that I've witnessed and have rightfully burnt a spot in the back of my eyelids to live rent-free in my thoughts.
Every design is made with a sharp focus on how we can share what makes this sport so special to us and inspire some curiosity in those who take a closer look.
It's because this sport is something special that we do this, and it's been incredible seeing so many of you wearing a piece of that.
for those of you that have already got some Hops merch, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
We may just be getting started, but already this has been just the greatest, and none of it could be happening without your contribution. Never would I have thought in the first six months there would be a swarm of people spanning the whole American west coast wearing a piece of our culture from our little city of Temecula. I am constantly excited to be bringing new things to the table and appreciate every chance I get to keep spreading parkour culture.
If you want to hop on the train, we're open 24 hours online at hops-shop.com ;) You can also grab some Hops merch at FiM locations! Stock is limited though, just an fyi.
Use code FiM10 at checkout to get a discount on your order of any product(s)!
Thank you again to FiM for having us in your blog, and thank you for reading! Tell us what you think through Instagram (@hops_co) I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
I'm gonna go touch some walls and spin now, see ya!" -Tyler Trueblood
