Andrew Veneziano, a junior in CSOM, never thought he’d start his own clothing brand. Growing up, he was a “total t-shirt junkie,” but that was as far as his fashion experience went.
One Thanksgiving break after he started college, though, that all changed. He started sketching some t-shirt designs for himself, for fun, and they really didn’t mean anything. Soon, though, he decided that the t-shirts would make great gifts. He decided to give them meaning and purpose. The more he sketched, the more naturally the ideas flowed. That Christmas break, he decided to start his own clothing brand. After careful thought, he decided to call it One & Done because “you only get one shot at life and then you’re done with it, so you need to make the most of it.” The rest is history.
Andrew’s first challenge was to really invest himself 150% into this project. He knew that he would have to differentiate his shirts from other brands out there. His message was a good start, but it needed something else.
Influenced by an amazing English teacher and the book Perks of Being a Wallflower, Andrew had been writing poetry since his junior year of high school. He said that it was a personal thing, and there wasn’t really any way of sharing his writing with anyone. When he was trying to come up with a way to make his shirts truly unique and give them real meaning, he thought of a way to combine his poetry with the t-shirt designs in a way that no other brands he knew of had done.
If you ever look inside a One & Done shirt, you will see Andrew’s poems. “You read the poem as you’re pulling the shirt over your head, and it’s a reminder of what it means to you,” he explained. When people are debating over t-shirt designs, he suggests that they read the poems that are printed inside of them. That way, they can choose the shirt that has a message that really resonates with them. “I wear t-shirts based on my mood,” Andrew said, “I made it so that the pictures on the outside correspond to the poems, the moods, on the inside.”
When asked what his goals for One & Done are, Andrew said that he would love to open a store and make One & Done a full-time job. He wants his message to reach as many people as possible: “I want to encourage people to do what they love and love what they do, and to not let anyone tell them differently…to follow their passion.”
He wants more than just business, though. Andrew wants to start a program through One & Done that would encourage kids to express themselves via creative writing instead of violence and other destructive behaviors. An area on the website called The Notepad makes it easy for people to share their stories, creative writing, etc., no questions asked. It’s an outlet for people who need one. He wants people to share their stories about how much One & Done has influenced them and what it has meant to them, knowing that this is much more meaningful: “If I never even sell a shirt, it’s worth it. It’s amazing.”
Check out One & Done on Facebook, Twitter, and shop the t-shirts on their website.