If you’re a Castleton University student looking to support an up and coming brand, look no further than Sacred Sins. So far, brand owner freshman Ryan Garrow has had both T-shirt drops sell out – and that looks like the plan for the future. 

Garrow is a Vermont native who grew up in the Burlington area, which he describes as bumf*** nowhere.” 

He is a graphic design major, which he said he is using to improve his brand.

But what is the inspiration behind the brand? 

“For the past three years, I have looked to create a clothing brand. Three years I planned out exactly how I was going to do it, who to network with, how to market locally and online.” 

He draws his inspiration from famous artist Keith Haring, who is known for being influential in New York City in the 1980s. 

Not only does supporting Sacred Sins mean you’re supporting a local artist, it also means you’re supporting the Mental Health America organization, which 15% of proceeds go to.

The proceeds go with the message “to recognize your past and how it has manifested you. Shedding your skin of your past life, and becoming something new.” 

“It’s about taking risks, about persistence, and your mentality,” he said.

Of course, like any good artist, he has an amazing support system. 

“I had a recent venue at Higher Ground, the sold out concert that Love, Kelly manifested. Of all the artists, North Ave Jax, Real Ricky, tyler serrani, SSGKobe, and the host, Kelly, all bought a T-shirt from me. My roommate, Robert Boucher is currently helping me set up a professional website for our next release as well. Also, Event Genesis was a great event to be a part of,” Garrow said. 

SSG Kobe, an up and coming rap artist with over 300,000 followers on Instagram, is a huge supporter of the brand, and wears the merchandise to show his support.

Only a college freshman, Garrow is running a business while being a full-time student. 

So how does he juggle the work?

 “It’s all over the place. I’m never not busy. I am always creating a visual or marketing aspect to raise my brand to the next level. It’s really dope that I surrounded Sacred Sins around mental health awareness. It makes me feel good to know I’m making an impact,” he said.

He also spoke about how how cool it was to sell his shirts at Higher Ground 

“Selling at Higher Ground was such a huge moment for Sacred Sins. I left the concert with double the amount of followers, and 34 T-shirts sold,” he said. 

The event was put on by Love, Kelly, a popular Vermont artist and influencer. 

“Sacred Sins is popping crazy right now in Vermont. Over the past week, you could barely go on social media without seeing their logo. I was lucky enough to partner with them on a concert at Higher Ground. They have some of the biggest young artists representing their clothes and have a lot of momentum right now. Super proud of Ryan and excited to see them expand,” he said.

tyler serrani, a popular artist on the CU campus, has also been a huge supporter of the brand since day one, saying it’s really great seeing all the creatives on campus start to come out of their shell. 

“The way that Ryan is running Sacred Sins right now is really amazing to see. He’s just one guy with a dream and he’s pursuing it,” Serrani said. 

He also has hopes to collaborate with Garrow in the future to make some Tyler Serrani-Sacred Sins clothing, maybe even for his first product release, “because I want to work with Vermont artists like me,” Serrani said. 

There will be a new release in May, both online and locally in Burlington. Garrow is also planning on selling again at another Higher Ground show. The new product release will include baseball hats in a variety of colors and a graphic crewneck sweatshirt.

Not only is Garrow a talented businessman, student, and entrepreneur, he can also be known as J ROW to some, with numerous songs on Soundcloud, including his newest release “Come & Go,” which came out in December. 

He was even asked to display and sell his clothing at a popular concert venue in Minneapolis, he said.  

When asked what the future of Sacred Sins looked like, Garrow confidently and simply said with a smile on his face, “it’s gonna be bigger than Vermont.”