About Us

It all started with rum & coke and Game of Thrones.

Hi, I’m Terry, co-founder and owner of Rhode Island Original. One afternoon, I visited my friend Alex to have some drinks and watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones. After the show, we discussed his attempt to create a t-shirt business. The idea was to sell gym tees that were designed to be cutoff tanks with templates and instructions provided. Despite his efforts, he was unable to get the ball rolling.

At the time, I had never been a fan of business – honestly, I thought I hated it. Growing up I assumed  commerce was full of snakes, smoke and mirrors. I found it bizarre people enjoyed watching the show, Shark Tank. A friend even commented that, “I was allergic to making money.” (I didn’t like charging “too much” money for photography services). But, as an eternal optimist, I kept pitching Alex ideas on how he could make the business work. Towards the end of the conversation, I managed to convince him and myself that it was a good idea, so we decided to be partners. How hard could creating a clothing brand be?  (hard… really hard).

BUT, because neither one of us had any knowledge or skills to start a t-shirt business, I suggested we get our feet wet by selling Rhode Island tees. A few years prior to our conversation, I had deployed to Afghanistan and wanted to purchase a Rhode Island t-shirt to rep. while overseas. At the time, the only state tee I could think of purchasing was the colligate “PROVIDENCE” t-shirt sold in the Army Surplus store, once located on Thayer Street. I thought it would be awesome to create a Rhode Island tee I would had wanted myself when deployed, while also learning the ropes on how to create the “next Gym Shark.”

What was supposed to be a single tee went onto become something more than anticipated – an actual business. I filed for trademarks, created multiple SKUs, a YouTube channel with content on the regular. At the time, I was also a student at URI, majoring in Health Studies with a focus on Health Promotion. I loaded up on classes in textiles, business, video; anything that would help me grow the business. Pretty easy to do when Uncle Sam was footing the bill.

During an economics class, the professor discussed the idea of how capitalism could be a tool for improving not just one’s own life, but society. He made an aside comment; “if businesses could find a way to give back economically, how could the impact help change the world for the better?” I chewed on that idea for a while and came to the conclusion that I wanted Rhode Island Original to be a business that would do so. To help make the world a better place, no matter how big or small our impact. With a passion for health and fitness, I decided to focus on subsidizing personal training sessions for children in Rhode Island.

As I was working on Rhode Island Original, I was also trying to create a fitness brand, the reason why we got into business in the first place. I called this brand, “Iron & Mettle.” Its tagline was, “Exercise is Medicine.” Around this period, I had graduated from URI and was putting ALL of my time, money, and energy into both brands, a nonprofit, and another company called Home State Original, where we sold similar OG anchor designs, but for each state across the US. Eventually, I burned through my savings and got a full-time job to pour into the business, then another job.

I was working two full-time jobs and averaging 3-4 hours of sleep, six nights a week. At one point, I passed out from exhaustion at 6 in the morning. Regrettably, I didn’t learn my lesson and kept working both jobs for months before deciding to quit my overnight gig. With more time to sleep, you’d think I’d take care of myself and recover but no. I decided to sign up for an ultra-triathlon which consisted of a 4.8-mile swim, 224-mile bike ride and a 52.4-mile run. During the race, aside from being ill-prepared, I was also under slept (I swear I meant to get sleep). I had only gotten 4-5 hours of sleep before the start of the triathlon. At around 160 miles into the bike ride, I was falling asleep while cycling and couldn’t keep my head up. I was alone in the woods, cold, and at two in the morning, literally asked myself out loud, “why am I doing this?” Shortly after, I made my way back to my tent, took a nap, then called it quits.

If you haven’t picked up on it yet – I’m not a quitter. I’d rather die than quit. Oddly enough, after that race, I didn’t feel bad for quitting. So, I did some self-reflection and realized that I didn’t actually care about the race. Spending my time, money, and energy perusing a goal I authentically didn’t care about meant it wasn’t just ok, but necessary for me to quit. I was pursuing adversity for the sake of pursuing adversity and if I’m being completely honest, I was also pursuing status.

It would have felt cool to say that I accomplished a double Ironman, but winning titles for the sake of the titles without enjoying any portion of the journey is in my opinion, incredibly hollow. Up until that point, I finished too many books I and watched too many films I knew I didn’t like after shortly reading or watching. Ironically, learning to quit allowed me to win in other ways in life.

Post triathlon, I continued to examine my life through a single word, a single question –why? Why was I killing myself, day and night, to create various businesses and all that came with it? What drove me to work so hard? I knew it wasn’t the money.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I wasn’t trying to just create a business, I was also trying to create a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

While I was in Afghanistan, I was shot in an ambush and spent ten months recovering at the Walter Reed Army hospital. I underwent twelve surgeries and due to my injury, can no longer run and will need a new hip (I completed the races by walking). I had intended on making the infantry a career but if you can’t run, you can’t be an infantryman. My goals of becoming a Ranger and living a life I had envisioned was shot, literally and figuratively.

Once I took a moment to examine my life, it made sense as to (one of the reasons) why I went so hard at creating a business. The act of doing so allowed me to get excited, to learn, to grow and make something of myself and not just for myself. I collaborated. I made friends. I learned that I didn’t hate business but actually love it. Most of all, I found a new mission that I’m passionate about; helping provide the opportunity to fall in love with fitness for children in Rhode Island (still working out the details).

So, currently, instead of calling it quits, I’ve decided to keep going. I will no longer allow myself to burn out for the sake of making sales but am slowly working for the sake of making impact. I’m still learning, and the business is still figuring out its brand and identity but one thing I’m certain of is that “exercise is medicine” and I want to help make Rhode Island strong, one tee, one hoodie at a time.

Many people have come and gone throughout the creation of Rhode Island Original. Thank you to Alex, Andrew, Mimi, Phil and Tim for all your hard work throughout the years. Without your efforts, we certainly couldn’t had gotten to where we have and I’ll continue to keep building.