Make your destiny

Charles “Chuck” Kazemi doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd start a clothing line, but he did. His idea is simple: Wear your mantra on your chest. The mantra he sells is Make Your Momentum, and he says that people who wear the shirts get a constant reminder that they are in charge of their own destiny. Kazemi took his own advice when he sent an email to this paper just when we needed an interview for 15 Minutes. See the T-shirts on the web at www.makeyourmomentum.com or like him on Facebook.

Tell me a little about Make Your Momentum.

Make Your Momentum is an idea we came up with in October 2012. It was an idea to get some friends involved in a T-shirt clothing line. Not even a clothing line, for that matter, just a way to do something fun that we could enjoy. The reason I wanted to get some folks involved in it was because the more positive people [there are], the greater the likelihood of success. The success would be greater the louder the voice is. We're having fun with it. We've done a lot of cool stuff. We call it a positive attitude lifestyle movement. We're just trying to get some minds moving in the right direction: If you dream big and you push hard, you can achieve anything.

I think those are all good ideas, but how does that come about from a T-shirt?

Our motto for Make Your Momentum is Desire+Drive: As big as you can dream, as hard as you can push. Essentially, keeping that message close to mind and close to heart. Some people need a rubber band or a tattoo somewhere visible to kind of remind them to quit smoking—we've pretty much … come up with the idea that if you live the attitude, you live the lifestyle. The philosophy for the T-shirt is the only way we know how to do it. But we're proof that it's possible because we started with nothing and we're making something. It's all because we're aware of how much we want something, and what we're going to do to go after it. That's pretty much it. Being aware and having a constant reminder that you have so much potential, and you need to focus on that more often.

What were you doing before you started this T-shirt line?

I've got a full-time desk job. I'm a vendor at Microsoft Licensing.

What do you do for Microsoft?

I work in the department called Windows Store. It's essentially a brand new program that was released with Windows 8 that allows developers and OEMs such as HP or Dell to have an app program where the consumer can purchase apps and stuff like that.

So these T-shirts sound sports related to me.

The big thing about Make Your Momentum is a lot of people think physical momentum is what we're trying to suggest, and that's not necessarily the case. Physical momentum is the best example that people may personally relate to—“Yeah, you know, I'll wear it to the gym.” And in all honesty, it's a made-in-America T-shirt, it's 100 percent cotton, it's a super-fashionable shirt, but it doesn't really belong in the gym. They're that comfortable, and people think it belongs there, but that's the biggest issue I have, is separating the idea that it's not just a physical attitude, it's a mental attitude. It's a lifestyle attitude that if you change your mind, you put yourself in better situations to achieve. It's not just for sports, but we actually promote sports, too. We actually just sponsored an MMA fighter over the weekend.