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Young Penticton entrepreneur celebrating success of clothing company

Penticton Western News - 3/5/2020

Word has spread of Tyler Wade's unique clothing company, SadBoys.

On Monday, March 2 he launched a new 11-piece collection of clothes, and they sold out in the same day.

The young entreprener says his company, which he started as a way to raise awareness about men's mental health issues, has seen much success. He is now able to double the amount of funds SadBoys donates to mental health initiatives.

The "Sad" in Sadboys is an acronym for stigmas around depression. Wade's goal is to shatter the stigma surrounding men's mental health issues and make it easier for men to reach out for help when they need it.

"This is my way of breaking the barrier and having guys talk about their feelings and normalizing that," said the 22-year-old.

Men often suppress their feelings out of fear of being ridiculed, Wade explained.

"You're going to be labelled as weak, so we feel like we can't talk to anyone," said Wade.

Wade thinks getting men to a place where they feel comfortable talking about their mental health is the first step to changing this.

"Breaking down that barrier is going to be huge," he said.

The recent SadBoys release allowed customers to bid on 11 new pieces made by Wade. He says the response to his line's recent release has been incredible.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting that many people to be commenting and bidding on the stuff," said Wade.

The Penticton native said his clothing line is now starting to gain attention outside his home town, noting that he's received orders from Alberta, Prince George, and the U.S. The company's Instagram has also been on the rise, gaining more than 300 followers in three weeks.

Wade previously donated 10 per cent of all SadBoys sales to men's mental health initiative. With the recent success he will now be donating 20 per cent.

"It's amazing, almost surreal really. That was my New Year's resolution, to have SadBoys take off, so the fact that it's actually happening is mind blowing," said Wade.

Wade says he's often up until 1 a.m., working on SadBoys pieces. In the future, wade plans to continue to grow SadBoys as a company and spread awareness about men's mental health issues. In the next year, he plans to have a SadBoys store in downtown Penticton that doubles as a creative space for locals.