Meet Mark Burgess: Godspeed Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Burgess and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When starting my company, I really had no plans or process. I just was tired of buying clothing from other companies that had no clue who i was. I was also interested in clothing that started conversations. I always felt awkward starting conversations so i figured why not let my clothing do the talking.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
A lesson I would love for people to learn from my story is that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what you grew up in. As long as you trust in God and and have the drive, you can do whatever you set your mind to. One thing I would like people to know about my brand is that we care about the community and our supporters. For this company and myself its not about the money or the sales. its about the souls saved through it. I love hearing the stories from people when they are like ” I was wearing your shirt and I had a great conversation with…”. Stories like that make me happy and want to keep going! Was it easy? Not at all! there has been several times when I wanted to quit because the company was growing as fast as I want or I would struggle screen printing shirts and ruined so many. But like I said the way I overcome it is by hearing someones story of them wearing a godspeed shirt.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If i had a friend coming to town I would take them to 2 areas. Ponce city market/ Piedmont Park and probably the aquarium. Where im from we don’t have a giant area like ponce so people from home would love it honesty. And id say the aquarium just because i’ve been wanting to go there ever since i moved here so it would be cool to go there for the first time with someone from home.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mom is who I would like to dedicate this to. she believed in me from the start and no matter what machines i had to buy, or how much I had to take off work she still stood by me. I would also HAVE to give credit to my Silent investors who helped me start this company financially. I wouldn’t be as far in the company that i am without them and their support.

Website: godspeedclothing1@gmail.com

Instagram: @godspeed_merch

Image Credits
I use 2 photographers for everything so a huge shout out to Dillon Coke and Justin Jones for all their hard work!