Meet Omar Wolf” Allison | Owner of Hybrid Garbs and Canadian Soldier”

We had the good fortune of connecting with Omar “Wolf” Allison and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Omar “Wolf”, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Hybrid Garbs is a community brand. Our brand is a representation of the GOOD and the BAD in life, which is illustrated through our logo of two WOLVES tied together at their heads. Hybrid Garbs represents the mental fight that we all go through daily. A fight o two wolves within our mind.

When Hybridz (now Hybrid Garbs) first started, my twin brother, Jammar, created it around us as and our uniqueness as twins. “There is No Good without the Bad” was a direct referral to there being no me without him and vise versa. As the brand developed and we matured ourselves we realized that not one person is all good and not one all bad, but we all have good and bad tendencies, habits and characteristics in us. A fight of two wolves within our mind one would say.

An old Cherokee grandfather is telling his grandson a story. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil — he is anger, envy, greed, arrogance, resentment, lies, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good — he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The wolves are fighting to the death.

Wide-eyed, the boy asks his grandfather which wolf will win.

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

But is it that easy or even possible at times to feed one? You see after my brother was abducted; I went into a deep dark place mentally. I wanted revenge, I wanted to hurt people. I went cold. I was everything the black wolf was described to be and worst. I hated how I felt all the time, so I avoided the issue as whole. Tried to run away from my thoughts and suppress my feelings, and in the long run that did more harm than good.

“You see, if I only choose to feed the white wolf, the black one will be hiding around every corner waiting for me to become distracted or weak and jump to get the attention he craves. He will always be angry and always fighting the white wolf. But if I acknowledge him, he is happy, and the white wolf is happy, and we all win. For the black wolf has many qualities – tenacity, courage, fearlessness, strong-willed and great strategic thinking – that I have need of at times and that the white wolf lacks. But the white wolf has compassion, caring, strength and the ability to recognize what is in the best interest of all.
“You see, son, the white wolf needs the black wolf at his side. To feed only one would starve the other and they will become uncontrollable. To feed and care for both means they will serve you well and do nothing that is not a part of something greater, something good, something of life. Feed them both and there will be no more internal struggle for your attention. And when there is no battle inside, you can listen to the voices of deeper knowing that will guide you in choosing what is right in every circumstance. Peace, my son, is the Cherokee mission in life. A man or a woman who has peace inside has everything. A man or a woman who is pulled apart by the war inside him or her has nothing.

Because I wasn’t addressing my issues and feeding both wolves in my head, I was not at peace and my mental health was destroying me.

I had to start opening myself up to feeling the pain and letting my emotions run through me. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. And it got worse when they found my brothers body in Hamilton 2 and a half years later. I had prayed for closure and got it but still wasn’t ready for the reality. Then accompanied by Covid-19 I was worse than I was when it first happened in 2018. But one day I had a dream where Jammar came to me and reminded me of the last words he said to me; “Don’t worry soon we will be up”. So, I get up and get things done out of respect for him. My whole life changed not only for the bad with the obvious devastation but for the good because I looked at life completely different and started to LIVE.

You see the Hybrid Garbs slogan “There is No Good without The Bad” is now a reflection on life as a whole. Of course, it is nice to have good days more than not, but in reality, you need those bad days as well. It is the bad days, weeks, months and moments where you learn the most. Perspective appreciation and so much more. This is the balance we need to understand and understanding it will do good for your MENTAL BALANCE.

So, when you see the Hybrid logo of two Wolves, I hope it gives you comfort in knowing that if you are down and out right now, there will be better days ahead. And on the other side of the scale, I hope it gives you the strength and confidence while you are high and up to walk through any future hard times that you may have to face.

What should our readers know about your business?
Today I am most proud of how far Hybrid Garbs has come since 2018. It was a long and at times depressing road, and to be honest there will definitely be more times like that down the road. You see this great company that I love running is also the thing that reminds me of my twin brother the most. So it’s hard to to create at times with his voice in the back of my head telling me “that idea sucks”, or “change colours”, or thats sick, do that!” But I push through everyday because I know as long as the brand is doing well, people will always remember his name. To date I have really learned that in life “There is No GOOD without the BAD”. We really do have to go through hard times to become the best version of ourselves. its like hard times is a prerequisite for success. I want the world to know the brand Hybrid Garbs is a brand that we can all relate to. The mental struggle of dealing with good and bad thoughts and accepting them both for what they are is not easy at all, but this understanding and acceptance of bad times, bad thoughts, experiences and all will actually help you really develop a balanced state of mind. Although my brother (one half of the logo) is gone he will ever be in my head as one of the wolves fighting for mental balance.

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 my best friend was visiting the area for the first time I would take him to all the “tourist” like places like the CN Tower, Dundas Square etc. But I would make sure he visited the end of July early August so I could take him to Caribana (Carnival) and Drake’s OVO Fest. The best parties happen during that time. There are plenty of good food spots to eat at downtown, but we would step out of the city and go into the hoods as well to get that real authentic food.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I would like to shoutout my twin brother Jammar JK Allison. My brother is the reason i am who i am today and my drive behind everything I do. May he rest in peace.

I would also like to shoutout The Canadian Armed Forces. I learned patience, humility, appreciation, discipline and so much more from being part of this organization. All of which I have used in my many business ventures.

Last but absolutely not least, I want to shout out each and every customer that has purchased a piece of clothing from Hybrid Garbs.

Website: www.hybridgarbs.com

Instagram: hybrid_garbs

Facebook: hybrid garbs

Other: _mental_balance (instagram) is our mental health page associated to the brand