We were lucky to catch up with Adom Robinson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Adom, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
Absolutely! Thank you guys for having me. To jump right in, I would say the ability to take risks is something that I definitely developed over time. Growing up, I was a very shy and soft-spoken kid. If you knew me then, I think you probably would be surprised about where I am today because I just wasn’t known for trying anything that might’ve jumped off the page. I always had a really strong belief in myself and my God-given talents, but trusting my gut is something that I didn’t home in on until my early 20’s.
I come from a small area called Prince George’s County in Maryland. Although it’s not very big, some of the best athletes and entertainers in the world hail from there. Just to name a few, stars like Kevin Durant, Taraji P. Henson, Stefon Diggs, and Cordae all came from this 500 mile radius. So as you can imagine, to grow up there is to experience a lot of pressure to excel in sports or entertainment. My personal experience was that if you weren’t at the top amongst your peers in one of those areas, you can kind of be written off a bit. I believe that’s a pressure that a lot of people of color face when trying to navigate how to “make it in life”. So, as you can imagine, I felt a lot of anxiety around not being a highly regarded athlete coming out of high school when I had a lot of friends that were.
It wasn’t until I went to college at St. John’s University, in New York City, that my eyes really opened to all of the different possibilities in the world. Even though I was still pursuing basketball, I met and interacted with so many people that were pursuing interesting careers that I didn’t even know existed. It broadened my perspective on life and what I believed was possible. I always felt like God had given me something special. I just didn’t know how to implement it. It took me stepping away from traditional norms to figure it out. Sometimes when you feel like what you have to offer isn’t fitting in with what’s around you, it’s because it doesn’t exist yet and maybe you just have to create it.
Fast-forward to the pandemic putting a pause on my professional basketball career, I decided to take a risk by pivoting and starting a black owned athletic company called, Take One Sportswear. I noticed that all of the top athletic companies, heavily marketed towards minorities, but none were minority owned themselves. Most weren’t even athlete lead. So I saw an opportunity to create something that wasn’t already there. It was a space where I had the ability to use both my athletic experience and my creativity together. I decided to lean into the idea of taking risks in order to achieve my dream and that’s what I built the idea of the company around. As I continued to keep that idea in my mind, as I did business, things began to come together.
A little over 3 years ago, I had started the business and was working out of my parents’ garage. Today, we are one of the fastest growing athletic brands in the country, sponsoring athletic teams all over the United States and internationally, with products sold in over 25 states, all while delivering sports uniforms in a quarter of the time as our competitors. As we’ve continued to gain traction, cementing ourselves in the college space has been high priority and we’ve been able to do so through NIL. Our NIL partnerships include athletes from Yale University, St. John’s University, Georgetown University, University of Maryland, NC State University, University of Virginia, and the University of Minnesota. We have had the opportunity to partner with top athletic Prep programs like Hargrave Military Academy along with several NBA and NFL athletes as well. We are beginning to validate ourselves as the black owned option in the market and that’s something we want to continue to scale.
As we look to the future, we are striving to be the first global black owned competitor in the athletic market. Although we still have more work to do, none of this would have been possible without God and being brave enough to take the risk.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Adom Robinson, I am the Founder of Take One Sportswear and a former athlete as well. I’m from Prince George’s County, Maryland, but I have lived in a few different places. Growing up, my Mom worked in the Army and my Dad worked in the Government, so I’ve moved a few times, but the DMV has always been home for me.
I would describe myself as a family-oriented person. Even though I’m an only child, I come from a really large tight-knit family so that has always been a safe haven for me. Even with my business, I like to make my team feel like one big family. Outside of them, I would say I keep a pretty small circle of people around me, just close friends really. I would say I’m pretty laid back, but I’ve always been really ambitious at the same time though. I’ve always been a dreamer. I remember growing up and my parents constantly instilling in me that anything I put my mind to was possible, even if others tried to put limitations on me. I think that’s something that I’ve really held on to throughout my life and it’s carried me.
In my free time, I like to listen to music, watch movies, travel, go to museums, play basketball, and think about new ideas for my business. I know thinking about business isn’t something that most people probably do in their “free time”, but honestly mine doesn’t really seem like work to me. Haha. It really just gives me an outlet to be creative. I’m still only 29 years old, so I’m just trying to stay present and take life a day at a time.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that were most impactful on my journey were being collaborative, thoughtful, and persistent. I think collaboration if one of the most important things along your journey no matter what you decide to do. You don’t have to know everything, but if you can bring people together that have a different knowledge base and skillset than you, it can push everyone forward. Being thoughtful is important in any type of relationship, wether it be personal or business, because that will always resonate with someone more than anything else. Finally, being persistent is important in any route that you decide to take. There will always be challenges, it’s pushing through them that will ultimately get you to where you want to be.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
We are opening our doors to collaborate with athletic teams of all sports right now. As we look to bring in additional teams under the Take One brand. Teams of every sport are are welcome. Each Take One sponsored team will have the opportunity to have their own fully customized uniform, receive a platform for their players to get exposure on a national level, and more. You can connect with us through our website takeonesportswear.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://takeonesportswear.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takeonesportswear?igsh=bTBjaDZnbjBlNThk
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@takeonesportswear
Image Credits
Marz Jones, Markel Gale
