By Caitlin Wolfe
DouglasNow.com
From making t-shirts in his mom’s garage, to a clothing brand that now has a manufacturer, a warehouse, and has sold to many celebrities, Keyshun Holmes says he is only planning to expand from here.
Rich Royal is a clothing brand that was started by Douglas native Keyshun Holmes in 2018. This 24-year-old entrepreneur had a growing passion for fashion that goes back to his high school years. Winning the “best dressed” senior superlative seems to have been just the beginning of a long and prosperous journey for Keyshun and his love for all things fashion.
After graduating high school in 2016, Keyshun says he took a year off from school so he could find the right career path for him. This led to him designing and making t-shirts from his mom’s garage. However, what started as just a hobby eventually turned into the career path he had been hoping to find.
Keyshun states that as the business grew, so did his need for a larger work space. Rich Royal is currently located in a 4,500 square foot building in Douglas but is expanding so much that he will need a bigger location in the near future. The clothing company has sold roughly 111,900 orders in 5 short years and that number is just continuing to increase.
According to Keyshun, a typical work day for him includes: drafting new designs, consulting with manufacturers, creating content, and marketing. He states the work never stops and oftentimes goes home with him even throughout the weekends. He is the sole creator for all of the designs you see for Rich Royal and has a graphic designer that helps bring these ideas to life.
Without the support of the local community and his customers, Keyshun states that it’s very hard to branch out and expand the brand. With that being said, Rich Royal’s largest number of customers are based out of Georgia, and coming in second place is the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is through the support of his customers that Rich Royal is able to give back to local charities like a recent $700 donation that was raised for the Autism Awareness Group of Coffee County.
When asked if he ever imagined Rich Royal to be where it is today, Keyshun’s says, “No. It just started off as a hobby. I didn’t have a business plan. If you were to ask me right when it started, it was nothing I even saw going long term.”
Now, 5 years later, Keyshun has turned a small hobby into a growing brand that has new collections dropping left and right along with new set releases every Thursday at 12 pm. In the near future, Keyshun says he hopes to buy the manufacturing company to specifically cut for Rich Royal, expand to a larger warehouse, bring in new brand deals, and extend his sales reach to more celebrities. Some celebrities who have bought and worn Rich Royal are: Rich Homie Quan, B. Simone, Ari Fletcher, Arrogant Tae, and several others.
Sunday, June 25, marked Rich Royal’s 5 year anniversary. Keyshun says they are starting a new campaign this week in honor of his customers called the “Double R Club.” It is a new way to refer to the brand’s followers and customers who have and continue to support Rich Royal and Keyshun’s journey to making fashion dreams a reality.
Rich Royal will have a model call Saturday, July 1 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the brand’s warehouse on 1012 North Peterson Avenue in Douglas.