Unleashing Creativity: Insights from Shawn Rojas' Experiment

Experiment has been one of the few very consistent things in my life since I was 15 years old. 

Exp was born out of boredom and the lack of inspiration my hometown of Fresno, CA supplied me. The lack of inspiration ironically became all the inspiration I needed to work on building this world. 

My only goal has been to supply to my community what I didn’t have back in 2012. There was a pretty non-existent creative culture in Fresno and I really wanted to show people that you could do whatever you want creatively even if there isn’t an immediate community for it. I began assembling any homies or mutual friends I had that were into similar things. Even if we didn’t work together directly I wanted us to be around one another so that we could maybe help assist one another in other ways. 

Throughout these past 10 years I watched the creative community grow in Fresno. I was really pushed to do everything I could to grow the brand because of this new pressure the city was applying to myself and Exp. Because of this pressure I found myself wanting to explore how I could grow even further and my next move was LA. 

In 2017 I moved to LA to pursue designing for other companies all while still building Exp. Although I knew this would be a significant life choice I don’t think I could've understood the weight of how this would change my life for the years to come. Because of this and a whole lot of networking I was able to put myself in some situations that I could've only dreamt of. 

Now 10 years into building this brand I’m realizing how proud I am of my team and how truly grateful I am for our customers that have become like an extended family to us. I feel like the essence of Exp is still there and that’s so important to me. Exp has just been a slow and steady rise to a place that I’m so proud of and the exciting part is that we’re so far from where I want to be. I’m excited to keep building this brand up and allowing it to serve myself, my team and our community in whatever way it’s going to.  

Interviews with the Skate Team- 

Jonah Hawkins: Team Manager/Filmer-

What’s your first memory of skating? What set you on fire for it and made you want to be apart of that community?

-My first memories skating were when I was in about 6th or 7th grade. I live next to the River ramp, so naturally I would go down there on a weekly basis to hang out and skate with friends. I remember skating was always more than just an activity for me. I loved the videos, artwork, and just freedom to whatever the hell we wanted to do. I’m not even a very good skater myself, I’m actually pretty bad if we are being real. It was never about that for me, it was a outlet for me to express myself creatively outside of school and structured sports. The community doesn’t care if you suck at skating, it’s way more about being a good friend that people enjoy being around. I’m beyond blessed for all the  life lessons and people I’ve met through skateboarding in general. 

My first memory filming for EXP was with Noah and Trey. I filmed the first EXP videos on my Mom and Dads old Hi-8 camera that they would film us on as babies. I still remember how young Trey and Noah looked at the time. Time flies man, I’m grateful to share those early days filming with them. 

What’s your first memory of being interested in clothing and fashion? You’re one of the first people I knew that was into similar things that I was and I remember you being so excited about the stuff you were finding. -Fashion is still the coolest thing on the planet to me. I remember when streetwear really popped off when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Me and my friend Brayden were saving up all of our Christmas money and cashing out on gear such as Rick Owens, Margiela, Alexander Wang, and Supreme.

Me and my friends really looked up to asspizza, luka sabbat, and all the homies connected to their New York streetwear crew. We were inspired by this, and kind of started our own fashion circle of homies in Fresno. Evan was someone in the group, and once I met him, I was introduced to Shawn and EXP. 

What’s your first memory of exp? My first memory of EXP was when my mom got me a shirt in 2013, when Shawn and Jeff had a pop up at our local church. 

What’s your favorite memory of exp? There are two things that come to mind right of the bat. The first thing that comes to mind is our days at Art house. Exp and Borkner had a spot in downtown that we would hold events at. I was in highschool at the time, and I really thought those days were the best ever. Being so young and having such a cool place to hang out and work on art was a huge blessing for me. I made some great memories at our old art house spot. 

My second favorite memory was hearing about the deal we were able to get in LA. We all worked on EXP for a number of years without anyone noticing beyond our local community. It kind of felt like time was ticking and that we may never pop off It was so great to hear that Shawn and the team got the offer can now work on EXP full time. 

What’s your favorite exp piece?

-My favorite exp piece is this hoodie we made when we were in middle school. Shawn had me, Landon, and Evan wear ski masks for a photo, which served as the graphic of the hoodie. It might be a pretty corny graphic now in retrospect, but that was a huge moment for me. 

I also really love the shirt of Noah holding a big gulp after he got caught Teepeeing someone’s house. That graphic still makes me laugh to this day. 

What’s currently moving you right now? (Movies music books work skating or anything that’s inspiring rn) 

Shit man right now I’m student teaching. I haven’t been able to skate much lately but never felt so motivated creatively. Every time I’m really grinding in school, I feel extra motivated to come back and make something cool. 

Andrew Lopez: Team Rider- 

What’s your first memory of exp?

First memory with EXP was filming for the valentines drop. It was my first time coming out in a EXP video as well. Shoutout to jonah 

Since you joined the skate team what’s been your favorite memory with all the guys?

When everybody linked up at the EXP pop up for the board release. It was definitely a movie & great vibes all around. 

Outside of skating what’s your biggest goal?

My biggest goal is to make sure my family is good & being better as a person everyday.  

Within skating what’s your biggest goal?

Everybody’s goal is to become professional but I want to help the community as much as I can & to make sure the next generation of kids who want to pick up a board knows that anything is possible & to always have fun no matter what.

What’s your favorite exp piece to date? 

Everything goes crazy! But the one that stood out the most is the EXP puffer. EXP 4L

Rami Nious Flores: Team Rider- 

What’s your first memory of exp?

Jonah (our filmer/team manager) hit me for a sesh through Zarias. It ended up being a fire ass sesh, I landed all kinds of new shit and got a few good clips, I was stoked. Then a few months and sessions later got officially welcomed to the team.

Since you joined the skate team what’s been your favorite memory with all the guys? 

Honestly there’s so many, it’s always a good time when all get together! But probably my favorite would be this one film session shortly after our thrasher ad came out, we all just went crazy landing new shit, definitely one of the best sessions of my life! And all good vibes forsure!

Outside of skating what’s your biggest goal?  

I’m pretty into visual art, like drawing, painting and digital art,  so probably just taking that as far as I can too. So like just making a bunch more pieces and series, and showing them places, and selling as much as I can, haha.

Within skating what’s your biggest goal? 

The dream is definitely to go pro, but at the end of the day, I just want to try my best to manifest all the crazy tricks in my head, and make some beautiful parts and just add something to the culture. As long as I can get that accomplished I can sleep easy at night.

What’s your favorite exp piece to date?  

Damn, there’s been so many dope pieces just since I joined, but I probably gotta say that reversible jacket we wore for the thrasher shoot was my favorite! It Looked so good and felt so good, I was hyped to wear it! I felt fly asf, haha.

Nick Pulido: Team Rider- 

Since joining the skate team what's your favorite memory with all the guys? I would have to say after the first pop up with the boards we premiered a video that day the energy in the room was crazy all my friends in one place

Outside of skating what's your biggest goal? I want to be comfortable in life never worry about anything or stress

Within skating what's your biggest goal? To travel the world with brothers.

What's your favorite piece of exp to date? prolly the red hoodie it's a girl hugging a guy and it says "your light shines brightest " it's Lowkey beautiful

What's your first memory of exp?

Me and friends would skate in the morning almost everyday the filmer for exp Jonah would pull up and skate with us from time to time one time after the skate park he asked if we wanted to go film by the Herndon river I convinced my homie Zarais to come and film after that day at

the River we started skating with Jonah more often and meeting his homies soon after that we started getting closer and created a team.

Evan Rojas: Brand Manager- 

What’s your first memory of exp? 

All of my first memories of exp are being 15 and going to school with my backpack full of shirts and delivering them in between classes. 

What’s your favorite memory of exp? 

Our Christmas giveaway in 2019, the turnout was overwhelming and a super cool experience to see the community we had built

What’s your favorite exp piece?

Has to be our 2021 Valentine’s Day cardigan, it was a huge step for us to start going into more cut n sew pieces and was exciting to see what we could create. 

What’s currently moving you right now? (Movies music books work skating or anything that’s inspiring rn) 

I try to read as much as I possibly can it’s something that continues to push me, that with also consuming movies and music keeps me inspired to keep creating 

What is the most important part of the exp community in your opinion? 

What keeps the company moving in the direction is always has? 

I think the most important part of exp in general is our community. We are nothing without the support of our people, and the bigger our community gets the more we will move towards the right direction 

Nathan Casares: Head of Video-

My first memory of EXP was the very first drop. I was in elementary school so seeing my big cousin doing something so cool was a huge eye opener for me early on, thankful for that.

The best memory is for sure the round two pop up, was our first event outside of fresno and still had a crazy turn out. I was also just officially brought onto the team at that time.

There was a cream hat w blue “EXP” embroidery that fit my head so perfectly. Went through like 2 of them and put them through the worst conditions. A lot of good memories in that hat. 

My biggest motivation will always be my friends and the people around me. So blessed to be able to create with other creative people, it’s the best experience. Also movies, sometimes i’ll finish watching one and feel this extreme urge to tell a story of my own and share it on the big screen. That’s the end goal though.

I think the foundation of EXP is fresno and will forever be. It’s the reason things sold back then. Fresno is the thing that shaped us. There will always be a little piece of fresno in the brand. As long as we continue to love making clothes and creating videos/ campaigns, the brand will continue to grow and evolve into new heights.

Andrew Steele: Skate Team Photographer/Filmer-

Being best friends with Nate, I remember him telling me when his cousin Shawn was starting his own clothing brand in 2012. We both thought it was so cool that he decided to do that because at the time I don’t think it was as common for high school kids to print their own tees. We both really looked up to Shawn and still do. 

My favorite memory has to be the art house days in 2016. Each month me and my friends would be excited to go out and see some art, hear some music, but mostly go to the exp booth which was like it’s own room, well-decorated, covered in photos. It was a cool way for people to come together who had common interests. 

My favorite piece changes all the time but I really like the spa tee from a few years ago. Or the “you’re all I need” tee and long sleeve. 

Right now I’m inspired by tv shows. Breaking bad, barry, severance, lost. Music too. Music is an every-day necessity. 

I think that the community is my favorite part of the brand. Seeing new people come together to support the company or to show face at pop ups. The creativity that Shawn consistently pumps out into the clothes is always exciting. It keeps everyone motivated to keep pushing creatively.