SAN DIEGO — Scripps’s ranch native Ben Gass went from admiring sneakers, to making them. This was all thanks to manifesting his dreams and responding to an email.
“I subscribed to this Sneaker group in Portland Oregon, and they sent out an email saying that they were choosing a handful of kids to help design a sneaker. From there, three of us were chosen and we went on to help design it as a team," Gas said.
Once he and the others were selected, Ben hit the ground running. After taking a class through the company Yellow Brick, he learned the ins and outs of sneaker design and the step-by-step how to make a shoe. Once he completed the class, he and his team started to form the Reebok Yellow Brick Duality sneaker.
“It was a pretty cool process. There was a lot that went into the class, and it was very helpful.” Gass said. “We had to turn in projects of what designs we made, and it ended up being super helpful and we just learned how to make a sneaker.”
Gass has always had a creative mind ever since he was little. His inspiration for sneaker design came from him drawing jersey designs with different color schemes and looks as a kid.
“I always loved just drawing cool designs for football jerseys, that’s when it really started for me, and it made me want to design more and more things," Gass said. "Then, once I found my love for sneakers, designing them and making them is something I wanted to do.”
What makes Ben's story so interesting is that he set a goal from the time he was little and kept with that goal, manifesting his dreams until they became a reality.
“I wrote down two things on my bucket list. I wanted to do two things. One, I wanted to make a clothing brand, and two I wanted to design a sneaker for a major company and I did both of those," Gass said.
Ben continues chasing goals that he set for himself, “For anyone watching this, all I have to say is go chase your dreams, whatever you want to do, you can do it if you work hard and truly believe.
The Reebok Yellow Brick Duality sneaker sold out in less than a day and is no longer available for purchase.
WATCH: Yellowbrick x Reebok x APB Duality Launch: