Ok. So some of you may have heard of us. Some of you may have even bumped into us by accident. Others who do know about us and worn our products are living, walking, active brand ambassadors of ROCKDEEP.
Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way. We are ROCKDEEP a black owned footwear and apparel company. For those of you who may be rolling your eyes at the black owned part... you can choose to stay and keep reading or exit now and miss out on alot.
I won't go into the importance of being a black-owned business too deeply. I have and will have plenty of future blogs about that. For now I want those reading to know we at ROCKDEEP aren't JUST a black-owned company. We are a company who cater to everyone.
I was told I need to blog and write more about not only the company but products. So I agreed and here I am.
This isn't my first blog. Not even close. I've written more than a few before. Gotten some praise and gotten some shade, but for me, if folks are reading they are reading.
This is to inform not only you the person taking in the current blog, but those you share it with. You the consumer both present and future have as much to do with the success of ROCKDEEP as I do writing blogs, spending money on marketing or anything else.
Coming from where I have. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and having lived in Northern VA and Oxon Hill Maryland its important that I not only tout my products, but the stories behind the products. It's important for me to let other black children coming up, that you can be more than just a rapper or athlete. Not that having those aspirations are something we as parent's should frown on.
I have seven children. Men and Women. Ages 15 months,10, 11, 12,13, 22 and 24. Yes. Im raising men and women... not kids. That detail is important. I tell them all the time: "you can't be anything you want to be.... you can be everything you want to be"
I was raised to work a good government job, and be happy with making good money, not super excellent money. My parent's wanted good for their kids, but didn't want us reaching too far above our aspirations. They weren't being negative...but protective because of the world we were growing up in.
(By the way... I promise to get to the products so stick around)
The world as it was back in the 70's was cool, and in the early 80's not bad either, but the 90's is when things changed for me personally. I graduated high school. I saw things outside of the area I was from and hip-hop spoke to me. It wasn't just something to dance to.
The late 80's was a time when peer pressure to have the coolest gear was great, but instead of having to ask my parent's for the money which wasn't going to happen, I was able to work for everything I saved up for. This is where my love for footwear and apparel (specifically sneakers which we called tennis shoes back then) took shape.
I couldn't draw two sticks together let alone draw beautiful designs on paper, but wanted to have something to do with the sneaker world. Since I had no skills worth note I pursued journalism and business. (I promise Im getting to the point) I had a government job at first and then I left the government and got a job in the private sector.
Realizing working for other's just wasn't my thing, I went into business for myself. After 20 years of consulting, doing different things in all sorts of industries and figuring out I was still working for other folks just for alot more money, I decided to pursue my passion.
Sneakers. 
Now I skipped alot of stuff, and most of that will be filled in in a book Im writing about life, activism, and everything else, but I wanted to keep your attention for this particular blog...
When I decided to pursue my own footwear and apparel company, I knew failure wasn't an option. This is not to be confused with failing and trying again, but when you have five kids and plan on getting married (again), you can't have those who depend on you looking at you with a side eye wondering wtf are you doing Daddy?
This brings me to ROCKDEEP and what you have to look forward to.
Quality - Style - Function - Affordable
Quality/Style - I don't have the ability as a small yet growing small business to provide a product that isn't "lit, tight, bangin, awesome, like that" or whatever the latest terms for nice are.
I get one chance to impress the consumer. I know everything isn't for everyone, but I have to make products that have a mass appeal. ROCKDEEP is not about trendy...while it may fit current trends, our products will be classic from season to season.
Affordable - I've mentioned where Im from. I didn't grow up with a silver spoon. Quite the opposite actually. My parent's got me what I needed, not what I wanted but it didn't keep me from wanting alot. Im aware of peer pressure and the pressure it puts on both parent and child alike.Function - ROCKDEEP products are fully functional and not marketed via gimmicks, or famous endorsers. Our endorsers are those who have paid their good money for our products. You the consumer are our brand ambassadors. I think I said that from the beginning. We want our products to be relatable to the everyday consumer.
If famous folks want to wear our stuff... great...but we can't allow any one person to put our brand at risk. I can mess up all on my own.
I didn't have to worry about my parent's being pressured to buy me $150 kicks. Hell they weren't going to be pressured to buy me $40 kicks!! I had some bo-bo's and kept it moving, but thats not todays reality. We want better for our children as my parent's did but we dont want them to deal with the potential cruelties of their peers.
I give credit to today's kids, and parent's that everyone is looking to be original, and while there is a huge Hypebeast, gotta look like everyone else society, other's are trying to find their unique.
That's where ROCKDEEP comes in. We are providing quality, stylish, functional products for under $100. This gives everyone a win win situation. For the price of all these Nike, Jordan and Adidas sneakers you can two to three pair of ROCKDEEP kicks for their one.
ROCKDEEP will be doing a global public relations campaign beginning in July, but because we don't have the deep pockets others do, we depend on grassroots marketing and viral stuff like you sharing to all your social media platforms.
So for those who tout they have the "most comfortable sneakers made in the world" we got something for that ass. (Excuse my Wakandan) For those who need kicks for running, training, hiking, trekking or just looking good in, we have something for you.
We aren't without our faults and openly admit we didn't expect the kind of growth and success we had in the first two years. We took and are still taking our lumps. Shipping is something we just couldn't foresee being an issue, and then we were shipping 300 packages a day!! That's alot for any small growing business.. but problems should never come without solutions.
We are fixing this by hiring more folks to assist with not only shipping but other aspects of the business, and moving into new offices to centralize the business. You can't run a now multi-million dollar business from your home and expect it to be as smooth as it was when you were a multi-thousand dollar business.
So our promise is to above all else keep our customers happy even when we mess up. We know folks expect everyone to be like Amazon and yes we strive to be as fast, but until you realize as a business owner that Amazon is a trillion dollar business, and you can't possibly compete, you do simply the best you can with the resources you are afforded. Just dont worry... we will always make sure you are happy in the end with out product and customer service.
We promise for everything you are loyal to, we have something which will make you wish you had found us before this blog. I promise to do more and keep it shorter and more about the products and less about the backstory... kinda.
Until then... share share share and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
For another Blog recently written please by all means read: Open Letter to All Consumers.
Note: One of our viral commercials is below... but if you were wondering how to get to our website: You're already on it....just click on our logo at the top of the page: If that doesn't work: www.ROCKDEEPINC.com
If you would like to contact ROCKDEEP about questions, interviews or purchasing wholesale contact Staff@ROCKDEEP.com