Honestly?
I don't think I decided to start onward.
I think I eventually realised I needed to.
For a long time, I've had this feeling that I don't quite fit anywhere.
Not necessarily because I wanted to be different. I've just never really known how to be anything else.
I've spent a lot of my life questioning who I am, what I'm supposed to be, and whether the way I think, feel or see the world is somehow wrong.
I've had experiences that changed me. Some of them happened when I was far too young to really understand what was happening. I've dealt with bullying, loss, abandonment, unhealthy relationships, loneliness, and plenty of moments where I've looked at myself and wondered how the hell I ended up here.
And somewhere along the way, I became very good at hiding parts of myself.
Maybe you've been there too.
Maybe you've learnt how to be the version of yourself that makes everyone else comfortable.
Maybe you've become good at saying you're fine when you're not.
Maybe you've looked around at everyone else and wondered why it seems so easy for them to just be themselves.
I've spent a long time doing exactly that.
Then I became a dad.
And that changed the question.
Instead of asking:
"Who am I supposed to be?"
I started asking:
"Who do I want my children to believe they're allowed to be?"
That question hit differently.
I don't want my children growing up believing they have to make themselves smaller to fit somewhere.
I don't want them thinking they need permission to express themselves.
I don't want them looking at the things that make them different and deciding those are the things they should be ashamed of.
I want them to know that they can be completely, unapologetically themselves.
And, eventually, I realised something slightly uncomfortable.
I probably needed to start believing that about myself too.
That's where onward. came from.
Not from some perfectly formed business plan.
Not because I had always dreamed of owning a clothing brand.
And definitely not because I thought the world desperately needed another person putting a logo on a T-shirt.
The clothes are just the beginning.
onward. is about something much bigger.
It's for the people who have felt a little bit lost.
The people who have never quite felt like they belonged.
The people who have spent years trying to work themselves out.
The people whose journey hasn't looked anything like the one they thought they were supposed to have.
And the people who have been through some shit, but don't want that shit to become the entirety of who they are.
Because I don't think our experiences have to define us.
They become part of us.
They can change us.
Sometimes they can break us for a while.
But they don't get to decide where we go next.
That's what onward. means to me.
Moving forward.
Not because everything is fixed.
Not because you've suddenly figured yourself out.
Not because you've discovered some magical five-step formula for becoming the best version of yourself.
Sometimes moving forward simply means getting out of bed.
Sometimes it means admitting you're not okay.
Sometimes it means walking away from something that isn't good for you.
Sometimes it means trying something you've been too scared to try.
Sometimes it means starting again.
And sometimes it means having absolutely no fucking idea where you're going, but deciding you're going to take another step anyway.
You don't have to know exactly where you're going.
You don't have to have everything figured out.
You don't even have to feel particularly brave.
You just have to keep moving.
That's what I want onward. to be.
A reminder that you don't have to fit someone else's idea of who you're supposed to be.
A place for people who are still figuring it out.
A community for people who understand that life can be messy, complicated, funny, painful, brilliant and utterly ridiculous — sometimes all in the same day.
And a little reminder that wherever you've come from, whatever you've been through, and however lost you might feel right now...
you're still here.
So keep going.
Keep being you.
Keep figuring it out.
Keep moving.
onward.