Dreaming Outside the Box
Dreams don’t come by FedEx
People sometimes think that realizing your dreams happens right away. It’s as if one day you receive a perfect package with a bow on top that contains all of the answers you have been waiting for. But in reality, dreams can take time to come true. Here at Lifting the Dream Designs, we know that every dream begins with a journey and we were really curious about how our shirt creator – Malia – began her journey. So we asked her!
Origin Story
From making shirts for Disneyland trips, high school pep rallies, and sorority events - it is no surprise that this is where Malia found her niche for innovative shirt making. But deciding on whether this shirt making business was a dream worth following or just a hobby – well, that wasn’t clearly defined yet. For a little while she believed photography was her “only creative outlet.” But when your heart tells you that something isn’t right – you know you have to listen. And that’s a big deal to Lifting the Dream Designs – listening to your heart.
That moment when you want to workout but you have no cute clothes
In 2015, just two months after the birth of Malia’s second child, she soon realized something needed to be done about the lack of cute workout apparel in her closet. She wanted unique workout shirts that would motivate her while simultaneously emulating her personality. And thus the idea of making shirts to fix this dilemma was born. And because this all began with a dream, when coming up with a name for the business, Malia knew she had to incorporate the word “dream” in her brand somewhere. She explained,
“But it had to inspire people, even just one person that you have to pursue your dreams. Whether your dreams are to run a marathon someday or sign up for your first 5K, we embrace everybody’s dreams!”
One inspiration came from something Walt Disney once said: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” These words were incorporated into a name that truly embraced getting fit and being yourself while doing it.
Making the shirts
There are over 200 original shirt designs created by Lifting the Dream Designs including:
Mermaids Don’t Skip Leg Day (Favorite by customers and Malia!)
Half Marathon, Full Princess
American Thigh Saves Lives
Training for the First Order
Han Squat First
And many more!
After filtering a couple ideas through the hubby, Lifting the Dream takes those classic sayings with a twist and creative one liners to the next step: the designing process. This is Malia’s favorite step when making the shirt – right before actually putting the design on the shirt. And the cool part is if you have your own shirt idea, Lifting the Dream Designs wants to work very closely with you to make your ideas a reality. Malia even says, “I LOVE helping people dream up their ideas, in fact, if I could custom orders all day long, I would!”
Let’s get physical
Right now, Lifting the Dream Designs is killing it as an online bay area shirt boutique – but that’s not to say that’s where it will only be forever. There is a big possibility we will see it physically taking up space one day! Malia says,
“We did a couple Fitness Expos in Sacramento and this gave us the opportunity to meet face-to-face with our customers, and I LOVED it. It was so great to meet new people and share the brand with them! I’d love to put our merchandise out there! To this day, we’re still expanding on our little operation and I can’t wait to see where the future will take us.”
Being connected
If you love Lifting the Dream Designs and all that it stands for, you might be exactly what Lifting the Dream Designs is looking for in the Brand Ambassador (BA) program. This is a great way for people to stay connected and also be involved with the Lifting the Dream brand. If interested, contact the team at liftingthedreamdesign@gmail.com.
Because Lifting the Dream Designs is an online shirt boutique, having people take advantage of social media and connecting that way really makes a difference.
“I LOVE to see people wearing our stuff! I hand make every item that goes out the door, so to see people rockin’ them in the gym or at their races, or wherever, is a great feeling!”
Seeing people really be themselves through the work of Lifting the Dream Designs is what it is all about. It really is a dream come true.
Jill Warren is a seasoned corporate blogger and is starting to branch out into her own genre. She’s a Disneyland AP holding, devotee of all things nerdy, and she loves to bring her audience new finds! She can be reached at jilliantrevisanut@gmail.com.
.
