HeartBeat Clothing Co., a streetwear clothing brand catering to college students and made by college students, is progressively gaining a following in California.

The clothing brand, the brainchild of interior design senior Rahmi Karajeh, was created by him and his friends in 2006 while he was still in high school.

HeartBeat Clothing Co. consists of Karajeh, his older brother Shadi, his longtime friend Sebastian Wirth and several of Karajeh’s friends.

Karajeh said the clothing line, which consists of men’s and women’s graphic T-shirts and hoodies, has four themes: the Classics, Live Lavish, Forever Young, and Arts and Popular Culture.

“These themes range from an appreciation of world travel and world cultures. The second (theme) is the appreciation of fine living and the pursuit for the finer things in life and lastly, it’s also the appreciation and interests of popular culture,” Karajeh said. “Those three things are really the defining factor of the direction of the brand at this point.”

One of the main ideologies of the brand is represented through its EKG line logo, which Karajeh said represents their desire to create a universal brand.

“I wanted to use something that was globally understood and again crosses those barriers,” Karajeh said. “The most elemental thing that I could think of that hasn’t been used before was the pulse line. That’s the basis of our logo. It’s all about life. On a deeper and abstract level, everything that is living in this world that is living has a pulse and it unites everything in a underlying way.”

There have been several events promoting HeartBeat Clothing Co., such as their promotional event at the homecoming tailgate which was featured on the Sacramento Bee.

The brand’s chief of marketing operations and economic senior from San Diego State Sebastian Wirth said he has helped establish HeartBeat Clothing Co. in San Diego.

“I’m essentially heading the San Diego branch of the brand, so everything is done in Sacramento first since there’s a lot of support over there,” Wirth said. “Obviously, Rahmi owns the brand. Typically, different brands and techniques are worked out there first, but I’m still trying to build that cult following of loyal supporters and branching out first with my own network.”

Wirth, who has been friends with Karajeh since they were in sixth grade and is one of his biggest supporters, said Karajeh’s creativity with the brand definitely expanded since they first started.

“This is something Rahmi’s been doing since high school and it’s slowly progressed from Wal-Mart iron-on logos (to) doing real designs,” Wirth said. “He’s always kept the same consistency with the heartbeat logo.”

Wirth said he always thought Karajeh was a talented person and said working with him has been an amazing experience.

Karajeh said although the brand was created six years ago, other priorities in his life put the clothing line on the backburner. Karajeh said he decided to start it up again last year after realizing that the brand was not yet complete.

Wirth said he remembers the night Karajeh brought up restarting HeartBeat Clothing as an exciting and unexpected event. Since starting it up again, Wirth said the brand helped form his college experience.

“We were on our way to San Francisco that night and planning to go out,” Wirth said. “It made that night special and it kind of turned it into a celebration. We had this direction we wanted to go in and it definitely was an exciting moment.”

Karajeh’s brother, Shadi Karajeh, said he joined to help Rahmi with HeartBeat Clothing Co. because he saw how dedicated Rahmi was to making his vision a reality and it inspires him.

“Rahmi’s a renaissance man,” Shadi Karajeh said. “(He) is something that you don’t see often. He sort of took his idea into fruition, meaning he had an idea and made it into a realization of something he desired and worked hard to accomplish it. It’s labor intensive. We’ve spent thousands of hours on the brand and we’ve grown 10 fold in the past year.”

Shadi, who is also the operations manager and oversees production and development of the product, said he originally wanted HeartBeat Clothing to be a nonprofit brand that donates all of its proceeds to charity, but he and Karajeh decided to use keep some of the profit and use the rest for a good purpose.

“We came to an agreement that I get on board with the brand and the more money we make with the brand, the more money we can spend on philanthropic events,” Shadi Karajeh said. “Our goal with the brand is to make a profit, but we also want to make a social good.”

Shadi Karajeh said when the brand started again last year, the group started with a dozen of their shirts. Since then, the group’s production has grown exponentially.

Karajeh said even though the group just restarted the brand, he and his friends are in it for the long run.

“We’re definitely in it for the long haul,” Karajeh said. “At this point, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Established brands take five to eight years to be fully established. We’ve been at this for one year and to see the following that we’ve cultivated in a short period of time is really impressive. I’m really excited for the future and how things progress from here on out.”

Camille Anglo can be reached at [email protected]