On The Gem Repping Little Armenia
By Anthony Gharib
Resilience. Faith. Survival.
It’s a mantra and a lifestyle, but most importantly, for the 301 AD brand — it’s a way of life.
And it plays into the world of Armenia, the oldest Christian country in the world. Founded in 301 AD and the land in between Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia is often forgotten among the history of planet Earth.
However, you don’t need to go far to hear about the country and its unique heritage. There are more than 200,000 Armenians alone in Los Angeles, with a city up north called Glendale — or “Little Armenia” — holding the most in the country.
The date 301 AD is a sacred one for Armenians across the world, but specifically for a couple of kids in Glendale.
Alex Boghossian, Emin Gharibi and Arno Avasapian — three lifelong friends with a simple idea to spread awareness about their homeland.
And it all came together after a trip to Armenia during the summer of 2019.
“Alex and I went to Armenia and then Alex spent a good amount of time going around to all the churches and all the monasteries and looking at the holy places of Armenia,” Gharibi said. “And that just really struck to him.”
Both Boghossian and Gharibi had been to Armenia multiple times before this specific trip, but there was something about being in their early twenties and visiting them that made it different.
The country is a gold mine for monasteries with a total of 90 across its land. Its oldest being built in the 4th Century to its earliest in 1621. It’s a place with an extremely deep history that many people are practically unfamiliar with. It inspired them to not only inform their own friends but the regular person unaware of a small country in Asia with one of the deepest histories in the world.
Inspired, the group wanted to show the power of a country during a tumultuous time where many within it felt powerless.
“I think that really impacted us in a good way because [it was] the first time that we got to see our holy land, in a different perspective of eyes,” Gharibi said. “When you go there as a kid and you're going from monastery to monastery like okay, but then when you grow older, and you see these things, and you're like, oh my God, this is amazing I can't believe this and stuff like that, you just kind of only want to put that out there for people to see.”
It’s practically the story of every American-born Armenian who visits the land — they’re taken back by the rich history rarely depicted in mainstream media and immediately want to help preserve it.
However, they were taking a different approach in their way to inform communities and people about Armenian history. Placing monasteries and religious figures on a piece of clothing is a risky move, but their effort and planning were meticulous.
It all came together organically.
They had to figure out how to incorporate a topic as personal as religion into a brand-like fashion that’s far from personal at times. They wanted each design to have its own meaning and story behind it, prompting their first design to be about the Noravank Monastery — created in 1105 and one of the oldest churches in the world.
Building a connection between religion and trends in fashion is a tough bridge to bring together, but Boghossian came up with the idea to have a more mural theme with hopes of people becoming interested in the image and doing their own research.
“We figured we had to start off right off the bat by bringing light to some of those religious themes that come from Armenia,” Boghossian said. “We figured it would be an awesome way to literally paint a mural style painting of a really beautiful Monastery that someone can literally just type in Noravank on the Internet, if they don't know what it is, and they can learn so much already. And realize, like how far this dates back [and] how ancient it is the culture.”
They followed up the Noravank design with one of a dove flying away, which they said represents the Baptism of Christ. And the overall message behind these designs?
Resilience. Faith. Survival.
For some, it might be three words, but for 301 AD it’s how they carry themselves.
Ranging from selling evil eye masks to hoodies with the Armenian Goddess Anahit, they were not just random images. For each design they put out, they wanted to highlight these three words and the general importance of them.
Ironically enough, the brand’s commitment to this phrase was tested at the beginning of its launch. Like many plans across the world, COVID-19 halted them. Gharibi himself had planned out things for the brand up until July 2020, but they were forced to regroup and survive.
Through their resilience and faith, a simple idea jump started their hopes and dreams of making a change.
Boghossian’s father, an entrepreneur himself, preached that they should look to crowdfund — an organic way for a start-up to literally start up.
“We really just said, ‘let's try it out and see what happens,’ and everything we were hoping for kind of hit, again, very organically,” Boghossian said.
There was a twist though. They partnered with the Armenia Fund and were adamant about donating 33% of their first-ever proceeds as a company to Armenia for their COVID-19 relief campaign.
A total of $26,000 was raised over a month, and it proved to be valuable for both sides of the party. For 301 AD, they created a steady stream of supporters on their Instagram and began building a name for themselves.
After their detailed plan of starting up was blown out of the water, they received a life jacket to stay afloat and proceeded to brainstorm for the future.
However, like much of 2020, nothing could have predicted what happened next.
As their second launch was underway, everything was going as normal as usual. In the middle of it though, war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The deadly six-week conflict was over a region between the countries known as Nagorno-Karabakh, but to Armenians, it’s the Republic of Artsakh with a population of overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian people.
It hit home to all Armenians in Glendale, and 301 AD scrambled to find a way to help out. Like much of the last year for the brand, it all worked out organically.
They leaned on Armenian Student Associations at universities across Southern California to raise money, as well as set up tables at funding events across Glendale.
They also made the decision to donate all proceeds of their merchandise to Artsakh until the war concluded. As odd as everything about how this brand coming to life was, nothing was as odd as the number donated to help fight the war.
Boghossian himself had to double-check it and laughed when recalling the total amount. When the war ended and they matched the donation, it ended up being $26,000, the figure that kept them afloat in March.
“Everything that's been happening around this brand has been really weird,” Boghossian said when reflecting on that figure.
The effort to give back though didn’t stop there.
It’s their mantra as a brand — to help out the motherland by spreading awareness about the deep history of the country, as well as donating as much as they can to advance the nation.
“I mean we did our part in there [during the war] but we continue to do our part with our sales now,” Gharibi said. “With the stuff that we have on our website, percentages of all those go to the Haas Foundation in Artsakh where they use to rebuild homes that were lost, relocate families that lost their houses and everything, pay for whatever is necessary.”
Ultimately, it was faith, resilience and survival that allowed them to regroup and pivot toward helping out Armenia while in the midst of their second complete launch.
As that phase ended, they quickly did the same: pivoting and brainstorming about how to get the message of their brand out as things begin to reopen. It’s common for all up-and-coming fashion brands out there, but 301 AD is far from your common brand.
They don’t want to just take part, but take over and spread the word about something that they deeply care about. It’s not about selling shirts and hoodies for them, but about how they can intertwine clothing with a concept as deep and rich as religion in a country people are vastly unfamiliar with.
And it’s not about making money, but a duty bestowed upon them to share the beauty of Armenian culture.
“On top of that bring a more meaningful aspect to it and actually shine light on a nation that a lot of people just don't know much about when it comes to their history,” Boghossian said. “So we're literally trying to mutate meaningful messages with just nice aesthetic content. And I don't know, we're trying to create just a cool clothing brand.”
It’s a mantra and a lifestyle, but most importantly, for the 301 AD brand — it’s a way of life.
And it plays into the world of Armenia, the oldest Christian country in the world. Founded in 301 AD and the land in between Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia is often forgotten among the history of planet Earth.
However, you don’t need to go far to hear about the country and its unique heritage. There are more than 200,000 Armenians alone in Los Angeles, with a city up north called Glendale — or “Little Armenia” — holding the most in the country.
The date 301 AD is a sacred one for Armenians across the world, but specifically for a couple of kids in Glendale.
Alex Boghossian, Emin Gharibi and Arno Avasapian — three lifelong friends with a simple idea to spread awareness about their homeland.
And it all came together after a trip to Armenia during the summer of 2019.
“Alex and I went to Armenia and then Alex spent a good amount of time going around to all the churches and all the monasteries and looking at the holy places of Armenia,” Gharibi said. “And that just really struck to him.”
Both Boghossian and Gharibi had been to Armenia multiple times before this specific trip, but there was something about being in their early twenties and visiting them that made it different.
The country is a gold mine for monasteries with a total of 90 across its land. Its oldest being built in the 4th Century to its earliest in 1621. It’s a place with an extremely deep history that many people are practically unfamiliar with. It inspired them to not only inform their own friends but the regular person unaware of a small country in Asia with one of the deepest histories in the world.
Inspired, the group wanted to show the power of a country during a tumultuous time where many within it felt powerless.
“I think that really impacted us in a good way because [it was] the first time that we got to see our holy land, in a different perspective of eyes,” Gharibi said. “When you go there as a kid and you're going from monastery to monastery like okay, but then when you grow older, and you see these things, and you're like, oh my God, this is amazing I can't believe this and stuff like that, you just kind of only want to put that out there for people to see.”
It’s practically the story of every American-born Armenian who visits the land — they’re taken back by the rich history rarely depicted in mainstream media and immediately want to help preserve it.
However, they were taking a different approach in their way to inform communities and people about Armenian history. Placing monasteries and religious figures on a piece of clothing is a risky move, but their effort and planning were meticulous.
It all came together organically.
They had to figure out how to incorporate a topic as personal as religion into a brand-like fashion that’s far from personal at times. They wanted each design to have its own meaning and story behind it, prompting their first design to be about the Noravank Monastery — created in 1105 and one of the oldest churches in the world.
Building a connection between religion and trends in fashion is a tough bridge to bring together, but Boghossian came up with the idea to have a more mural theme with hopes of people becoming interested in the image and doing their own research.
“We figured we had to start off right off the bat by bringing light to some of those religious themes that come from Armenia,” Boghossian said. “We figured it would be an awesome way to literally paint a mural style painting of a really beautiful Monastery that someone can literally just type in Noravank on the Internet, if they don't know what it is, and they can learn so much already. And realize, like how far this dates back [and] how ancient it is the culture.”
They followed up the Noravank design with one of a dove flying away, which they said represents the Baptism of Christ. And the overall message behind these designs?
Resilience. Faith. Survival.
For some, it might be three words, but for 301 AD it’s how they carry themselves.
Ranging from selling evil eye masks to hoodies with the Armenian Goddess Anahit, they were not just random images. For each design they put out, they wanted to highlight these three words and the general importance of them.
Ironically enough, the brand’s commitment to this phrase was tested at the beginning of its launch. Like many plans across the world, COVID-19 halted them. Gharibi himself had planned out things for the brand up until July 2020, but they were forced to regroup and survive.
Through their resilience and faith, a simple idea jump started their hopes and dreams of making a change.
Boghossian’s father, an entrepreneur himself, preached that they should look to crowdfund — an organic way for a start-up to literally start up.
“We really just said, ‘let's try it out and see what happens,’ and everything we were hoping for kind of hit, again, very organically,” Boghossian said.
There was a twist though. They partnered with the Armenia Fund and were adamant about donating 33% of their first-ever proceeds as a company to Armenia for their COVID-19 relief campaign.
A total of $26,000 was raised over a month, and it proved to be valuable for both sides of the party. For 301 AD, they created a steady stream of supporters on their Instagram and began building a name for themselves.
After their detailed plan of starting up was blown out of the water, they received a life jacket to stay afloat and proceeded to brainstorm for the future.
However, like much of 2020, nothing could have predicted what happened next.
As their second launch was underway, everything was going as normal as usual. In the middle of it though, war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The deadly six-week conflict was over a region between the countries known as Nagorno-Karabakh, but to Armenians, it’s the Republic of Artsakh with a population of overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian people.
It hit home to all Armenians in Glendale, and 301 AD scrambled to find a way to help out. Like much of the last year for the brand, it all worked out organically.
They leaned on Armenian Student Associations at universities across Southern California to raise money, as well as set up tables at funding events across Glendale.
They also made the decision to donate all proceeds of their merchandise to Artsakh until the war concluded. As odd as everything about how this brand coming to life was, nothing was as odd as the number donated to help fight the war.
Boghossian himself had to double-check it and laughed when recalling the total amount. When the war ended and they matched the donation, it ended up being $26,000, the figure that kept them afloat in March.
“Everything that's been happening around this brand has been really weird,” Boghossian said when reflecting on that figure.
The effort to give back though didn’t stop there.
It’s their mantra as a brand — to help out the motherland by spreading awareness about the deep history of the country, as well as donating as much as they can to advance the nation.
“I mean we did our part in there [during the war] but we continue to do our part with our sales now,” Gharibi said. “With the stuff that we have on our website, percentages of all those go to the Haas Foundation in Artsakh where they use to rebuild homes that were lost, relocate families that lost their houses and everything, pay for whatever is necessary.”
Ultimately, it was faith, resilience and survival that allowed them to regroup and pivot toward helping out Armenia while in the midst of their second complete launch.
As that phase ended, they quickly did the same: pivoting and brainstorming about how to get the message of their brand out as things begin to reopen. It’s common for all up-and-coming fashion brands out there, but 301 AD is far from your common brand.
They don’t want to just take part, but take over and spread the word about something that they deeply care about. It’s not about selling shirts and hoodies for them, but about how they can intertwine clothing with a concept as deep and rich as religion in a country people are vastly unfamiliar with.
And it’s not about making money, but a duty bestowed upon them to share the beauty of Armenian culture.
“On top of that bring a more meaningful aspect to it and actually shine light on a nation that a lot of people just don't know much about when it comes to their history,” Boghossian said. “So we're literally trying to mutate meaningful messages with just nice aesthetic content. And I don't know, we're trying to create just a cool clothing brand.”