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Start the ignition: These Operation Breakthrough students just designed MADE MOBB’s latest drop
Vu Radley wants students at Operation Breakthrough’s Ignition Lab to have opportunities he wishes he would have been offered in high school, shared the co-owner of Crossroads-based streetwear brand MADE MOBB.
His team spent the past nine months working with a handful of teens at the Ignition Lab — Josiah Bryant, Suleyman Dia, Jeremiyah Bradley, and Maliyah Monroe — to release a three-piece capsule that gave the young Kansas City creatives a real-world experience in streetwear, entrepreneurship, and the power of collaboration, Radley said.
The complete capsule — a jacket, hat, and T-shirt meant to capture their ideas, creativity, and passion for building something real — drops Friday, May 2 and is expected to be available at MADE MOBB’S First Friday Marketplace at its Crossroads headquarters, 221 Southwest Blvd.
“This project represents more than just product,” MADE MOBB said in a social media post. “It’s proof of what’s possible when young talent is given the tools, mentorship, and space to dream big and deliver.”
Vu Radley, MADE MOBB, sits inside a 1969 Chevy Chevelle SS that the students in the MindDrive program converted into an electric vehicle for Kansas City Chiefs play Travis Kelce, whose 87 & Running Foundation powers the Ignition Lab; photo courtesy of MADE MOBB
For Friday’s streetwear drop, the students said they were inspired by the Ignition Lab’s MindDrive program to pursue a vintage racing theme. Part of that inspiration came from the 1969 Chevy Chevelle SS that the students in the MindDrive program converted into an electric vehicle for Kansas City Chiefs play Travis Kelce, whose 87 & Running Foundation powers the Ignition Lab.
“Playing off Ignition Lab’s name, the students leaned into the concept of motion, speed, and pushing limits, creating a collection that moves with purpose,” according to MADE MOBB. “The capsule features a hat, tee, and jacket, all designed with a nod to the hustle, the grind, and the fast track to greatness these young creatives are on.”
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Sewing on business lessons
The graphic design students from the Ignition Lab — a place for 14 to 18 years olds to get work experiences in areas like coding, circuitry, culinary arts, construction and design, digital media, robotics, and visual art — gained experience in everything from creative concepting and technical design to material sourcing, production meetings, and marketing strategy.
“We let them go through the entire process of it,” Radley explained, noting he worked alongside Ignition Lab instructor Chapman Campbell. “As a small business owner, you’ve gotta understand how everything works and be able to do everything.”
“So we went from designing, to creating the vision for it, helping them source the products, and then going through the changes of everything and hitting speed bumps along the way,” he added.
The graphic design students — who typically design and screen print T-shirts for in-house use at Operation Breakthrough — said working with the MADE MOBB team was eye opening.
“They were very welcoming,” Dia said. “They taught us what it meant to be a company. And we got to get a deeper view of their design process, like what they have to go through to get pieces, supply and demand type of aspects.”
Along with the vintage racing theme, students chose to feature patches for each of the programs offered at the Ignition Lab — including Graphic Design and MindDrive. The patches were inspired by vintage gasoline and mechanic logos, they noted, and they used the yellow from the Operation Breakthrough logo with the Chiefs red and yellow.
“We’re used to doing more childlike designs for staff and stuff across the street,” Bryant explained. “So we had to incorporate our brand with (MADE MOBB), and we just saw an opening with the Chevelle and what MindDrive had going on, and we took inspirations from different races like NASCAR events.”
The capsule also contains a nod to Campbell’s dad, who passed away while the students were working on the project.
“It’s just really meaningful,” Campbell said. “And I think it shows a lot about the heart of Operation Breakthrough, the heart of MADE MOBB, and the heart of Kansas City. So it’s been a very fulfilling process.”
“We also learned how running a small business works,” Bryant noted, “and how to take constructive criticism, something that we need to know for the future.”
“They did teach us different business tricks,” Monroe added, “and how to drop it all within a certain amount of time when you are supposed to.”
Radley said the students were also given the space to understand that it’s OK to fail and how to learn from the failure.
“You’ve got to be able to pivot because things don’t always go the exact way you plan,” he added.
On-brand volunteering
MADE MOBB — recently named one of the Downtown Council’s Urban Heroes — maintains an ongoing relationship with Operation Breakthrough, noted Radley, who is also a mentor for the Ryogoku Soccer Academy and has been honored for his work with Junior Achievement.
“There’s a lot of respect that we have for what they do at Operation Breakthrough,” he explained. “So we just wanted to get involved with them and work with the youth. Those are just the small things that we can do to give back and it’s fun.”
Jesse Phouanphet, Vu Radley, and Mark Launiu, MADE MOBB, inside their retail shop on Southwest Boulevard; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
“We tell everybody, ‘We can’t write big checks to anybody, but we can give our time, our talent, our knowledge, and give back to the community that way, especially through the youth and up-and-coming small entrepreneurs,’” he added.
Campbell sees the potential in his students, he said, but it means the world when outside community entities — like MADE MOBB — come in to support the teens, as well.
“Working with MADE MOBB has shown what can happen when somebody believes in someone, when you trust their vision and trust their work ethic, and give them the opportunity to make something that we can’t make here,” he explained. “It’s also such a unique experience as an educator to watch core memories happen. I will never forget this. They will never forget this. This will always be an experience we can share. And that’s in big part due to the connections with MADE MOBB.”
The students said they not only appreciated the business lessons they gained from working with the hometown streetwear brand, they also appreciated the team treating them like family and keeping their word.
“It was a great experience, honestly,” Monroe continued. “You never really get to explore the actual opportunity of being able to work with another actual business and be able to be their business partner and be a part of it. That’s just really cool, because you can learn so much more than you can learn here in a classroom.”
“It was just an amazing experience with amazing people,” Dia added.
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