“Chase dreams, not money!” That is the slogan a local business and its owner are abiding by.
By motivating it’s clients and local residents to chase their dreams, the Dream Chasers Club is crafting a new local art movement where people are encouraged to figure out what they want out of life and chase it relentlessly.
Through fashion, design and art, the Dream Chasers Club is creating an artistic movement for El Paso, aiming to establish a positive and prolific experience. The club caters to those who want to pursue the most out of life, spurring them on by offering connections to others with similar interests under a single emblem.
The Dream Chasers Club, located at 200 South Santa Fe St., is centered in downtown El Paso. Its owner and founder goes under the alias of JAM!, the alter-ego of the El Paso native.
JAM! said establishing his business in downtown El Paso wasn’t intentional.
“When I first saw the location, it wasn’t what I wanted for my business location,” JAM! said. “I had been looking for a spot for a while now and this place was run down and even had homeless people living in it. But I liked the essence of being downtown, where the melting pot of this town is apparent”
Despite all of this, JAM! decided on this location and renovated it himself. Having acquired knowledge of craftsmanship and construction at an early age, JAM! put together what now is a home for his business.
“My father taught me how to put things together, take them apart and reconstruct them,” JAM! said. “He always invested in me a self of self-reliance and efficiency.”
That is essentially where his entrepreneurship began.
JAM! said he always knew he needed to make a name for himself. He recalls drawing and sketching cartoon characters at an early age, saying they were good enough to sell, which he did for a quarter or for a candy from the snack bar.
JAM! spent some time in Los Angeles during his late teenage years, where he was introduced to the influence of urban street art.
“Many people identify street art with graffiti, but that isn’t always the case,” JAM! said. “There is a lot of beauty and artisanship in street art. I started making designs from the things that I saw and the things that I thought of myself.”
JAM! spent time in LA designing street art and displaying his artwork at various galleries. That artistic venture eventually spilled over into fashion. Having been nominated as “best-dressed” in high school, JAM! said he always had a good sense of his own fashion.
“Fashion and art go hand-in-hand,” JAM! said. “It only made sense to start designing shirts and hats with my art too.”
The Dream Chasers Club was born from this idea.
“When I see people wearing my shirts or hats, I feel a sense of accomplishment, but I also think that this is what people should be wearing,” JAM! said. “It’s not about being narcissistic, but there should be a movement attached to what you wear. You should always identify with your style.”
The club aims for the experience to be visceral.
It hosts different art themes every so often, where local artists are encouraged to submit their work.
“The last theme we had was a sort of disconfiguration of Barbie,” JAM! said. “We encouraged artists to depict Barbie the way they envisioned her.”
The club has also hosted musical bands.
“We want the experience to go beyond one of a boutique. We want your artistic curiosity to be enticed,” JAM! said.
JAM! and the Dream Chasers Club have recently initiated a movement through social media, specifically Snapchat, that encourages locals to “re-discover El Paso.”
“We’ve designed stickers that say ‘#getlostEP’ that people can leave in the restaurants, locations, businesses or what not that they want other people to experience,” JAM! said. “It’s our way for people to find out about the places other people find interesting.”
The club has also started posting clues through social media to the whereabouts of hidden shirts left around town.
“The last one we did, the guy found our shirt in a matter of 20 minutes,” JAM! said. “It’s interesting to see how social media plays a platform to connecting with our cliental.”
The Dream Chasers Club has several designs available, including one colored in orange and blue for the UTEP community.
For more information, visit www.dccdreamchasersclub.com or call (915) 342-6357
Jose Soto may be reached at the [email protected]
