It has been just under four months since SPILT MILK was brought into the world. However, its roots stretch much farther than its date of conception. The company is something I had been wanting to share with the world for a very long time now; always in the back of my mind, but never more than an idea. In grade school and then again in middle school I had ideas for t-shirt brands, and even went so far as to have a couple mock-up shirts printed. With school as my priority and limited resources, the brands unsurprisingly never came to fruition. The point is, however, that the passion and drive to create has been ever-present.
Some six months prior to its release, SPILT MILK as it’s known today didn’t exist. Instead, it was an idea for a clothing brand by another name with a simple goal of providing clothes to friends by means of a creative outlet. Unfortunately, I made the fatal mistake of putting off legal research on trademarks and copyrights until just before I was ready to release the brand. Lo and behold, the mark was taken and fully operational. Months of design, brand development, and sourcing went down the drain in a matter of minutes. I was distraught to say the least; so much so, that I didn’t want to take the time and effort to reinvent the brand at all. My father took note of how upset I was with my own mistake. As an entrepreneur himself, who previously owned and operated a graphic design agency, he is all too familiar with the many failures involved in starting a company. But he didn’t lecture me. Besides sending me a list of clever sayings and funny words he thought I could build a brand around, he didn’t say much at all. What he did say was this:
“DON’T CRY OVER SPILT MILK.”
As much as I hated to admit it at the time, he was right. Just because something didn’t go my way or because I had made a mistake, no matter how serious, was no reason to quit. The passion was still there. I continued to play around with different names for my potential brand, albeit this time systematically checking the database on the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office for registered marks. But everything I tried was either already taken or sounded childish or corny. I became frustrated once again and thought back to what my dad had said. I played the old idiom on repeat in my head until… WAIT! I scrambled to open the trademark database on my browser and typed “spilt milk” into the search bar. After inspecting the list of dead marks and those held by unrelated businesses, I sat back and smiled. I had done it.
With that, SPILT MILK was born. This was to be no ordinary clothing brand; after all the trouble I had gone through and the important lesson I learned from it all, how could an ordinary brand suffice? This was destined to be something extraordinary and, because of that, I couldn't just make a brand for the sake of having a "creative outlet." The brand needed to be guided by a philosophy, and I had discovered just that.
Everyone faces adversity of some kind, no matter how small. Everyone fails. Everyone makes mistakes. When you recognize this as reality and learn from these failures, the seemingly impossible becomes possible. From this I envisioned a brand for those who dream big, for those who make things happen, for those who create and share and inspire, and for those who do it all in the face of adversity. At SPILT MILK, we pride ourselves on the mistakes we made to get here. We are better because of them. SPILT MILK is not a commodity, it’s a mindset. We have a long way to go and we’ve only just begun, so join us!
Live in the moment. Have fun. Make mistakes. Don’t cry over SPILT MILK.
By Noah Jacobs, Creator of SPILT MILK