Rebel with a cause

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This article was published 25/10/2023 (1054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Red Rebel Armour isn’t just streetwear, it’s streetwear with activism at its heart.

Founder Sean Rayland’s business model is about creating opportunities for people like him: those who were previously incarcerated but are now seeking a different path.

The label employs six people who produce T-shirts, hoodies, cargo pants and crew necks, among other things, at its Century Street production facility and storefront.

A large component of Red Rebel Armour’s success is digital marketing; the brand’s advertisements pop up regularly on Instagram and TikTok.

The clothes centre Indigeneity, with original prints by Ojibwa artist Kale Bonham featuring traditional medicines, sacred symbols and spiritual iconography.

Hoodies with strong messages such as “Fatherhood Is Sacred” and “Land Back,” as well as T-shirts promoting Indigenous allyship, fly off the shelves.

A recent collection, Breaking Free, aims to raise awareness about the over-incarceration of Indigenous people in Manitoba.

The clothes are the visible product of the business, but Rayland’s ultimate goal is to reduce recidivism through the label’s employment service, which provides on-the-job paid training for those returning to the community from the criminal justice system.

“Red Rebel Armour represents the message that it’s not advocacy all the time. It’s about empowerment and resilience. We are about hope. We are about rebelling against a lifestyle of drugs and gangs,” Rayland explains.

“We need to change that narrative. I want to talk about Indigenous culture and Indigenous heroes.”

It wasn’t always this way. It’s a life Rayland, 36, couldn’t have envisioned for himself seven years ago when he was in and out of jail.

“This is a part of my redemption story,” he says with a laugh.

“With this business I’m going to repair the wrongs that I did. I am going to repair the community. I have moved from survival mode to living.”

Drugs had always been a part of Rayland’s life. He started selling weed at 12 years old and was soon smoking crack.

The first time he landed in prison, he was 18. The path he was on saw him in and out of jail for the majority of his youth.

Then in 2016, he met Lionel Houston, a knowledge keeper who would change the course of Rayland’s life by reminding Rayland of his Anishinaabe roots.

“Lionel Houston worked as a spiritual caregiver while I was incarcerated. Meeting with him, learning about our culture, about who we are as a people, was an eye-opener,” Rayland says.

“I had to change the way of my thinking. I questioned everything. Lionel made me want to change.”

A chance conversation with a fellow inmate saw Rayland making the decision to get his Grade 12 diploma as a mature student. When he came out of prison, he decided to pursue a social innovation and community development course at Red River College, which taught him the skills he needed to set up Red Rebel Armour.

Applying himself to his studies while juggling work in a stockroom and taking care of his family was tough, he concedes, but Rayland was determined to make a go of it.

He would come home from his job and watch YouTube tutorials on everything from how to build a website to how to market a business.

His dream was to create a social enterprise he could bring to the community.

“We don’t have to be complex about community work; sometimes it’s just about creating a safe space for community members to come and thrive,” he says.

Using the business skills he learned on the street and the knowledge gained in his course has helped him change not just his life but those of his employees.

Being a former gang member and ex-addict himself has imbued him with compassion and empathy.

“When I got out of jail, I reached out to Lionel. I didn’t want to be the person I was. When Lionel made me an Oshkaabaywis — a helper to a knowledge keeper, to firekeep during ceremony or cut wood — that was one of the turning points for me. Because Lionel trusted me, I didn’t want to break that responsibility. That was one of my key learnings.

“That is what I do with my staff now because there is a sense of ownership when someone trusts you.”

His purpose now is to be of service.

As much as his business grows, Rayland says the core values of Red Rebel Armour will stay the same

“We are a social enterprise centre. The whole point to starting the brand is to help the people. If we are not doing that then there is no point in existing.”

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com