What is BRIKK about?
I’m Ivan. Like any teenager in Croatia or anywhere else in the world, I loved rocking fresh kicks. My parents weren’t rolling in cash, and dropping around 150 bucks for a pair of Jordan 1s was way out of the question.
The fact that AJs were so out of my reach only made me want them more. So, I did what I had to do. I skipped lunch at school for three months, saving 3 bucks every single day. By the end, I finally copped those sneakers, and let me tell you - I wore them everywhere.
I still have them to this day, and I’m never selling them. Not because of how they look, but because they taught me the most important lesson of my life: pain and sacrifice are the only ways to achieve real goals.
Once that clicked, the sneakers weren’t even that big of a deal anymore. I discovered a bigger game—making money. That became my ticket out of the average life and the societal norms people just accept as their reality.
I realized I was missing business knowledge, so I started reading books. A lot of books. It got to the point where school felt boring and pointless compared to the knowledge I was soaking up.
I knew exactly who I wanted to be, and I was desperate to escape the “rat race.” I didn’t pay attention in class. Instead, you’d find Brian Tracy or Napoleon Hill sitting on my desk instead of Croatian or math textbooks.
That’s how my first hustle started - selling replica football jerseys. I learned so much about selling clothes, and I was hooked. I sold through Njuškalo (Croatian online marketplace), and during breaks at school, I’d meet up with buyers or hit the post office after class to ship the goods.
I was making decent money for a high schooler, and from that point on, I never found myself broke again. But even though I was stacking cash, I didn’t have enough capital or knowledge to launch the streetwear brand I dreamed of.
I went to college in Zagreb, but I dropped out pretty quickly to go all in on my business. I saved every cent I had. Every day, I’d grab a couple of cans of sardines on my student card and work out of a tiny 3x2 room. From there, I launched a few more ecommerce stores and started building stores for clients.
The grind paid off. I dropped out of college, bought my first car, and started helping my family. Life was good, but something was missing. I needed a challenge - just like at the beginning. That hunger to build something was still inside me.
That’s when the idea for a brand hit me. I wanted to create something that told the stories of people starting from zero. No connections, no rich parents. Just empty stomachs and big dreams that we chase every single day.
That’s why BRIKK isn’t for everyone. Only the real ones, the ones who get my story, will see the meaning and struggle behind it. BRIKK is about pushing yourself beyond the limits and expectations of the society.
We believe that pain, struggle, and relentless dedication are what it takes to chase the massive dreams society tries to strip away from us. Dreams they want us to forget so we can settle for feeling small and incapable, doing what’s convenient for them.
We don’t take shortcuts. Our purpose in life is the hustle - a grind that never ends. It’s like stacking bricks in an endless game of Tetris.
But one day, that same society that mocked us and doubted us, will remember the ones who refused to conform. The ones who chose the harder path and who took every hit and kept going.
What we’re creating isn’t just a legacy—it’s proof that resilience, grit, and an unshakable belief in ourselves can defy the odds and rewrite the rules.
And that’s why we do this every single day. Brick by brick!