Rockland Page is the founder and designer behind the RockaBlock lifestyle brand. In a Q&A with Indianapolis Recorder Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones, Page talks about how he started, expanding beyond designing T-shirts and moving his business from Merrillville back to his hometown of Indianapolis.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was the inspiration for RockaBlock?
Rockland Page: I wanted to do something for myself. I’d spent, at the time, the last 15 or so years of my career working for other companies. I started out my career working for Johnson Publishing, which published Ebony and Jet magazines, as a graphic designer and art director. Then I moved on to the Chicago Tribune, and I was there for about seven years as the art director. And finally, I went to an engineering firm working in the Creative Services Department.
Around seven years ago, I started toying around with the idea of starting a clothing line and just began making T-shirts out of my basement. I bought some heat transfer equipment, the heat press and started the designing. I made my website, rockablock.com, and made the announcement in November of 2017.
This is just really a creative outlet for me. I had no idea it was going to turn into a full-time business.
I didn’t want to wake up an old bitter man (saying) ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda,’ having so much potential. You realize there’s really nothing special about (other founders) or anything different about them and yourself. Nothing. It may not be easy, but if you really apply yourself, you can.
You started with the T-shirt designs. Can you talk about how you’ve expanded over the years?
Page: I was doing everything out of my basement at the time, so I’d go work my nine to five and then in the evening I come home and just design and try to sell and post online. Eventually I started doing pop-ups. I think my first major pop-up came a year later.
Then my next was another event called Wakanda Con, which was a comic book convention based on Black futurism and the Black Panther universe. I sold some shirts that preview night on Friday, and then the next day I saw almost everybody wearing my shirts. That’s when I knew I had something.
I thought 2020 was going to be lit. And then, we know what happened in 2020 in the world and all my events got canceled. Everything stopped. During all the police shootings and the riots and the world going crazy, out of nowhere I start getting these random orders from New York, L.A., Texas and Florida. That was a good time to be a Black-owned business because everybody wanted to support Black-owned businesses.
I got an email from a producer at ABC7 Chicago saying that they found my brand online and they wanted to highlight me. About a week or two later, I was live on air from my home. As soon as the interview was over with, my phone started blowing up. I went from having 5 to 10 orders a week to having well over 100, but that forced me to work on my inventory.
I said, if I do this and if I want the business to grow, I have to get out of the basement. I had to start getting to work and filling orders. I had been in business two or three years at the time. About six to seven months later, I moved to my first storefront in Merrillville. It was in the back of a strip mall, but it served a purpose at the time.
I had several more TV appearances, got some big contracts and now I’m actually moving back to Indianapolis. It will be more of a design studio. You should be able to buy clothes, but I’m shifting my focus now to B2B (business to business).
So, you will be supplying other retailers?
Page: Yes. So, whether someone wants to carry RockaBlock branded apparel or we custom print or make items for you, that’s what it’s going to be. But you can still come in and shop.
The majority of my sales come from either Chicago or Indianapolis. That’s part of the reason why I’m moving down there. I feel like now there’s a big change happening in the city that wasn’t there before. I thought this might be a good time to come back home.
How do you come up with the designs and why is it important for you to incorporate Black history and culture?
Page: I want every single piece to be a conversation starter. Whether it’s a shirt with a phrase on it that makes people do a double take or laugh or if it’s the freedom fighters and pioneer shirts that have the Black heroes on it, I want people to stop and look like, ‘Hey, what’s up with that shirt? Who’s that? I know who these three people are, but who’s that?’
I always wanted to make excuses for people to interact with one another and talk. I really do want to tell our stories and celebrate Black history in ways that haven’t necessarily been done before.
“I want people to feel so proud when they put on my products, to feel good about themselves. It’s an expression of who they are.” – Rockland Page
I want people to feel so proud when they put on my products, to feel good about themselves. It’s an expression of who they are.
Now we’re working in augmented reality. Since I made everything into a conversation, the next step is why can’t these things join in our conversation?
People can scan the pins you design, right?
Page: Yes. The (Black pioneers on the) pins, shirts and stickers can actually come alive and tell their life story. I can hopefully take this to the next level and not just be a clothing brand; it would be essentially a tech company and have augmented reality in our spaces. It’s more than just T-shirts. It’s a full-on experience that we can create.
You mentioned some of the challenges that you have faced, but how do you stay motivated? What keeps you going day after day?
Page: My faith for one. My faith in God, my family and my friends and supporters have been a big help. And there’s always something that comes up or pops up just at the right time when I’m about to call it quits.
I’ll give you one example. I did this event called the Black Boy Art Show down in Atlanta and I thought it was going to go great. The turn-out was kind of low, but on the way down there, we were just driving in Atlanta checking out the area. We (stopped in) this big warehouse and it had graffiti all over it and looked really cool.
Then this guy walked up to me and said, ‘I’m on that shirt.’ He said, ‘I did one of the voices for one of the characters on that shirt.’ He and I had never met before in life. And we just randomly (met when I) walked into one of the places in Atlanta. Stuff like that keeps me going.
It might be a phone call, email or some TikTok influencer might have on one of my shirts during the video. Just knowing that I’m doing good work, and that people believe in me.
Somebody sent me a text saying they’re in Raleigh, N.C., and they saw somebody wearing my shirt or somebody walking on the Las Vegas Strip and they saw a RockaBlock shirt. That means a lot to me that my art is going wherever they go.
The idea of what this could be keeps me going as well.
What’s the overall vision you have for RockaBlock?
Page: I want it to be a household name. I want it to be a noun, a verb, the way you feel, kind of like Google. You don’t say I’m going to go search, you say ‘I’m going to Google that.’ Google means search and so I want you to RockaBlock that. What does that mean? Does it mean your shirts come alive? There’s something special about what the item does. It’s more than what it appears to be.
I want to be able to bring creative jobs to underserved communities. Not every kid gets to be a graphic designer or a full-time artist or work in the tech field. I want to tell them that you can make money with your art and your creativity. It is challenging, but you can do it. I managed to make a career of it for the last 20 plus years.
“I want that to be your favorite T-shirt for the next five to six years.” – Rockland Page
I want RockaBlock to just be a force to be reckoned with that people will come to admire and want to aspire to and that somehow RockaBlock can always be ahead of the curve. It’s always been my goal to stand out, be different, make quality products that last. I want that to be your favorite T-shirt for the next five to six years.
The lifestyle brand includes candles, beard grooming products, tote bags, skateboards, apparel and much more. RockaBlock products can be found in the gift shops at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, and locally at Conner Prairie. The new Indianapolis store is at 1332 N. Illinois St. For more information or to shop, visit rockablock.com.
Contact Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones at 317-762-7850 or camikej@indyrecorder.com.
