And now the 13-year-old teenager from West Pubnico, Yarmouth County, is marking the one-year anniversary of his apparel line called Anything Hockey.
T-shirts, ball caps, toques, hoodies, bracelets and more all sport the apparel name, which is also the name of his Instagram account where he posts videos of his hockey tricks. He’s got over 13,400 followers on that account.
André says he started the apparel line because he thought it would be cool to have his name on a shirt.
Now he’s turned himself into a young entrepreneur, selling the Anything Hockey merchandise from his home and online where he takes orders through an Anything Hockey Apparel Facebook page. He also sells items in person when the opportunity arises at community events.
He says he found inspiration from the East Coast Lifestyle clothing line and its founder Alex MacLean. After the two texted on Instagram, André and MacLean got the chance to meet in person.
“He offered advice and tips,” says André’s mother Gisele. “He’s been encouraging him and telling him not to give up.”
André started playing hockey in Timbits. This year he’s playing bantam AA. The tricks he does with sticks and pucks – for instance, he can toss a puck in the air and catch it on a hockey stick after twirling the stick eight times – are self-taught, although he also gets ideas from seeing what others are posting online.
And now the 13-year-old teenager from West Pubnico, Yarmouth County, is marking the one-year anniversary of his apparel line called Anything Hockey.
T-shirts, ball caps, toques, hoodies, bracelets and more all sport the apparel name, which is also the name of his Instagram account where he posts videos of his hockey tricks. He’s got over 13,400 followers on that account.
André says he started the apparel line because he thought it would be cool to have his name on a shirt.
Now he’s turned himself into a young entrepreneur, selling the Anything Hockey merchandise from his home and online where he takes orders through an Anything Hockey Apparel Facebook page. He also sells items in person when the opportunity arises at community events.
He says he found inspiration from the East Coast Lifestyle clothing line and its founder Alex MacLean. After the two texted on Instagram, André and MacLean got the chance to meet in person.
“He offered advice and tips,” says André’s mother Gisele. “He’s been encouraging him and telling him not to give up.”
André started playing hockey in Timbits. This year he’s playing bantam AA. The tricks he does with sticks and pucks – for instance, he can toss a puck in the air and catch it on a hockey stick after twirling the stick eight times – are self-taught, although he also gets ideas from seeing what others are posting online.
Posting his tricks videos, his mother says, makes good use of social media as it’s something positive he can share with others. And if there are negative comments, they just ignore those.
As for André’s apparel line, the family intends to continue on with it to see where it takes them. They hope to someday be able to sell the Anything Hockey items in stores.
And as for whether André decides to stick with this type of business when he’s finished school remains to be seen.
For now, though, he is sticking with it.
Some teens go out looking for a job, André created one for himself.
“It’s tied to something he really enjoys,” his mother says.
And when you enjoy hockey, why choose anything else?
