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By kids, for kids: West Kelowna boys launch clothing business

Brothers Weston and Walker are selling their shirts on Etsy

Weston and Walker Oleksyn are two little entrepreneurs with big dreams.

The West Kelowna brothers, aged 9 and 7, started making money through lemonade stand sales before the older boy, Weston, took on a brand ambassador position with Waboba.

“They make bouncy balls and frisbees and water stuff for beaches,” Weston described, saying he’s always loved the company’s toys.

He started selling the products about a year ago and is now the company’s youngest direct salesperson.

“I was inspired by my lava ball,” Weston said. “I had one and I wanted to get more. So, I looked on their website and I was impressed. So we contacted the company and I wanted to become an ambassador.”

Weston and Walker, with the help of their parents, attend markets and advertise on Facebook to sell the outdoor toys.

Weston also promotes Waboba on an Instagram page monitored by his parents.

Together with their dad, they boys expanded their money-making plans and just launched a t-shirt business on Etsy.

Hide & Seek Streetwear is cool clothing by kids for kids.

“We wanted to make shirts and we thought of tie-dying,” Walker said. Pointing to the monkey in gold chains image on his shirt, he added, “This guy we found, he started printing these and we iron them on.”

Through their dad, the boys worked with an artist to find designs for their tees and a local company heat presses them on. The second design is a skeleton riding a dinosaur.

Each shirt has an added feature Weston and Walker came up with on their own.

“Why it says Hide & Seek Streetwear is because there’s a skull on the back,” Walker said.

The boys have heat pressed on glow-in-the-dark skulls to the back of each shirt, and to keep it interesting Weston said they chose blue. “Green is kind of plain, like everybody uses green glow-in-the-dark so I thought let’s do something different.”

The business savvy boys were able to save up for big purchases with the money they earned in coffee and lemonade stands, including a trampoline and a dirt bike.

The next big purchase in mind with the new venture is their own website and then more products to sell.

Each shirt is tie-dyed by Weston and Walker and is one of a kind. Various youth sizes are available for $25 each.

READ MORE: Tattooed grandma in Kelowna wants to be next cover girl


@thebrittwebster
brittany.webster@blackpress.ca

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West Kelowna’s Weston MacLellan is a brand ambassador for outdoor toys company Waboba. (Brittany Webster/West K News)