ASBURY PARK - Darryl Harvin is the first to admit that his life hasn’t been easy or free of mistakes. But by launching his Asbury Park-based company, Crooked Crown Apparel, two years ago, he’s able to share his love of urban streetwear, positive approach to life, and gratitude for second chances and new opportunities.

Adopted as an infant, “my adoptive mother died when I was 13 and I went to live with her family, including her daughter/my ‘sister,’ in Neptune,” recalled Harvin, 25, who soon found himself out in the streets committing crimes.

“I stole a lot of cars as a minor and by the time I turned 18, it turned into robberies where friends and I would take cars and burglarize people or buildings,” he said.

Kicked out of his home after stealing his own sister’s car and racking up numerous fines, warrants and arrests for a variety of criminal activities — including one incident in which he led police on a car chase through Neptune — “I ended up spending about three years in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution before I was 21,” he said.

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Harvin’s incarceration proved to be a turning point for him, however.

“Once I got out of jail, I was done with the criminal life and I wanted to be successful,” he said of his release several years ago. “I wanted to do something with my life and be responsible and able to help my family.”

He worked at a succession of jobs in the restaurant and product fulfillment industries, but while he didn’t have a hard time landing any of these positions, “I soon realized that working 9 to 5 for someone else’s business wasn’t for me,” he said.

He ultimately turned to a lifelong hobby — fashion — as a source of entrepreneurial inspiration.

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'People don’t need a lot of money to feel like royalty'

“Though money was tight when I was growing up and we didn’t wear name brands, I always loved clothes,” Harvin said. “I wear sweats all year-round — that’s my style —- and I’ve always had a good eye for design and been able to draw.”

In 2020, Harvin launched Grove King Apparel (named after the Green Grove section of Neptune, where he grew up), “but I changed the name to Crooked Crown Apparel in mid-2021 because I feel like everybody is a king or a queen in their own right,” he said. “Life hands us certain situations that can make us feel lower than what we really are, but while your crown might be hanging crooked, you’re still royalty at the end of the day.”

Harvin registered to manufacture clothing in New Jersey and secured a reseller’s license. Then, finding a basic crown insignia online, “I inverted it, made a number of other artistic changes, and turned it on its axis,” he said of the logo he designed. “My clothes are high quality but are very affordable. When you see someone wearing my clothes, it reflects what they stand for — that people don’t need a lot of money to feel like royalty, because they have that within them. The clothes look nice, make you feel good, and are extremely accessible.”

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Among current pieces in the Crooked Crown line, “we have two basic cotton sweat suit collections — one navy blue with white accents and a black line with different-colored designs, some of which incorporate an animé-inspired character of a king with a crown and my “loyalty.royalty.love.” tagline — as well as his-and-hers logoed T-shirt-and-short sets for the summer,” Harvin said. “Prices for a basic T-shirt start at $10 and you won’t pay more than $40 for any set.”

“We’re classified as a streetwear line, but Crooked Crown is more of a movement,” Harvin explained. “It’s about the clothes, but more importantly it’s about the bigger message I’m putting out by sharing my story. I want to offer hope, inspire others who may be struggling to turn their lives around, and give back to the community. While my audience may be people like me who have faced adversity and/or been out on the street, anyone can find my line appealing.”

'It’s exciting to invest in myself'

Among trends in streetwear designs, “men’s shorts are running a little shorter than in the past,” Harvin said, “and people like lighter, softer-feeling sweatshirts over heavier, thicker ones” — all features which he’s incorporated into Crooked Crown Apparel’s pieces.

While Harvin hasn’t experienced the pandemic-era shipping snafus or product delays that some other businesses have, getting the word out about his line has proven challenging.

“I have a small team helping me on sales and marketing, but I designed my website, input the images, and did all the coding, which was very hard and time-consuming,” he said.

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Those efforts weren’t in vain, however. “We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on our clothes,” said Harvin, who’s been selling items through his variety of pop-up shops, personal sales efforts and website orders.

Looking ahead, Harvin is incorporating puff vinyl accents to upcoming lines, will be updating his short set collection, and currently has designs for a “Your Highness” cannabis-inspired apparel collection. “People will see the quality and style of my pieces and like what they’re getting at my price points,” he said.

“I’d ultimately like to be one of the top five clothing distributors in New Jersey and for people to know what the Crooked Crown Collective is all about,” said Harvin, a musician whose parent venture also includes his Crooked Crown music label. “I want to provide people with the guidance, resources, and chances that I didn’t have coming up and also help teach them how to be successful at something they love, whether it’s clothing, music, gaming, or some other area of interest.”

“Up until a few years ago, I wasn’t doing anything with my life and felt like a nobody, but the feeling of putting my best foot forward to do something positive has been incredible,” Harvin said of the most rewarding part of his business.

“It’s taken every spare penny I have to launch Crooked Crown Apparel, but it’s exciting to invest in myself and build something for my family and eight-month-old daughter, Ny’lah,” he said. “I love that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing as a stand-up man in my family.”

Crooked Crown Apparel

Location: Asbury Park

Phone: 786-626-0503

Owner: Darryl Harvin

Founded: 2020

Website:www.grovekingofficial.com

Social media: www.facebook.com/CrookedCrownApparel (Facebook) and CrookedCrownApparel (Instagram)

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park NJ: Jail time led to life change, clothing line