ASRV’s founder talks relentless pursuit, tech fabrics, and the art of the push.
You could argue that Jay Barton founded his men’s activewear brand ASRV at age 12. That’s when he started selling limited-run t-shirts at his school in rural Oregon. “I saw that kids wanted them, so I learned how to screen print and was buying these Gildan t-shirts,” says Barton. “And then I had my friends selling the shirts at school, and they were getting commissions on sales.”
Eventually, school admins shut down Barton’s operation, arguing that too many kids were feeling left out — after all, if you couldn’t get your hands on one of Barton’s tees, who were you really?
Cut to 2014. ASRV’s official launch starts humbly in a basement where Barton designs a handful of essentials in muted colorways with the technical details that will become ASRV’s signature. They sell out in minutes.
The brand hasn’t stopped growing since — proof that activewear, done right, can be everyday-everywhere wear. Barton’s designs will carry you from a morning run to coffee through an afternoon of Zoom calls and straight into your local bar for that well-earned IPA at happy hour.
This is what ASRV does best: toe the line between style and utility, work and workout, mind and body, effort and play. “It's this weird balance between like, ‘Oh, that looks good, I could go grab coffee in that,’” Barton says, “But also, it says something about me at the same time. It’s a state of mind.”
We spoke to Barton about night owl creativity, how not to do men’s designs, and turning physical motivation into a philosophy of life.
What does a day of work and workouts look like for you?
I’m a night owl, so I start my day around 9 AM and end around 3 AM. Nighttime is when I get my creative work done. Usually, in the mornings, I’ll meditate or journal for 10 or 20 minutes just to clear the mind. Then, I'll come into the office. Around six, I head off to the gym for a couple of hours. That's my “only me” time — no phones, no work, clear the head, get some dopamine. Then I head home, eat some dinner, and go right back to work.
My philosophy — ASRV’s philosophy — is based on this idea of mind, body, and spirit. You take care of your body and see results, so you think: “I wonder if I can get my mind better, too.” And then it's, “I wonder if I can align everything.” It’s a holistic approach to life.
ASRV’s slogan is “relentless pursuit.” What does that mean to you and the brand?
So we have a slogan and a mantra, actually. Our slogan is “relentless pursuit.” And our mantra is “Only those who risk are free.” They work in unison.
The second is from one of my favorite poems. “To laugh is to risk appearing a fool / to cry is to risk looking weak / to share your ideas is to risk ridicule.” It’s this idea that growth and fulfillment are on the other side of discomfort.
In the physical world, people are OK with pushing their bodies because they know the outcome is growth. Mentally, it’s not as tangible, but it’s the exact same thing. You get value out of life by looking back on something you didn’t think you could do but just went for it, and you think, “Wow damn, what else could I do?”
That whole “Where’s the next mountain?” high.
Yeah, exactly. But the thing is: It always takes work. It’s hard to keep doing that day in and day out. You have to fight the lizard brain’s desire to stay safe. “Relentless pursuit” is what it takes to continually take those risks.
What we’re trying to do [with ASRV] is rewire people’s brains to be like: “If you’re accustomed to this feeling of pain equals growth in the gym, try and wrap your head around that in life.” If you can do that, you will turn around one day and say: “Holy shit, how did I get here? It’s amazing.”
Your origin story seems to embody that “how did I get here” moment. You’re a design and engineering school dropout and a serial entrepreneur, which earned you a 30 under 30 nod from Forbes in 2020. How do you think your mindset has helped you build your brand?
I played sports from a young age, and I loved the idea that “If I do a little more, I’m going to see the rewards.” But then I shifted from team sports to fitness, mainly because I was too injured to play anymore. And there’s a different mentality going into fitness.
Nobody’s telling you to go to the gym, and no one will cut you from the team. It adds another layer of self-confidence and discipline. It’s me versus me. If you’re disciplined enough to go to the gym or run five miles and stick to that, you start looking at yourself and what else you can do. It’s empowering. I fell in love with having control over myself — putting in extra effort to achieve something.
I look at entrepreneurship as my playing field. I want to show up in the best shape possible. Play at the highest level. Create the best products. I want our brand to connect with people and potentially change their lives.
How did you develop ASRV’s aesthetic?
If you’ve seen ASRV, you know we have that technical element to the brand. I would track that back to playing ball sports. Baseball, basketball, soccer — you had to wear a uniform. But you could still style yourself on the field, so maybe you wore your signature cleats or headband. I liked the idea of still having style while you were playing. Then, when I was 10 or 11, I got into snowboarding, and there was no uniform. You get to pick your brand and style, but the caveat is that it must be technical. It has to work in cold weather and needs to be durable. I loved that. It took sportswear to another level.
So I’ve always loved this idea of mixing great aesthetics with really technical products. It’s hard to do; if you go too technical, you’re trying too hard but then too minimal and — well, anyone can strip a product down to nothing and call it “minimal.”
So there’s this fine line. Internally, we call that balance our “minimal utility aesthetic.” It’s the perfect amount of technical and straightforward for people who put their gear through a lot of wear and tear. It’s not outwardly loud but has all the little features you want. It’s for blending in from afar and standing out up close.
You also draw inspiration from “extreme industries.” Why?
Honestly, it comes from my dad. He was a big-time backpacker — the whole 50-pound pack thing. Everything you hike in with, you have to survive with.
How he looked at his equipment came down to picking carabiner sizes based on ounces. “Does this carabiner size at this weight have the strength I need?” He’d design custom places on his bags and color-code pockets. And then he’d leave with this one pack filled to the brim and perfectly designed how he liked it. There’s this insane intentionality.
So, I like to predict what a customer wants before they want it. When I meet with our designers, and they show me a pocket or zipper, I always ask, “What’s that for?” If there’s no answer, it’s too much. I want us to strip things down as much as possible but still have that function.
Besides your dad, who are your biggest influences, designers or otherwise?
We have a few we take inspiration from, but a big one was Dieter Rams, the industrial designer for Braun. When speakers and radios first hit the world, he decided that power buttons should always be red or orange.
That’s where we get our red pops. We put red on our products where there’s a function. It will bring your eye to a zipper. We’re telling you, “If I see red, that means there’s something there that I should investigate.”
What do you think “the future” of athleisure looks like? What about the future of ASRV?
With activewear and athleisure, trends will always change slightly, but I’m not interested in that. What’s going to change drastically is the technologies available for consumer fabrics.
The smart textile industry is still relatively new. Until recently, it was only military-grade technical textiles that the consumers never saw. Now that research engineer companies are exploring and patenting consumer fibers more, we don’t know what will be available in the next five years.
I want us to get to that level — patenting our own materials. We develop many fabrics from the ground up, but we don’t own the technology yet. I would love us to get to where we’re investing in the fabrics and owning the intellectual property of that technology.
For brands like us, it’s going to be about telling that story. Why does this invisible technology at the fiber level matter? If you can’t say why this technology is groundbreaking, then you’re going to get left in the dust.