Kanaz Tuzo’s 7771 Fashions is a clothing business with a higher purpose.

The Warwick resident’s custom designed shirts reflect his religious faith.

“I was raised with a Christian background,” Mr Tuzo said. “The business is about striving for perfection. I am reaching out to young people and communicating certain ideas in a positive way. You have heard about the mark of the beast ‘666’. I replaced that mark with something positive, the number seven, and then added the one, to represent perfection in Christ.”

The business is pronounced “triple seven one”. Some of Mr Tuzo’s shirts say “sun of righteousness” and “777” and come in a range of colours.

He feels that a lot of urban fashion has a negative impact on young people.

“Why not embrace something that stands for something positive?” he said. “By doing this I thought I could influence young people, and influence a better way of behaving in the community.”

His clothing also represents his belief in the legalisation of marijuana.

His shirts saying ‘legalise it’ are his best sellers.

“Everyone seems to like them,” he said. “For a long time marijuana has been labelled as a negative thing. You always have bad people in the world who will take something good and use it in a negative way. You will always have people who are not disciplined. It is the person itself.

“I don’t think the tree is bad. I believe it is a good plant. There are a lot of people in a lot of places that need it right now.”

He launched 7771 Fashions in June.

“I meant to open a little earlier, but Covid-19 happened,” he said. “The lockdown slowed me up, but I have slowly been getting things back together. I am getting up the momentum and starting to become more known.”

He sells his merchandise at a popup tent at the Rubber Tree in Warwick on Saturdays. Some days he has no sales and other days, business is booming. He remains optimistic.

“Things are going pretty good,” he said. “I am working on developing my website and trying to promote myself a little more. I am just trying to push myself more on social media.”

Local graphic designer Yoshia Rogers helped him design his shirts.

“I came up with the idea and she added a bit of elegance to it,” Mr Tuzo said. “She added the clouds to the design.”

Mr Tuzo’s target demographic are men 16 years old and up.

“They are the ones being influenced by the world of today’s music and fashion,” he said.

But he said, so far, he has not had a typical customer.

“I haven’t had a set age group and set people,” he said. “Some people like it and some people don’t.”

His biggest challenge has been getting through all the red tape involved in starting a business.

“With the website I have to go through a lot of paperwork with the bank and Bermuda Economic Development Corporation so that I can sell online,” he said. “It is a hard process, but I am almost there.”

He said it was not that expensive to set up credit card services on his website and Facebook.

When Mr Tuzo is not selling shirts, he works as an aide at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. He also works at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess & Beach Club as a houseman.

He was laid off from the hotel during the Covid-19 health crisis, but has just started up again there.

He is also a poet, writes music and plays the saxophone.

“I am looking for a band to play with,” Mr Tuzo said.

Mr Tuzo operates at the Rubber Tree in Warwick on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm. For more information see 7771 Fashions on Facebook and Instagram or e-mail kttuzo@gmail.com