Can-Do Attitude: Mason Espedal

by David Kallison

Most 15-year-olds pass their time hanging out with friends, doing dumb YouTube stunts, and scrolling endlessly on TikTok. But Mason Espedal, a recent Texas State University graduate from McKinney, Texas, a northern exurb found in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. At age 15, Espedal started his own business, Velocity Patches, creating custom Velcro and iron-on patches. He didn’t stop there, recently opening a brand-new business designing cans and packaging for the beverage space.

As a teenager, he and his friends shared a deep love of paintball and Airsoft, a game played using compressed-air based weapons and traditionally played in teams with scenarios like capture the flag and elimination, all taking place in specialized outdoor arenas littered with tactical cover.

Espedal found the need for patches and insignia that represented his team. After some research, he realized that his only options were overpriced domestic products. He looked overseas and found suppliers willing to do it for half the price. After getting patches made for his own team, he transitioned to designing and selling patches, providing custom designs to various police, fire, EMS, and government agencies. Espedal says his success was anything but planned, “I would say it kind of all happened by accident. It was at first just trying to save money, but then we found that route of doing it for much cheaper overseas, and then it grew into a brand and business naturally.”

But after pulling in nearly half a million in revenue, Espedal decided it was time to exit Velocity and start something new.

Coming from a disengaged high school experience to Texas Tech University, Espedal admits that his first forays into college didn’t quite click saying, “I didn't find my fit there and through a series of events, through my social life and relationships, I found my way at Texas State as a transfer in my third year.”

In between, he spent a couple of years at Collin College back in McKinney before ending up in San Marcos at the McCoy College of Business. Finally, everything gelled.

He pressured himself to excel noting that, “No one was pressuring me to get all A’s; I found my self not settling for average and shooting for the best I could at all times.”

He lived up to his expectations, graduating with not just a management degree but a graphic design one as well. He immediately put the two to use. He now works at Canworks Printing, a digital aluminum can printer shop aimed at vibrant, eco-friendly labels for a whole host of beverages. All that work paid off. He recently received the Alan & Barbara Dreeben Future Texas Business Legend Award and attended the 2024 Annual Texas Business Hall of Fame gala and induction ceremony.

Espedal’s entrepreneurial spirit remains strong. Along with his friend he founded DigiMade Studios, a full-service design and marketing firm that works exclusively in the beverage space. Originally a broader idea, several entrepreneurial mentors gave him some great advice. Espedal explains, “The more I talk to people in the beverage space and people who have run agencies before, we found we needed to niche down.” As in, get specific. Hence DigiMade’s mandate to empower various beverage brands.

Espedal says the hardest part of a new business is getting past that hump of capturing initial users -- the early adopters.

One new market looks especially promising, he says, “What's really big right now is a lot of hemp brands are jumping into the beverage space. Hemp and cannabis is huge right now.”

Brands like Cann, Cycling Frog, and Howdy are all contributing to the fast-growing sectors of the cannabis industry, a market worth just under $2 billion annually.

Regardless of the product, Espedal vows to keep designing, keep packaging, and keep selling.

“I couldn't imagine myself doing anything other than running a business.”

And with his acumen and experience, he probably won’t have to. ✯