Many roads can lead to becoming a model. For Dav Brunson, a nascent love of sneakers—fostered in part by playing basketball—would eventually snowball into running a burgeoning clothing brand, walking down the runway, and producing a myriad of content to his nearly one million followers on TikTok. In particular, fans have come to love Brunson for his approachable style on the platform. In one video, he might candidly divulge aspects of his personal life, then showcase his kickboxing process, and later post a series of increasingly aggressive dunks on an outdoor basketball court. In a spacial pre-fall digital edition of VMAN—showcasing the season’s most exciting collections—Brunson talks about how he got into fashion, his approach to staying fit and what the future holds for him and his brand.

Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, Dav’s early fascination with sneakers fostered his initial foray into fashion. “At a young age, my brother would wear all white Air Force Ones. And I thought it was just the coolest shoe ever. So I started trying to get a cooler shoe than him. And then eventually I got a decent sized sneaker collection, but my outfits sucked. So it was like, I guess I got to step it up,” he chuckles to me, adding: “I’m still more of a sneaker guy. The clothes kind of complement the sneakers.”

The clothing limitations for Brunson’s tall, lanky frame eventually led him to start his own fashion brand in high school, aptly named Creationz by Dav. “The clothes I wanted to wear just didn’t exist,” he tells me on why he started his own brand. “I’m tall and skinny, so it was hard to find clothes that fit me growing up. I started to make clothes that I wanted, or the certain fit that I want. I still got my sewing machine in the office.”

Throughout high school, Brunson was playing basketball. But he eventually had to decide between the sport and pursuing modeling—something perhaps more conducive to running a fashion brand.  “Initially, I didn’t really consider modeling as an option or an outlet or anything. I was gonna play college basketball at Catawba University. I got my offer in the same week I got an offer from DNA. And I asked the basketball coach, ‘Is it possible to do modeling and basketball?’ He said no. And the only reason I really wanted to go to school was to play basketball. So I was like, I might as well go ahead and get started in the fashion industry, because I already had my brand, so this would be a good outlet.”

When I ask Brunson what led him to TikTok, it was initially a marketing tool for his brand. “I used to do Vine and stuff back in the day with my older brother,” he says. When he got started in 2020, “People were kind of calling it corny, but I looked at it like you didn’t have to do the little TikTok dances. I felt like you could just do what you wanted on there. So I started posting fashion content and talking about the brand, and eventually TikTok kind of took off as a company, and as a result of that, more eyes got on my brand and my content, which helped me out a lot.”

His explosion on TikTok has certainly made life simpler as a brand owner. It also made the creative process more liberating. “[The brand has] become easier. It’s less of a worry about making money, now it’s more of a creative outlet. You can only be so creative if you’re limited to the funds you have. You can’t make every piece that you want or be so specific about the color or the texture or the buttons. Now I can really elevate it. So now it feels like I can make a final product. I’m not there yet, nor is the brand where I want to be, but it feels like I’m progressing to where it’s a real brand and not just a home project.”

When it comes to his personal wellness routines, Dav lives a lifestyle centered around staying active. Forgoing a more meticulous routine, Dav tells me that the way he stays in his best form for modeling is simple: “Exercise every day as much as possible. As a model or a brand owner, I have a lot of free time. So with that time, I’m not necessarily trying to exercise, I just have fun doing physical activity. Skateboarding, basketball, Muay Thai, kickboxing, anything like that. Just going on a run. Let the endorphins do something for me.” On his skincare routine, he laughs: “I’m very bad at that. I just feel like fruit, that’s the main thing you gotta eat. Bunch of fruit, mangoes.”

For the future, Brunson is most excited about what’s coming up for Creations by Dav. “The brand is gonna be dropping a lot of higher-end pieces. I’m coming out with more elevated products. So it’ll be cool to see how that stuff turns out.” Brunson first hesitates when I ask him if there’s anything his audience might not know about him, joking, “What do I want to let them know?” After a moment, he shares an answer far more thoughtful than most 22-year-olds would give: “I don’t have kids yet, but I’m really focused on my kids that I will have. That’s my main goal, making sure my kids have everything.”

Photography Isaac Anthony

Fashion Nicola Formichetti

Creative Director / Editor-in-Chief Stephen Gan

Grooming Peter Gray (Home Agency) using Oway USA Official

Photo Assistants Andrew Bear, Steven Burton

Stylist Assistant Elissa Dziersk