Delivering inspiration a bracelet at a time

A desire to help athletes who are struggling with their mental health led Emiliano Alarcon and Vianney Rodriguez to start Vencer Co. Alarcon and Rodriguez grew up in the area and are graduates of Central High School. Photo by Lance Masterson

MONMOUTH - Timing, they say, is everything.

Emiliano Alarcon and Vianney Rodriguez came out of the Covid lockdowns determined to help athletes that were struggling with their mental health.

To accomplish this, they decided to market bracelets inscribed with words of inspiration.

“The bracelets are similar to tattoos in that you know it’s there. You know what it says, what it means to you, how it helps you,” Alarcon said. “So you just need to either remember it’s there, or take a deep breath, look at it really quick and reset.”

Alarcon and Rodriguez took their idea seriously enough to form Vencer Co. They’ve maintained an online presence for several years now, and opened their first store in Monmouth on Black Friday.

“Vencer, in Spanish, means ‘to overcome.’ So, that’s kind of the whole meaning behind the name of our company,” Alarcon said. “Vencer Co is geared toward athletes, and to bring awareness to the mental health struggles they deal with on a daily basis.”

Alarcon knows first-hand the pressures college athletes face. He attends Western Oregon, where he is on the baseball team and majors in psychology. He was also on the Linn-Benton Community College team when the 2020 season was lost to Covid.

Something was amiss when play resumed the following season, he said.

“When we got back to it in 2021, I noticed that things were different. With how isolated we were. With how different things were. I noticed a lot of my teammates lost their love for the game; guys that I thought would play baseball the rest of their lives,” he said.

Alarcon’s observation is supported by studies that show athletes are far from immune to post-Covid struggles. In fact, their struggles may be more intense than struggles experienced by non-athletes.

According to the NCAA, college athletes report “elevated levels of mental health concerns.” These concerns include anxiety and depression, which remain up to two times “higher (in athletes) than identified before the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The ease that comes with wearing a bracelet makes it ideal for athletes seeking an inspirational boost. They can wear it during competition.

“We like the idea of having it on your wrist because it’s an easy thing thing to look at, especially when you’re going up to bat,” he said. “A lot of my teammates say they go up to the plate, take a really quick look at the bracelet and get set to hit the ball.”

Rodriguez, a personal trainer, noted they create bracelet patterns and the messages themselves.

Input from others can influence their decisions.

"People have emailed us, messaged us, ‘we really like this verse’. If we have quite a few people asking for the same verse, well, that might be one that people want,” Rodriguez said.

Apparently, their messaging struck a chord with their customers.

“The wristband really caught on,” Rodriguez said. “We didn’t have any expectations when we started the business. But when we sold out our first order of bracelets, it was, like, we can keep doing this.”

Their next order of bracelets included new patterns and new messages. These, too, proved popular.

“We started getting traction. People began hearing about our company, and they really liked what we were selling,” Alarcon said.

Bolstered by continued success, Alarcon and Rodriguez added to their product line. For example, one of their more popular phrases, “Beyond the Game,” is no longer confined to bracelets.

“Our customers really liked that. We thought, well, we could make a shirt off that,” Rodriguez said. “So we made a shirt with the same phrase.”

And they did the same thing with other phrases and articles of apparel.

Vencer Co’s expanding project line includes apparel, such as tee-shirts and hoodies, along with accessories, such as matching socks, hats and beanies.

Max Clark, the third pick in last year’s Major League Baseball draft, is one customer with a large following on social media.

“(Clark) has like some 400,000 followers on his Instagram account. We sent him some stuff, and he really liked them. So he wanted more bracelets. He’s a big bracelet guy and he loves wearing them,” Alarcon said.

Ten percent of Vencer Co profits is donated to non-profits, such as The Hidden Opponent and Athletes Against Anxiety, that help athletes with mental health concerns.

Vencer Co is at 110 Monmouth Avenue N. Hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, and from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday and Friday.

Call (971) 901-2040 for more information, or go to their website at vencerco.com.