On a typical day, Mason Bumba can be found working on his martial arts techniques, studying or checking his inventory of online orders for his motivational clothing line called Relentless Threads.

In December, the 13-year-old Yorkville resident decided to inspire others to be relentless in what they do, whether they are a young athlete or one of his favorite customers – his 91-year-old great-grandmother.

“I started it because I’ve always had this relentless nature about me and I always wanted to keep going and never stop until I reached my goal. I wanted to empower people to have their relentless nature and to be strong and get to their goals – not letting anything stop them whether it’s illness, academics or a sport they are having trouble with, they can just push through and get to their goals,” Mason said.

Mother Christina Bumba said this relentless spirit began when Mason was a young child.

“If he lost, he could not lose – he continued to train, continued to push himself and wanted to be here (training area in his father’s business) all of the time making sure he was prepared for his next tournament. He always wanted to win and be on top. School is the same way, has to have good grades, he’s super duper competitive,” Christina said.

The name of the clothing line stemmed from his self-awareness of his strengths.

“He was asked by one of the martial arts people ‘give me one word that describes you.’ I think he was like 8 or 9 at the time and he said relentless,” Christina said.

In a press release, Christina said Mason has become a world champion martial artist of Top Ten Team USA. He began martial arts at the age of 4 because of his affinity for the “Power Rangers.” He has a first-degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu and a second-degree in Jido Kwon TaeKnowDo. He competed in his first martial arts competition in 2011 and has competed internationally since 2015. He holds 34 world titles between the North American Sport Karate Association, World Association of Kickboxing Organization and World Kickboxing Association.

The clothing idea came about because Mason said he always liked looking good, and wanted to have a clothing line because he likes clothes. He said if people wear the different apparel pieces and they are in a tough spot, they can look down and see the word relentless and push themselves.

Mason created a business plan and mission statement and sent it to his mother, who said she was pleasantly surprised at how serious his answers were to his business plan. His martial arts led him to being a contestant on two shows, “America’s Got Talent” and “The Gong Show.” He won Season 2 of “The Gong Show” and won $2,000.18, and used that money to start his business.

He looked at printing businesses in the area and once he found a place he wanted to work with, he did test runs with a gold logo – gold means first place and also coordinated with many colors of the apparel. Next, Mason said he had a better idea – to run with a white logo to branch out to more color options and that has become the everyday relentless logo.

“Because you are relentless everyday,” Mason said.

Quality has been an important piece of the puzzle for Mason. He has experimented with different styles and fabrics to ensure the customer has the best product possible. Mason wants to branch out and offer pants and collared shirts, and play with the logo in order to create an entire fashion collection.

“Like Nike times Calvin Klein or something like that,” Mason said. “You have the workout apparel and then the fashion apparel.”

Mason said as he has gotten older, around 11 or 12 years old, he started talking about a business and always wanted to be an entrepreneur like his father.

Marketing so far has been through Instagram, social media and Facebook and he also wears the clothing and has given pieces to friends to wear at school. He has created stickers for friends to put on phones or laptops, and customers have followed him on social media and his website.

He also has gone to Maine through his martial arts, where he performed a demonstration and had a booth to sell his clothing and hats, and will go to a different event in June back in Maine. He also has contacts in Ireland and Germany and has international sales, but Christina and Mason said they want to attend local events and market closer to home.

“We want to branch out locally,” Mason said. “I’m trying to get more Illinois orders.”

He has an ultimate goal to mainstream his business and have the clothing in stores and market it all over the United States and world.

Mason lives with his parents, Christina and Nick, as well as sister Gavyn, in Yorkville, where he is in the seventh grade.

Mason’s Relentless Threads clothing line can be found at relentlessthreads.myshopify.com.