Our Founder: Nikki
Hello my STANDARDS family I am Nikki Apostolopoulos, owner of Standards Apparel Company. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, athlete, coach, hunter and much more. I say this because I want you to know exactly who I am and without those characteristics you wouldn’t get the full picture.
First and foremost Family means everything to me. Without my family I wouldn’t be able to stretch and grow as a person. Their unwavering support my whole life has gotten me through the dark times and have made the good times even better. They are my rock and my foundation.
I have spent my whole life as an athlete, playing many different sports but mainly lacrosse. I was a lacrosse goalie from fifth grade through college and now give back to the sport by coaching at the high school level.
Being an athlete has instilled so many principles that I continuously use in my everyday life from hard work to time management, patience to tenacity. My college coach used to say all the time (now I do when I coach) “work smarter not harder” but don’t be fooled smart work is not easy, but efficient. That saying has stayed with me since the first time I heard it in 2014. It has birthed a habit in me thinking, “there’s gotta be a better way.”
How She Sets Standards
After college and my athletic career ended it was like my identity ended too. I couldn’t seem to find my footing; in the gym, the work force, my health, my whole life. My whole athletic life I had been working to defeat an opponent. I put in hours and hours of practice, training, studying others so that I would win and… I was going to win. But I had no one to face anymore. It was just me. But not the same me. Something was different like I was in my body but extremely disconnected. BUT “There’s gotta be a better way,” “this can’t be it” So I decided to get back to my roots and think like the athlete I am to get myself out of the hole I was in. I broke it down, piece by piece. If I can get better in one area of my life the rest will follow. So I took on my health. I hired a coach and got back in the gym, training and eating properly. I needed to raise my standard of health. I lost over 40lbs, I was feeling much more confident which got me up the first rung of the ladder. But that was just the first part.
I realized something along my journey, the other team was never the competition. I am MY competition. It has always been ME vs. ME. All those practices I was focused on getting better not better than the other team, but better than the player I was last practice. It was true than and true now… it’s still just ME vs. ME. Realizing that has helped me grow tremendously. I made my own set of rules for this game. My STANDARDS. But the best part is the competition just keeps getting better. The rules change with each level. Each level requires a better, stronger ME.
You have to keep growing, keep working to beat the “man in the mirror,” and continue to RAISE YOUR STANDARDS. Everyday it’s YOU vs. YOU… our bet is on YOU.