After a long day of school and mustering through the gruesome trials of his AP calculus class, Beck Rinks arrives home, helps himself to a Diet Coke, strides upstairs to his bedroom, closes the door behind him, and goes straight back to work. At this point, he has entered his creative bubble surrounded by various vinyl records and art pieces that he has made in his art class.

Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Beck came to Sage Creek his freshman year like most kids but he was still new to the Carlsbad area. Since he’s been on campus he has been involved with the engineering and art programs, sports and other various clubs. Beck is a long-haired gentle giant with all the grit in the world. Although it wasn’t until his junior year in which he decided to put his creativity into a project and create a brand.

Rinks is using his brand as his creative outlet and to make an impact on his community. With Sage Creek High School’s addition of the Genius Project, Rinks had the perfect platform to propel his brand into the next level.

Rinks’ Genius Project is to make a greenhouse filled with various plants on campus. He plans to use the money earned from selling his products to put back into the funding of the greenhouse itself.

The brand itself, Flopp, has been in motion for around two years now. Ever since the brand’s debut, it’s been slowly but surely growing around Sage Creek’s campus and throughout the community as well.

“It’s been pretty successful,” Rinks said.

During the first year of its establishment, the main focus was towards Flopp’s initial growth.

“Last year, I sold 33 out of the 36 shirts, I still have a couple of them… that was 250 dollars that I made, but it wasn’t towards any fundraising for the school it was just for myself,” Rinks said.

Rinks has always had a creative mind, that’s one of the biggest factors of why Flopp is here today. Combining his creative and entrepreneurial mindsets together, Flopp was born.

“I was just kinda bored one day and thought ‘oh yeah that would be fun’ and I’ve always liked doing little doodles and being creative so I just thought it would be a good output for my creativity,” Rinks said.

Interesting enough, the brand’s name itself was inspired by one of Beck’s Gamertags.

“One day, I made a League of Legends name and I named it ‘FloppyHairedFool’ because of my long hair… shortly after was when I was thinking of names for a company and the word was already in my head, so that’s where it came from,” Rinks said.

To elaborate on the name itself and incorporate the t-shirt company into his genius project, Rinks established a meaning behind his brand.

“Since I’m doing it in terms of my Genius Project the little anagram has become, ‘For the Love Of People and Planet,’” Rinks said.

A close friend and fellow classmate, Gabe Serafin, gives insight on what it’s been like having the floppy-haired fool along for the ride.

“Me and him have been in the same math class for probably three years now and he seems like he doesn’t work that hard, but when he goes home he grinds,” Serafin said.

Serafin also gives details and admiration towards Rinks’ work ethic.

“He’s definitely got an entrepreneurial mind,” Serafin said, “He’s very committed to the brand that he’s making.”

Some of Rinks’ biggest inspirations are his parents. His parents also ran a t-shirt company for a period of time known as New Agenda.

“My dad and my mom ran a t-shirt company when they got out of college and were raising my family, so they definitely inspired me,” Rinks said.

Rinks hasn’t been the only one behind the scenes when it comes to Flopp’s uprising. Rinks’ dad, Tom Rinks, has guided him and gave him a helping hand through the process.

“My dad definitely [helped] because he has connections to the t-shirt world and, he knows what it takes and what a good design is to make people want to buy it,” Rinks said.

Tom is the Co-Founder of the sunscreen brand, Sun Bum. Due to his experience, he provides insight on the precautions he made while helping his son.

“As an artist, I knew it had to be his and not mine, ” Tom said.

Tom knew that in order for him to properly guide his son, Rinks had to be in the lead of what he wanted to create.

“It was really cool because I remember when I was not too much older than him, I started my own clothing brand and of course him following my footsteps and being an entrepreneur and just going for it and not being afraid to do stuff that seems really hard, was a cool moment for me,” Tom said.

So what’s the next step for Flopp? To impact the community at Sage Creek.

“I’m using the money I raise from selling the t-shirts to plant trees and flowers around the school,” Rinks said, “I wanna hopefully build flower beds in the dirt corner next to the 1000 building.”

Regardless of the work that Rinks has put into the brand, it doesn’t mean he is exempt from facing challenges.

“Honestly, one of the hardest parts and not fun parts is selling… having to advertise them, get Instagram, posters,” Rinks said, “Obviously having to create that is fun, but trying to convince people to buy them and always talking about it with people is the hard part.”

As for what some may want to see come out of the brand while it continues to build, Serafin mentions products he would like to see come out in the future.

“He’s got a good start and a good leeway into something bigger. I think he should start making sweatshirts and pants, and stuff like that because his logo and the idea of it is pretty cool,” Serafin said.

As Rinks prepares for college, his plan for Flopp doesn’t end.

“I think it might be a fun thing to do in college just as a hobby to keep making designs and t-shirts and it’s a good way to make money if I can do it correctly,” Rinks said.

In the meantime, the brand still has plenty of room to grow, and as Rinks said…

“Buy a shirt, 15 dollars, support the cause. For the Love Of People and Planet!”