About Us
Side Effects was built for the people who keep showing up, even when no one sees what it costs them.
This is not just clothing. It is a reminder.
Every shirt carries a message for the days when your head is loud, your strength feels quiet, and getting through the day takes more than anyone knows. We do not do toxic positivity. We do not pretend everything is fine. We make pieces for real people living through real things.
The name Side Effects comes from what life leaves behind. The marks, the lessons, the scars you can see and the ones you cannot. But those side effects are not weakness. They are proof.
Proof you stayed.
Proof you kept going.
Proof you are still here.
Our launch message, “Still Here. Still Trying.”, says everything we are about. No big speech. No fake happy ending. Just honesty. Some days, trying is the win.
Side Effects exists to make clothing that means something. Pieces you wear because they speak for a part of you that is hard to explain.
If that speaks to you, you are in the right place.
Still here. Still trying.
About — Shaun Cotton, Founder
I've been fighting my own head since I was 22.
I won't dress that up or make it sound like a journey with a tidy ending, because it isn't. It's ongoing. Some days are fine. Some aren't. That's just the reality of living with a mental health condition and I've learned to be okay with that.
Side Effects didn't come from nowhere. It came from a long line of projects, restarts, half-finished ideas and pivots. If you know, you know. My brain doesn't do straight lines. But this one feels different because for the first time I'm building something that actually means something to me personally — not just something to build.
The name says it all really. Everything we go through leaves a mark. The side effects of hard times, of surviving, of still showing up when you didn't think you had it in you — those aren't weaknesses. They're proof you're still here.
That's what this brand is. Clothing for people who are still here. Still trying. No preaching, no toxic positivity, no empty slogans. Just a reminder on your back that someone gets it.
If that speaks to you, you're in the right place.
-Shaun