“0.5 is so much more than a clothing brand; it’s a way of life. It’s my way of living, that’s why I literally have it tattooed on me, ” Morgan Linglet, a 20-year-old entrepreneur, said.
Linglet, a third-year San Diego State student, finds success in his everyday life because he has harnessed his immense creativity and turned it into a vintage clothing business called 0.5 Collectives. 0.5 Collectives is a brand known campus-wide, reaching many audiences and uniting people around SDSU.
Over the past three years, Linglet’s success across campus and in the San Diego community, which initially all began in his dorm room, has led him to seize charge of a corporation built on innovation, creativity and inclusion.
“When I started, I had three IKEA bags filled with clothing that I stuffed under my bed in my dorm, and I hung it all up on a washer wrack,” Linglet said. “I hung as many t-shirts that I could fit, folded as many pants as I could, and put them in the basket. Everything else was on the floor. But I posted it online, and there was a line outside my dorm room. I was sprinting back and forth to let people in because the line was so long, and at this moment, I knew this was something that I had to pursue.”
His business is now regularly featured at SDSU vendor events and the famous Kobe’s Swap meet in San Diego. 0.5 Collectives has become a Thursday tradition for many people, as the pop-up was on campus routinely and accumulated a decent number of regular buyers.
“And, Christmas came around…she sent me a photo. Everyone has 0.5 collectives in their hands. Everyone’s rocking something. You know what I mean? I was like, wow. That put everything into perspective for me. I knew that was a result of my efforts,” Linglet said.
Through all of his endeavors, the young entrepreneur has remained humble, never letting his success or the accumulation of wealth overtake his true passion. Many other business owners chase monetary success, yet he stays committed to building a brand that resonates with authenticity.
“Over anything, I’d rather sell the shirt to someone who’s on the same wavelength as me, understanding and as passionate as me than to a kid who’s not as invested,” Linglet said. “ Don’t get me wrong, I would appreciate it just as much, but it means more that you follow the story, that you’re a part of the community, and that you support it. And for me, it’s like, the thing that I care most about, the last thing I care about is the sale.”
To Lingelt, the community surrounding his brand is the most important thing. His main mission is to have a business that unites people through shared interests. Linglet uses his charismatic personality and extroverted tendencies to make buyers feel elevated in their purchases and engaged in his journey.
“The biggest thing is you have to care for people and ask them about their personal lives, because you can run a business and make a bunch of money, cool, but if you don’t have a connection with your people, and you’re not personal with them like people will feel the same way they do when you walk into the mall, and that is not what 0.5 Collectives is about,” Linglet said.
The San Diego native, born and raised in the close-knit surf town of Encinitas, said his upbringing and summers spent working alongside his family ingrained a deep appreciation for building genuine interpersonal relationships with his current customers.
“Growing up in San Diego was great for me because its laid-back aspects allowed my creativity to blossom without pressure. I started working during summers at the Orange County Fair with my family, selling cinnamon rolls; those were 10-12 hour days, and in those 12 hours, you see many personalities walk through that door,” Lingelt recalled. “And it’s all about just learning how to handle them. At the end of the day, if you treat any personality with kindness, you treat any personality with an open mind; there’s never going to be a problem.”
Linglet’s success in customer service has translated into other leadership roles. As a junior at SDSU, he currently serves as the president of the university’s leading artistic club, Kolor House.
Sabrina Estaban, marketing director of Kolor House, works closely with Linglet on a daily basis. She said his ambitious visions for the future have also inspired her and taught her many valuable lessons.
“I love creating with Morgan because of the passion he has; it’s incredibly infectious. You can tell he genuinely loves what he does, and it translates into all his projects. Morgan will definitely go far beyond his time here at SDSU,” Estaban said.
Linglet said that, in addition to expanding his creative qualities, his work with Kolor House has also helped him in other ways, such as helping him understand what he sees in the future for himself and his business.
“Working for Kolor House, being the president, helping coordinate events — all of that stuff has put me in a position of influence, which is ultimately where I want to be. I want to be anywhere where I can reach a target audience and I can help people in any way that I can,” Linglet said.
Despite the success 0.5 Collectives has already achieved, Linglet sees this startup as just the beginning of his larger life journey. As he looks to the future, he envisions the brand evolving and branching out into all areas of his life.
“My biggest vision… to answer your question, what I would do with 0.5 if money weren’t real is to have a massive showroom with a bunch of true authentic vintage. Like stuff from the ’40s to ’80s, let’s say,”Linglet said. “And then the biggest goal in relation to social media is 1 million on Instagram. I want to have constant amounts of social media flowing. From this aspect, I’d love to have a podcast, especially on topics that aren’t touched on so often, like, for example, men’s mental health.”
Like many teenagers, Linglet faced a series of family dilemmas throughout his coming-of-age journey. He decided that therapy was his best next step, learning various lessons and coping mechanisms that helped him navigate his entry into adulthood.
These lessons have been detrimental to his personal growth. Now, he craves a way to share them with others, which he plans to do in his future podcast connected to 0.5.
His journey with mental health and the time spent working on himself has helped him to be more emotionally in tune with himself and have a greater understanding of his self-awareness. This inner work has aided him in compartmentalizing his goals and clarifying what he wants to achieve through his business moving forward.
“That’s the underlying reason why I started 0. 5. I want people to feel like what I felt… Like, hey, you don’t know what’s going on. I know what’s going on. And I want to explain to you and help you get there too, and whether it’s through the clothing, whether it’s through the podcast… part of me also wants to be a barista and make coffee for people.No matter what I do, I want to be able to implement that aid to anyone.” Linglet said.
Along his journey, Linglet’s impact on those around him is made easy through the Instagram account 0.5 Collectives His mission is not completed until all those around him are empowered, regardless of daily challenges.
Through 0.5 Collectives, Linglet works hard to cultivate a sense of community that makes everyone around him feel seen and supported in their journeys. His biggest envisionment is a safe space where people can feel connected to their creativity and aspirations for the future.
