Our Story

About the Brand

Common Skies began with a selfish goal. It was 2020 and I was bored of the capsule-oriented beige offerings from affordable brands. Graphic luxury tees were much more interesting, but $300 was a hefty price to pay for something to wear on my couch. 

I just wanted to find the softest shirt ever, and put a photo on it of someplace I’d rather be. Because if I couldn’t go out into the world, I wanted to bring a piece of it to me.

When I first made my tees, with photos I had taken in off-the-beaten-path locales in Japan, I thought my mission was complete. But then, friends began to offer to pay for them, and the tees became something else: souvenirs from places people wanted to go.

The name Common Skies is a double entendre. It represents the spirit of travel embodied in every piece, but also the common struggles we as people have, despite living in different worlds. It was a fitting name for an idea borne from the pandemic.

About the Founder

Hi, I'm Ren! My last name is Buenviaje, which means "good trip" in Spanish. I suppose I was destined to love travel.

Before starting Common Skies, I worked as a software engineer, eventually working my way up to head of engineering at an online secondhand luxury shop. But I was never one to sit still and always had a side thing going. Ten years ago, I ran a gluten-free bakery until my long work hours made it impossible to do both. With an itch to start another business, I started Common Skies in 2020 and officially made it my full-time job after leaving my career behind in 2023.

Friends would say my personal style is "colorful and geometric," and they aren't wrong. My inspirations include mixed media artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, Japanese fashion designers like Jun Takahashi and Yohji Yamamoto, and my kid's random ass doodles.