DIRT NAP “THE ORIGINS” Dirt Nap is a metaphor for death. It received it’s origin from mobsters who back in the day would use the phrase “you’ll be taking a dirt nap” to describe a form of punishment for unacceptable behavior. Darren Cook, one of the founders of dirtnap.com would eventually take this term to new levels, along with his business partner and close friend Kevin Fitzgerald. The evolution of Dirt Nap started in 1995. Darren and Kevin, who were in their mid twenties at the time, were out and about on a Sunday afternoon. Basically they were combing the beach and riding the surf. Later that afternoon at a local pub, Darren was reminded of a movie he seen earlier that week starring Andy Garcia, “Things to do in Denver when your dead.” In the movie, Andy Garcia’s character who was working for the mob talks about “taking a dirt nap” if he and his crew were not careful.
During this time, however, both men developed unique skill sets, Kevin in business development and Darren in leadership and motivation and in the spring of 2005 a decision was made that would change their lives forever. They decided to embark on the project once again, but this time there would be no what ifs and no turning back. This time they had the desire, the will, the courage and the passion to follow through. The first step was to find a quality business to produce the art. They enlisted Grafx Design of Tampa who did an outstanding job of bringing Roy to life, hats off to the entire creative design team at Grafx. Next step, Kevin built the business infrastructure piece by piece and the world can now reap its benefits. Through Darren’s motivation and Dirt Nap’s ultimate message, we welcome you to our SITE!
Back on the beach at a pub, Darren along with Kevin and some of their friends enjoyed drinks and a sunset. From out of nowhere, Darren is stricken with a vision…He essentially, envisions a skeleton with dreadlocks riding a large wave and on the beach awaiting him is a coffin. The skeleton, which would later be named Roy, was full of energy and genuine enthusiasm. Darren at that point tied the two together; Dirt Nap in his mind would become competition to major surfwear companies. He & Kevin would sell T-shirts and live their life on the edge. Darren was so excited he shared the idea with anybody in shouting distance, to not much avail. However, his friend Kevin listened….closely. At this point it was just a dream. Ten years would pass; Darren and Kevin attempted to launch the business on three separate occasions. They had produced shirts, a cool looking skeleton and would eventually begin building a team, but something wasn’t right. They didn’t have the right mindset or the right talent to pull it off.
