Within the past year, four juniors have managed to establish three different clothing lines. Although each company has endured a similar production process: Rstlz Union, The Foundation and LA Living each represent something distinctively different.
Junior Martin Ponce is the co-owner of Rstlz Union. His company sells stickers, pins, T-shirts, and crewnecks. The idea of designing a clothing line from scratch struck Ponce and his co-owner/ cousin as a joke while they were brainstorming ideas to develop a reliable income. What was once a joking suggestion quickly turned into a reality. The co-owners learned how to use Photoshop for designs, saved three to four thousand dollars to start the company, and used the advantages of social media to promote their brand.
“I guess you can say I’m very ambitious,” Ponce said. “I stuck with it and made it happen.”
Promoting on the internet allowed Ponce to expand his brand to an online store available to clients around the world.
Rstlz Union is well known for their saying “Stay Restless,” deriving from the meaning behind the brand for the tagline, “For the uneasy, for those who hustle on the daily and refuse to rest because we’re not static, we stay restless.”
Friend of Ponce’s, junior Gabriel Garcia, co-owns. The Foundation clothing line with long term friend Christian Mendez, a junior at Warren High School. Mendez’s attendance at the rivalry school benefitted their brand by expanding and promoting the different merchandise they offer, such as T-shirts and hoodies.
“We mainly work out of my garage printing our own designs,” Garcia said.
The rumored rivalry between The Foundation and LA Living was confirmed by LA Living’s co-owners, Alex Rivera and Ricky Venegas, to be no more than impersonal competition.
Rivera and Venegas had been interested in establishing a brand with an LA based name, representing the city and their interpretation of it.
“We hope to sell in stores in the future because it’s pretty tight having a clothing brand.” Venegas said. “Seeing people wearing your designs is crazy.”
Rivera and Venegas often donate a portion of left over merchandise such as T-shirts, sweaters, baseball tees, and long sleeves, to the homeless in parts of Los Angeles.
This group of juniors aspire to reach their goals of creating different brands that define their level of ambition and ability to provide to their clients’ preferences. Although each company hopes to be viewed individualistically for their finished products, they are in agreement in terms of anticipating future prosperity.
