trying to start a successful clothing company might be harder than trying to make it big in the rap game. so how did a 28 year old asian kid from the OC named Jonas Bevacqua manage to force the entire fashion world to take notice? I interviewed him and I still don't know how he did it. but what I do know is that LRG has grown exponentially over the past 7 years to become a world wide fashion phenomenon. and the LRG following has also grown; from Kanye West to Tony Gonzales (Kansas City Chiefs) to Robin Williams to Chico Brenes (Chocolate Skateboards)... all bases are covered. a whole lot of eyes are focused on Jonas and LRG right about now... SGV investigates.
SGV: LRG has been around for a minute, but would you mind giving the SGV the short version of how LRG started?
Jonas: LRG actually came out a long time ago, but as far as us delivering to stores, it's been since about 1999. back then I used to valet cars and work retail... just did odd end jobs. I realized what I wanted to do with my life which is to make clothes, design fly gear and spread a message thru it. while I was valeting cars (I used to also DJ) I met this dude who was working with me that had a live hip hop band so he asked me to come over, set up my tables, and jam with them. so I went over there and I met the rest of the band including the lead MC Robert Wright who is now my partner in LRG, mentor and best friend. at the time he was already an established designer, I was just a kid who wanted to start a clothing company. I had an idea, I had a logo, and a few sketches. I didn't know where to get a zipper or a button. I didn't know nothing, I just knew what I wanted to do. "Yo, so Robert, you're a designer? that's great. I wanna start this clothing company. I'll give you half of it if you help me with it." at that time I was basically offering him half of an idea... pretty much nothing. at the time he wasn't happy where he was at, he had worked for all kinds of random companies like Quiksilver and O'neal and all kinds of private labels. I don't wanna speak too much on his behalf, but basically at the time he was working for the man and it was about a paycheck not about the passion or the design. so I started saving money from valeting... I'd save 300 bucks and go make a run of stickers. then save up another 300 and get a trademark... shit like that. did some patterns, got some samples made. right around that time my dad introduced us to a few friends and one of them was in the business and they gave us a very small amount of capital to start. we basically took that money and made a production run... we were very fortunate because that year at ASR someone had backed out of their booth the day before the event so we went to home depot, bought some wood and just built our booth a day before the show... very grass roots, as good as it gets. we sold out of all of our product. I think we made 300 pairs of pants, 4 styles of hoodies, and 4 styles of t shirts and we sold out by noon the first day. It was amazing. It was really good timing too, because at the time the market was very defined as in; you're either skate, or you're surf, or you're urban as in Hip Hop... I hate even using that term. I feel like we were the first ones to really bridge the gap between these worlds... not really on purpose either, it was more just a reflection of what Robert and I are into. we're into gear, we're into skateboarding, we're into all different kinds of music. so our timing was great. now everyone is trying to do it, and I think that's great, but back in 1999 you were either one or the other. so we've now been doing it for 7 years... we lost money for the first 3 years. I basically made nothing during those years... drove a minivan, lived at my parent's house, ate Taco Bell. basically the same story for anyone who starts their own business. but we kept flipping our money ever since and that's where we're at today.
SGV: I did some research on you last night and I was reading some blog and on there some guy was saying that he used to like LRG, but that shit has changed and that's why he's not feeling it anymore. how would you say LRG has changed since 1999?
Jonas: It's typical human nature... especially in our market. it's like when you like a small indie band but then all of a sudden they get big and they have a video and you say "I don't like them anymore, they're too big". or how about the classic, "oh, I can't wear it anymore, too many kids at school are wearing it." and that's very much the attitude of the average kid today. if anything, our design and quality has gotten better. we're doing leathers now, real fur,blackberry cases,tents, champagne holders, basically doing and making all of the things we've dreamed of. but like I said, some people don't like things once they know too many people have it, and that's perfectly undertsandable. but I'm a firm believer in the idea that good design speaks for itself. I don't care how many people have it... if it's fly, it's fly. alot of kids want you to stay that little underground company that sells 4 shirts a year and only 10 people got em. they want you to live at home and drive that minivan and eat Taco Bell everyday. they think that's underground. that's not underground. underground is being independent and being your own boss. a lot of people got it twisted. they don't like it when you get too big or become too successful. I feel proud to be here doing what I do. We're living our dreams everyday. People think we sold out or something... people need to do their homework. selling out IS NOT expanding your distribution or making your product more available for the consumer. selling out IS changing your identity in order to sell something. LRG has never changed it's identity.
SGV: I bought the second season of ENTOURAGE on DVD the other day and I saw Turtle wearing LRG. who's the one person that you were the most excited to see wearing LRG?
Jonas: there are so many... Kanye... Robin Williams... anyone who wears it. I can't just pick one. but what I can say is that we have an amazing support group from the people that wear it to the people we work with and im very thankful for all of them.
SGV: speaking of Kanye West, I heard that you might be starting a clothing line with him. is that true?
Jonas: Yes, we might be doing a clothing line together, but that's all I can really say because of legal reasons.
SGV: earlier you mentioned that you had no formal training as a designer, was LRG a huge guinnea pig for you? were you just learning as you went along?
Jonas: Completely. total learning curve even to this day. we mess up all the time. I remember there was this one time when we made our first run of jackets and I left them in the back of my truck while I ran in and got some food. they were in clear bags and the sun actually bleached all of them. imagine your first time doing this shit and your entire production run is ruined. luckily we fixed them... took them to an enzyme house and washed them out. this is what we started with (pointing to an original sketch of the first run of LRG), literally hands on... sketching with pen and paper... thinking of weird shit, funny shit. we went from that (walking thru a few doorways into the main design room) to this. hundreds and hundreds of tech-packs (detailed line drawings of garments), and now we've got the women's line LUXURIE also. we went from 2 deliveries a year to now 8 deliveries a year, and its soon to be 10. but it wasn't overnight... it's been over 7 years.
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