We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexz Sandoval a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alexz, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission as a designer, leather goods artisan, and brand founder is to maintain values in sustainability for my brand, Bird Trouble. Bird Trouble products are produced in a small batch and a made-to-order fashion. I design for multi-functional wear and for longevity. Bird Trouble is sold in limited quantities direct-to-consumer and through exclusive small business retailers. Not only am I paid fair wages but I can hire out local leather artisans and pay them the same fair wages. Bird Trouble is my vehicle for everything I value. I reach the consumers who want to own leather goods as heirlooms. My clients want to make a conscious decision of the
materials they’re buying and who they’re buying from. As the designer and founder, I’ve had the privilege of being picky with the materials I choose to create with. I source vegetable tanned leather which is actually biodegradable. I’ve chosen American harvested and tanned Bison leather to keep the supply chain in the USA. Some of the hardware I use is manufactured in America, some is manufactured in China but sold by family-owned American businesses. I use water based leather dyes which are non-toxic.

When I started studying Fashion Design in freshman year of high school, I learned that self-expression can start conversations. Very much like art, someone’s outfit can bring up ideas bluntly or subtly. I had liked art since I was a kid, I had been sewing since I was 14 years old, I had a talent that was recognized for sewing all of high school, and I even went to college for Fashion Design. I dropped out of college at the beginning of my 2nd year due to personal challenges when I was 19. I moved out of my parents house and fled to Chicago to live with friends, work on myself, and truly find myself. From 19 to 21, I worked many odd jobs and moved homes so many times. It was a very unstable time for me due to the choices I made. In 2009, I opened an Etsy shop and called it Bird Trouble. I sewed in my Walnut Creek, California living room. I was 21 then. It started as a hobby and turned into side hustle.
Sewing was sort of this THING I did but starting to work jobs at 16 inspired me to love working in small businesses, customer service, client relations, and marketing. My Etsy store gave me the confidence to keep creating and growing my business.

The clarity of my work’s mission stretches beyond staying true to who I have been and who I am now. My values and the crafts I’ve grown to love – sustainable fashion, leather working, bag design, and running a business. After many youthful years of traveling
with my family and ex-lovers, late-20s me found myself on an Amtrak train headed to Chicago from San Francisco with a huge group of climate activists. No, I didn’t go with them. I was a lone wolf. I was just traveling and promoting Bird Trouble. They were
on a climate march and for days, I was struck by the beauty of the wild nature scenery between big cities through the Amtrak train car and I listened in to what these groups and mentors had to say.

It was then that I realized Bird Trouble is actually more meaningful than what I gave it credit for. I started believing that artists and business owners have the ability to change the narrative and influence others. Humans can either destroy or honor our planet and I suddenly felt clarity of why I do what I do.

Alexz, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Sure! I’m Alexz and I live north of Chicago and just south of Wisconsin in the country with my fiancé Justin and our dog Tyler. We own a beautiful home and 8.5 acres we just purchased last December. It’s my dream home. I was born in Chicago, grew up in the
Chicago suburbs, and my parents and grandparents were all born in Mexico. My grandfather sewed mariachi suits and tailored for a living and my grandma used to make Huaraches shoes. My grandma cared for me a lot during my childhood and I often found myself in my grandfather’s basement sewing workshop. I remember listening to the hum of his sewing machine and looking at the thread on the ground. I thought the wooden thread spools were so cute. My grandma used to sit with me and draw at the kitchen table. I had loved drawing and coloring since I can remember. In high school, I enrolled in a Fashion Design class… that’s where my creative universe opened up.

My brand Bird Trouble produces leather bags and products that are super unique. They stand out in a crowd. My clients do too! They’re the #1 main reason why I have so much fun with my designs. I feel like I solve the problems of BOREDOM for my customers. Nothing they can find in stores or from other brands really reflects their style. Bird Trouble does. They can either find a cool bag or accessory already made or they can design their own bag or accessory with me. Bespoke and custom work is the game changer. Fringe is a major game changer too and if you know Bird Trouble, you know I love fringe.

I also really value quality in EVERYTHING. If I’m spending money on it, it better last. I learned this way of living through my family who didn’t have a lot of wealth moving to the USA from Mexico. They mended everything and kept things for such a long time, they didn’t buy more. This is a huge reason why I offer a lifetime warranty on craftsmanship on Bird Trouble. I’d rather fix that broken zipper than know my work ended up in a landfill.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am still to this day unlearning what success should look like. I was taught getting straight A’s and becoming a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer as examples was true success. I was taught that completing college and finding a career that I could work for generations and retire from was success. Being first generation born and raised in America, I felt a lot of pressure on me as a kid. I’d be often overwhelmed that I didn’t gain the approval of my family due to a C on a test. I felt a lot of guilt for not doing well in standardized tests, dropping out of college in the second year, and I sure as hell didn’t get approval for the lifestyle I chose after dropping out of college.

Now that I’m older I can reflect on the many ways I’ve seen myself and other people live a balanced and happy life that I consider successful. These days I have been feeling very grateful. I have time to do things that I love and interest me, I always have food on the table, and I have a stable roof over my head. This is success to me. My business doesn’t make the same dollar amount every month which means I don’t pay myself the same every month but that taught me to plan ahead and have a savings for the slow times. That also taught me to pivot and come up with a new products, collaborate with other likeminded business owners, or figure out a way to make my customer’s experiences better.

To me, success is being able to roll with the eb and flow of business… pick yourself up from the ground, wipe off the dirt, and keep going.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I touched a bit on how I’m first generation child born and raised in America. My resilience comes from my family
and ancestors. I was born with resilience. It comes from my grandparents who came to Chicago to find work and better oppportunities. I constantly think about how my dad’s grandma, parents, and siblings left Mexico City around the time of the Mexico City riots when 300 – 400 students were massacred by Mexican Armed Forces because they were protesting the Olympics and demanding democratic reform. In another part of the universe – my mom’s father would bring her and her siblings to and from America from rural Mexico.

My mom tells me how she’d have to work during the school year in Chicago around a bunch of old men in factory settings. She
had to give her dad her payment and she’d get sent back to Mexico for summer vacation. After my parents met each other and married, they had a very tough first few years of marriage. That part of my story is full of grief and can be triggering for me but it’s
always a reminder that at a very young age, I was exposed to my first examples of grief and resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.birdtrouble.com
• Instagram: @birdtrouble
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/birdtroublehandmade