We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ALBERT DE LA GARZA a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, ALBERT thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
MACABRE was always burned in my brain from a very young age. I think there was something oddly interesting in the word and when it was used. I’d watch very dark movies and listen to heavy music when I was growing up and that kind of aesthetic has still stuck with me even to this day. So when I decided on choosing a name for a brand that would fit my interests, it just made sense. I feel most people would look at me or what I was into like I was a weird kid, I was never the popular guy. That kind of stuff made me feel more comfortable, everything I’ve been into has made the most sense to me on who I am and how I choose to live my life. It has nothing to do with being negative or something, it’s just a different brand for different people. I’m speaking for them and even for me to this day…
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into designing from a very young age, with all the media I was accustomed to with music, tv and skateboarding. I fell hard into drawing and even painted as I got older, I initially wanted to be a tattoo artist but as time went on, that fell through and I felt better suited in designing actual garments or accessories. I like watching movies with dark, gritty aesthetics, buy old books and magazines and just take pictures of anything I see that I like when I’m out. Even though the pictures I take are mainly of odd locations and urban broken-down places. I like to use inspiration from all forms of media I’m into to build this new and more focused style and image for MACABRE.
I like to be close with the brand’s following, the people who support the brand are what make MACABRE what it is. I love to see people wearing it when I’m out or when someone tells me something like, “oh hey! I saw someone wearing MACABRE in the valley this weekend!”
That’s like the biggest rush of ecstasy I feel for the brand, it makes me feel good knowing people like what I’m making for MACABRE. A lot of the designs are abstract and hard to interpret sometimes, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. The style and feel of it, is meant to be different.
I feel when you can connect to someone on a deeper level because of a design or meaning of what’s on the garment, or simply just the way it’s designed…It’s almost like we can have a deeper understanding of who we are as a person and how we interpret life itself.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think my biggest lesson is…it doesn’t matter where you are, what matters is what you’re doing with this short amount of time we have on this earth. I used to be obsessed with the fact like most kids from a small town, that I had to leave. I had to get out of this town and go do this in the city. Now that I’m older and more mature, I laugh at that thought or even when I hear people say that…it’s like, “Why?”. For what reason do we feel the need that we need to have our lives completely figured out and somewhere because we feel everyone else has it figured out. I still love visiting the city when I can, although I feel a sense of peace still being in a small town. Everything moves a lot slower and it can be a lot less chaotic here. I get to do what I love here and I’m supported here, If I did live in the city, I don’t think it’d be same for me simply because of my financial support I have here in this town. Plus all my friends and family are here which makes it even better.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I believe just being very honest with myself and the brand, either that be in making art and designs or how I present myself and MACABRE to people. Another big one I feel would be solid consistency in producing good content. I try my best to make quality products that people can feel good wearing. I hope my customers and supporters can see that too when they purchase a product from MACABRE.
Contact Info:
- Website: WWW.MACABREMFG.COM
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macabremfg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macabremfg