We always have a lot of visitors at Five Four.
Here's the last week.
Ross Resnick, Honest Tea
Daveigh Chase and Gaia Brown
Jeff Miller, Thrillist.com
Matt Toka
Them Terribles
What's New?
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Visitors
November 30, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 Comments -
My Story
November 29, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsAfter my Thanksgiving dinner, I started really thinking about the things I appreciate. I started to really reflect on life and my story, so here it is.
MY STORY
What a day thanksgiving is…the day in which you give grace to God and thank him and your loved ones for all that you have been given and blessed with in your life. It is also a time to give as well onto others. As I sit with my family and the topic of the evening was the rise and success of Five Four, I really started to feel thankful for all that I have been given. The last 5 years has been incredible. But I realized that my foray into fashion was not 5 years ago, it was actually birthed when I was born…May 7, 1980 in Los Angeles, CA.
My mother and father were immigrants from Ecuador and came from Spanish and Lebanese ancestors. They both came to America in their 20s in pursuit of the American Dream. My father came from an entrepreneurial background, with his father owning one of the biggest paper printing facilities in South America. My mother’s father, was in charge of Singer (the sewing machines) for the country of Ecuador. My mother’s mother, owned a catering company. My ancestors prior to that in my blood line were an array of things, most notably one was Chief Commander of the army of Ecuador and another was a famous painter by the name of Camilo Egas. My father’s career varied, always as an entrepreneur. He did an array of things such as owned restaurants, newspapers, produced theatre plays, real estate, mortgages, investment funds, produced music (he was a gifted pianist and producer, also won awards and produced for major Latin American artists in the 80s)…as you can see he was a Renaissance man. My mother in her day was a model in Ecuador and when she moved to America she pursued a career in interior design. After a few years of that, she moved into teaching where she is at today.
You with me so far? Okay, good…
They met and wed in the late 70’s. Had me in 1980 and later divorced in 1982. I was an only child, and went on to live with my mother and grandmother. I would spend the weekends with my father and the week with my mom, but wasn’t allowed to sleep over my dad’s house because as my mother says, “he was a crazy guy.” Haha, indeed he was, but I had a blast at his house every weekend.
Anyways, as I started to realize what was going on around the age of 2, my mother always used to stress to me that it was very important to keep my presentation and dress well. People that presented themselves properly would make better impressions on others, and meeting people and networking is key to moving ahead and succeeding in life. My mother as well was quite the shopper. We used to go everywhere, from I Magnin, to Bullocks, to May Company (before it became Robinsons May, now its Macys), to Fred Segal, to Macys, to Loehmanns, you name it, we went. She loved fashion.
Age 2
Age 3
Age 4 (advertising for one of dad's businesses)
Age 5
She loved to dress me in a couple of brands, Polo, Osh Kosh and Lacoste were the primary brands. As I got older, she dressed me in Mossimo, Quiksilver, Levis, etc. I was sent to private school my entire life. Private school usually means uniform. Mine was navy khakis, white collared shirt. Other items included cardigans, shorts, jackets and hoodies.
When I was 9, my father had to leave the country for business reasons and move back to South America. My mother and I were left with nothing. Times were rough.
All of a sudden we were shopping now at TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls and Loehmanns. Designer clothes for half the price is usually their motto! I continued in private school, because my mom felt my education was top priority so I can go to USC one day. It was her dream for me to go to USC.
When I was 10, there was a craze in America for one item, the Reebok Pump. I was in 5th grade and all the kids started to get it. I begged my mom to buy it for me, instead she told me she would take me to Payless to buy me L.A. Gear Catapult shoes. I quickly declined and said I’ll wait for the gift. She laughed at me. And I further requested that they be white colored shoes, as I only like white shoes, very rarely will I like non-white color shoes. December 1990 came around and low and behold, my mom took me to a store a few days before Christmas called Michael Shoes and said to me “pick one, I’m going to get it for you.” I was ecstatic. Man…ECSTATIC I tell you. So as kids in the school flossed their Jordans and Pumps, I was in the game now. Mines were white with gray. Man, they were beautiful.
My uncle, Carlos, has always been a pretty stylish guy. He’s always been that guy in the Ralph Lauren ads. Khaki pants, Polo shirt and loafers. I thought those Polo shirts were so cool, I wanted one so bad. I had outgrown my Polos from before and my mom hadn’t bought me any in awhile. I was feigning for some shirts. I asked my uncle in a nonchalant manner if he had any he didn’t want anymore. He said he actually had about 5 or 6 he could give me. WOW, he made my day. I was ecstatic once again.
One experience I’ll never forget started at the age of 10 through 13. It was cotillion. It was a place where you would dress up in a suit as a guy, a dress if you were a girl, and you were taught the fine art of ballroom dancing and more importantly social interaction. It was a pretty upper class thing, most of the kids in my school did it. My mother loved the concept of it and she sent me right away. I was afraid to dance, afraid to talk to girls and hated every second of it. They taught you famous dances such as the Foxtrot and the Waltz. Nevertheless, as I reflect on it, it was an early taste of the upper class. An aspiration I longed for.
Around the age of 11, my Christmas money was starting to increase. I would hide it in a stuffed animal pocket. My mom told me to spend my money wisely and only use if I HAVE to. When I started going to the mall with friends, I would secretly take my money and go buy clothes. My mom would pick me up at the mall, usually the Beverly Center, and I’d try to sneak the bag in a jacket so she wouldn’t see. After 2 or 3 trips, she noticed a bag and yelled at me. I said, “mom, I HAVE to wear clothes, it’s a necessity, please, I look real good in it.” She let me keep the clothes, but warned me not to do it again. I agreed (wink wink).
When I was 14, I went to Loyola High School, a Jesuit all male school in L.A. I wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of on all male school, but my mom said I needed to go to a good school so I can get in to USC. I’d always been an A student, so it would be easy for me to get in there. Sure enough, I got in pretty easily. The dress code at Loyola was collared shirt, non-denim pants and whatever else you needed to layer with that, jackets, sweaters, etc. Just no tees and jeans. I could finally wear my uncle’s leftover Polo shirts to school. I was pretty excited. As my teen years progressed, I eventually got a job at 16 at Baskin Robbins making minimum wage, back then it was $4.25/hour. I was thrilled again. I worked on Larchmont, where there were usually hot girls walking around. I could give them free ice cream so I could look “cool” to them. Ha, what a fun time I had there. I met a lot of neighborhood girls and made money. I’d go to the mall every week now and buy clothes, now I could afford to buy a new Polo shirt with my checks saved up, sometimes 2, sometimes 2 plus a pair of pants. I liked to work so I could earn more money to buy more clothes. What a sweet deal. That time in fashion there were 3 must brands for young guys, Polo, Nautica and Tommy Hilfiger. I preferred Polo, but had some Nautica and Tommy pieces. I would consider myself as one of the best dressed students at my high school, always looking very dapper. I always had something new on, I was hyped at that notion. I’ll never forget I bought a jacket from Gant that was reversible, one side was navy and the other side was tri-color, think it was red yellow and green if I’m not mistaken. I had so many people stop me and ask me what kind of jacket it was, even faculty members. I eventually quit my glamorous job at Baskin Robbins and went to work after school at Bank of America where I was making about $9/hour, I was pumped. Double the salary meant double the clothes. I worked every day after school for about 3-4 hours.
I started applying to colleges my Senior year of college and only applied to four schools. USC, NYU, Cal-Berkeley, and Penn (Wharton School of Business). Penn I knew was a long shot, Berkeley I never really liked but did it because I felt I needed to apply to a state school, and then USC and NYU, the 2 schools I really wanted to go. I got in to both USC and NYU, but not the other two. I was thrilled. USC came through with an amazing financial package, plus my mom really wanted me to go there and I had always thought USC was a great place, except for the basketball team always being bad.
I started my freshman year and met within my first week two life long friends, very important people to my life and to Five Four. Brian Toll and Dee Murthy. I lived with Brian in a suite made up of 8 guys. I met Dee through a mutual friend. He lived a few floors down from me. I partied with Brian and talked business with Dee. He always interested me because he’s one of those guys that is a great sales guy, he can pitch you into buying anything. He’s a sweet talker. He talked to me about stocks and how the Internet is and was going to be the biggest thing in the world. He had started working on a website called SchoolGossip.com (kind of like a facebook type of community, but before its time) along with two other friends, I thought it was kind of corny at first, but admired the fact he was doing something on his own.
I didn’t really like college, at least the education part. I loved the parties, girls and socializing. Who doesn’t? My grades slipped and wasn’t admitted into the business school. All my friends including Brian and Dee got in, it was simple, all you needed was a 3.0 and it was pretty guaranteed you would get in as an undeclared student in your sophomore year. I didn’t buy books, instead I used my book money to go buy more clothes, what a nut I was. I just bought the lab books because the TA usually asked to see them in lab. Those were cheaper, so it was cool. I knew it wouldn’t be my grades that would get me in, the admissions process was very general, you were just a number more or less. I had to hustle. I wrote the dean of admissions a letter telling her that I was going to USC solely to get into the entrepreneurship program because I was going to start a business that would be huge one day and make USC proud to say that I was an alumni from there. She called me in after she read the essay and admired my confidence and vision. She told me if I improved my grades by a little, she’d let me in. I said deal. As the semester progressed, the parties got better and I slipped again. My grades declined by a bit, my mother was pissed because I’d always been an A student, but I had this newfound freedom and put education on the back burner. I ensured her that I’d be okay and that I was set out to do something very big, so she didn’t have to worry. The Dean ended up calling me after Spring semester grades came out in May 2000 and told me she was going to let me in still after my grades didn’t improve. I was so happy, it made my summer.
Up to this time now, I thought I wanted to go into the entertainment business. I loved film and music. In the 80s I had met the who’s who of the Latin Music community through my dad, you name the person, I met them. I thought it was a cool business and something I was passionate about. That past summer, I had worked at Warner Music Group and didn’t really like the job that much, but I got some free CDs so it wasn’t that bad. I interned at Interscope my freshman year and finally landed at Fox, where I interned for about 2 years. A paid internship at that, this time I was at $10/hr to start, more and more clothes. I was hyped. I didn’t save a penny, I spent it ALL on clothes. I hid the clothes from my mom once again, but who cares, it was my hard earned money at this point. My junior year I went to New York in the summer for about 1 week. I was 21 years old and going into my senior year of college. It was 2001. I walked into a store called H & M, I was floored. Fashion forward styles at very low prices. I was hyped. I took about 1k in cash to New York to spend that I had saved up for my trip, I blew about $500 at H&M on the first day. I was starting the entrepreneurship program in the business school at USC in just a few weeks, and knew I had to start thinking about a business. Up to this point, the specialty store private label business was dominated by Gap, Abercrombie, J Crew, Structure to name a few. But I didn’t think these places really offered much fashion, they were more classic. If you wanted fashion, you usually had to pay the price. I thought H&M was brilliant. As I entered into my senior year at college, yet to achieve an A in any single one of my college courses, I knew what I wanted to write my business feasibility on: the specialty store business in America and the boom it would have in the next 5 years. I started doing my research, I discovered that Europe was the home to many of these type stores, including Zara, Mango, Topshop, and H&M. I felt that these stores would take over American retail and trump stores like Gap, Old Navy, etc. Fashion at a low price, wow, what a concept. I wrote my report and handed it in at the end of the semester. I was so proud of that project, the proudest I’d ever been over a project in my entire educational study. I got an A. In fact, my teacher who was the chair of the Entrepreneurship Program thought it was so good, he used it as an example in the MBA Program. When grades came out the end of the semester, I got an A, finally. I told my mom immediately and assured her it wasn’t that I hadn’t lost my brain, but simply was not interested in anything at school until this time. I’ve always been a free thinker and did things my way. My way or the highway.
Over the summer of 2001, there was a term that I started to pass around. It was a funny term at first, but caught on quickly. The term was “five four”. It meant bye, which meant one, which stood for “one love”. At first, it was funny, but little did I know but that term would change my life.
I lived my senior year in a house with 8 guys, including Dee and Brian. I was sitting in Dee’s room and we were talking about business. I had been talking to him about fashion and telling him about my report and how I felt it was a great business. He also was in the entrepreneurship program with me. His report was on a lifestyle magazine about the “good life”, kind of a blend of Robb Report, GQ and Business Week. A magazine for successful guys in their late 20s and 30s. The semester was almost over and it was time to head home for Christmas break. Little did we know that on the last day of our semester, we had talked about something that would become so special to us and would help make history. As the hour progressed in his room, we talked and talked and talked. We somehow ended up on the topic saying, “why don’t we start a clothing brand and call it Five Four.” The term had become very popular with our friends by now and it would be an easy sell. We also said we would be one of the biggest global brands in the world one day. We didn’t know how to make a tee, print a label, or anything really, but we had a vision and conviction that we would create a brand that represented our lifestyle and aspirations. I’ll never forget when we talked about making t-shirts at first, Dee quickly said, “lets make sweatshirts, they add more value to people.” Dee’s always been good at making things that provide value. I thought it was a great idea. We had both a little bit of extra cash, around $3k. But we weren’t going to spend it all at once, we would make a run at first of a few pieces just to get people excited about the brand. We agreed, and I told him that I was going to be the designer of the brand since I was always into fashion and knew style, he wanted to handle more of the business side and we had a perfect team. We were hyped. That night would single handedly change our lives. What if we didn’t have that meeting? I always wonder, what would happen. Sometimes you don’t think the same thoughts later on, it just doesn’t happen. What if we hadn’t thought and gotten to the point in our conversation about starting Five Four. Thank God, we did .
I looked in the yellow pages that night for screen printers. I didn’t even know what to look under in the yellow pages, was it a printer? T-shirts? Finally, after a little google action, we figured we had to find a screen printer. I went to look for the biggest ad in the “screen printer” section in the yellow pages and called it the next day. I figured the biggest ad would be probably the best printer. I told the guy I wanted to print up some sweatshirts, I asked him for rough prices. He said it would cost us about $15-20 a sweatshirt. I negotiated him to give us free screens, because I told him we would be as big as Ralph Lauren one day so it would be in his best interest to print up my sweatshirts at a better price. He laughed, but agreed. We decided to print up 16 sweatshirts in various colors, mostly zip ups and a few pullover. I made the original design in Adobe Illustrator and printed the word FIVE FOUR on it. There was a big chest hit and a little print on the sleeve. I’ll never forget that Anand’s (Dee’s brother) sweatshirt was a pullover sweatshirt. The print was spaced because we had originally designed the artwork for a zipper hoodie, it looked pretty funny and odd. But he wore it with pride because it was his big brother’s company. We were on Christmas break now and had some spare time, so we could talk more about our ideas to take over the fashion world by storm. Haha, we had NO CLUE what we were doing but boy was it fun. We finally made the 16 sweatshirts, they cost a total of $316. Felix, the printer, called me and was excited to have them finished. Dee went to pick them up in the valley and called me and said they were “hot”. It was Brian’s birthday that Holiday 2001 and he was throwing a big party. Brian and I had dabbled a bit in club promotion because we knew everybody in town. We knew that at his party we’d have all of our friends there and much more. Dee and I had the sweatshirts ready in time for the party so we can sell them to our friends for $20, what a steal, no profit, but we were getting the product out on the street. The original sweatshirts were sold or given to our friends; Brian, Roneet, Jeremy, Steve, Jenny, Rebecca, David, Jon, Anand, Dee, Myself, and 6 others. We wore the sweatshirts to the party and people were saying why the hell did we print Five Four on these hoodies. We told them this was our new line and it was going to be HUGE one day so they should buy it.
Fast forward into the Spring Semester 2002, and I needed to write a business plan. Dee and I agreed that we would do it on Five Four. We were already actually doing the business, now we needed to study and cultivate it. As the semester progressed, we got really into this business. It was our passion, our life. We needed to interview some people in our field for our business plan. Through some networking, we got to interview Peter Kim. Peter was a USC grad 10 years prior and was in the apparel industry. He took over his parents apparel business and then went on to start a brand called Drunknmunky. He now owns a brand called Hudson. He told us about the apparel business quite a bit and went in depth, finally we got a real player to give us some time to talk. We came out of the meeting with some new knowledge and realized that this industry was pretty hard, but we weren’t phased. He told us about a big trade show taking place twice a year called the MAGIC show, it was the Super Bowl for mens clothing. It was actually going to take place in a few weeks in Las Vegas, we had to be there. We immediately got back home and google’d “MAGIC show”. After some results yielding in magic shows and tricks, we found the MAGIC show website. We had to go there. It was taking place during the week, but we didn’t care. We would skip class and go. Next step was passes, we didn’t want to pay $100-300 for a pass, we wanted it free. I made up a catalog saying I was a Latin American distributor for apparel brands and I was the owner’s son. Retailers and distributors got in for free to the show. Dee’s strategy was a little more brash, he simply stole a pass. I think his pass read he was the buyer for a shoe store in Las Vegas, who knows. After some laughs, we headed into the convention center. It was Dee, myself and our friend Lauren Fong (recently started a womens like called itsola), who was also in the entrepreneurship program and wanted to pursue a career in fashion. We got a room at the Las Vegas Hilton next door to the convention center. We were pumped to go into the show. We headed straight to the Drunknmunky booth because that was the only guy we knew in the business. His booth was packed, we were in such awe. He introduced us to his friend Tony Chu who worked at the company, he was the 2nd in command. We walked around all the sections, contemporary, streetwear, activewear. It was hysteria. We saw P. Diddy, Damon Dash, Jay-Z, and many more artists. We said to ourselves in the main aisle, “we need to be here in 6 months.” And that was that. We headed back home and told our teacher we went to a convention that was critical for us to be at for our student project. He somewhat complied.
The semester rolled on and Five Four was picking up some traction. We made more designs, got the product into 3 stores; White Sands, Pull My Daisy and Fred Segal (whom we currently still sell to this day). I was a promoter on and off in college, so I knew that we had to do a party. We booked a party at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood and promoted it to EVERYBODY. I went up to every girl in college and passed out flyers. The night came and we were hoping people showed up, it was a big place. The capacity was around 700 people. We had invited some important people to the party, such as store buyers, editors, Peter Kim and Marcia Israel. Marcia was an important figure in the USC Entrepreneurship Program. She was a member and advisor to the program, and a lecturer. She also donated money for the program. I knew it would be good to befriend her, as she came from the apparel business. She started a store called Judy’s when she was 19, pursuing her love for fashion. Her first store was less than 400 sq. ft in East L.A. She eventually grew it into a very big chain of stores that ended up selling to Rampage in the 80s and renamed all the stores to Rampage. I had told her about our idea and she was delighted to see someone pursuing apparel. She came to the party with her husband and they were impressed by the turnout. There was about 2000 people there. It was pandemonium. 2000 people knew about Five Four now. We had a neo-rock-soul band by the name of 4th Avenue Jones perform that rocked the house. The party was a huge success and it rocked the house. A few days later, we got into Fred Segal. Maybe it was the party? The clothes? Who knows, we were in. When we left the store after the meeting, I was so excited. My favorite store was now carrying my brand. When the product finally hit the store, I went and ripped out one of the price tickets. I wanted to carry it in my wallet, it was a symbol to me that we had arrived. To this day, I still carry that price ticket in my wallet. It means a lot to me.
April 2002 rolled around, we were in 4 stores now, 4th store was Karmaloop.com. We had gotten about 4 or 5 press hits and had a viable business going. 1 month to graduation, we needed to figure out if this was going to be our real job after graduation. Our parents were supportive of our idea to pursue our dreams through Five Four, but also brought us into reality and asked how we would earn income. My mother, who was a single working mother for so many years, had nothing for me to fall back on. She told me to go get a job doing something, and I should live at home. Dee, who comes from an Indian family, had supportive parents, but his father was keen that he pursue an admirable career, something in law, medicine or finance. What every good father wants for their child. Dee and I assured our parents that Five Four would be huge one day and that we would be supporting them one day off of our riches. Towards the end of April, there is an annual banquet for the entrepreneurship program. Students from the undergraduate and MBA program came and received awards. There was also a key note speaker, usually a successful entrepreneur talking about his own business and career path. Dee and I felt we should win the award, because our plan was the best, at least in our eyes. It was real, and into effect. Plus, in a few years, we would take over the world, so we had to be a shoe in. The first award was given were the top 10 business plans, along with the best business plan. There were 2 major awards that night, best business plan (based mainly on academic and project report performance) and the student entrepreneurs of the year (the most coveted award, given to students with a combination of best plan, vision and overall idea). We didn’t win the best business plan, but came in top 10. Truth is, we would’ve won, but the last portion of the plan was the finance section of the plan. I had the plan done the morning of the project due date, except for the finance section. I hastily made a spreadsheet with a 2 year projection on sales and finance. The sheet was wrong, the #s didn’t add up and did not flow. I didn’t care though, I was doing the actual business, everyone else was just talking about doing it. I didn’t really care about that award and neither did Dee, we knew that we were the best no matter what. Next up, at the end of the night, was the student entrepreneurs of the year award. As they mention the award, Marcia Israel who gets to pick the recipients, mentioned that this year the award would be given to a team of 2 students. We had to win the award, for our pride sake. We are both very competitive people and it was important for us to WIN. However, there were other 2 group teams with some great plans. In fact, the best business plan was given to a 2 person team. Were they to win both awards? Luckily, as she read the recipient, she said the winner was Five Four and Andres Izquieta and Dee Murthy were the winners. We were hyped. Our speech was pretty funny. We were so excited I didn’t even think we knew what we were saying. Regardless, that night we were kings.
Graduation rolled around 3 weeks later. It was Friday, May 10, 2002. Graduation started at 8am. At 7am, I was in my suit at a local screen printer making sure our shirts were getting printed. After some arguing about the printing, I quickly left since I had to be walking down the aisle at USC to receive my diploma. Finally, the day came…the day that students live for and their parents and family bask in joy and pride. I sat close to my friends as we headed into the graduation for the business school. We were so excited. Its funny, because for my graduation lunch, Dee and I ended up at the same Italian restaurant in Downtown.
Fresh from graduation, we needed to start our real life now. Move out day came, our warehouse to that point was my bedroom and Dee’s bedroom. We moved everything over to Dee’s parents den and had two satellite offices in May 2002, my mom’s house and Dee’s parents house. Summer time was here and we needed to move fast. The next MAGIC Show was taking place in August of 2002. We had no money, but knew we had to get there. Dee and I took out some credit cards, maxed them out and still needed money. We hit up our parents for some money, our friends, etc. Finally we were gathering some money here and there. One of my best friends, Jon Alagem, lent me $1000. He gave it to me in a sack bag in $1 dollar bills. It was pretty funny, but it meant a lot to Dee and myself at the time. The show was creeping up, and I was able to secure a great location, on the main aisle at the show. After some wheeling and dealing and ensuring that Five Four would be a major player one day, Jan Sussman, one of the show managers agreed to put us on the main aisle. We had no designs 4 weeks prior to the show, other than our famed ”split logo” shirt. I wasn’t a graphic designer, I’ve always been more of a fashion (cut & sew) designer and merchandiser (putting together the lines and creating the vision for the collection). Our good friend at the time, Angelo Sotira, had started a website called Deviantart.com. It was starting to gain traction in the art community, it was kind of like a myspace for the art community, prior to the existence of myspace. (note – deviantart.com is one of the 100 websites in the world today, Angelo is still CEO) We held a design content rewarding the winner with a little bit of money ($75 plus royalties) and the chance for their art to be on t-shirts. We had hundreds of submissions, and ended up picking about a dozen or so. We quickly printed up the shirts with a printer. A few days prior to the show, our printer stayed up 2 nights in a row to finish our shirts. The show was about 48 hours away and we finally completed our samples. That August 2002, we needed to build a booth for the show. I wanted a white colored booth. Our friend Ali is a very intelligent guy. He was the only student to graduate the USC Chemical Engineering Program with a 4.0 in its school history. He was also a pretty handy guy. He helped build our booth, construction, painting and planning. I’ll be honest, we didn’t know any stores up to this time, except for the few that we were in, so we went on other brands’ websites and stole store listings and sent them flyers. A few people had asked us how many appointments we had, and we confidently said 40. Reality was, we had 0. We had no money left, our college friend Carlos Bobadilla told us he can get us free rooms at a hotel off the strip. His cousin manages it and he would hook us up if we gave him some t-shirts. We agreed, free is free. Dee arrives to the hotel, immediately calls me and says, “this place is a shithole!” I finally arrived at the hotel and thought I was in a horror movie. It looked like the kind of place you see crimes take place, definitely not like the glamorous hotels on the strip. After one night of smelly sheets and cockroaches on the wall, we moved to a motel off the strip and forked out some money for better accommodation. Luckily, some of my friends had flown in to participate in the whole experience, and I was able to crash in their room as they were at the Mirage. The day came for the show and we finally had our booth done. I was at Kinkos until 7am the morning of the show making line sheets, guessing prices on the spot and editing the line sheets. I had learned how to make a good line sheet by studying other companies line sheets that I had acquired at the show in February, using my pitch as the “Latin American distributor”.
Our friends were there to support us, our booth was ready and we were prepared for business. Five Four had arrived, it was finally starting to look like a REAL business. Dee’s mother had flown in to support us at the show and she was so proud of what we had built to date. The show was honestly miserable. Our line sucked, I mean sucked bad. We didn’t know how to make good clothes at the time, we were still figuring out the business. We got little orders, but created a lot of hype. We weren’t discouraged, but a little disappointed. Nevertheless, we were confident in ourselves, our vision and our brand. We were going to make it, we don’t know what the word “NO” means. We met a ton of people at the show and finally felt like players in the game. We were excited. The show ended, we went home to relax and plan our next moves. We had decided to finally create a Five Four office. Luckily, Dee’s mother had some spare office space in her business, she owns a travel agency focusing on travel to Asia. The office was in downtown in a nice building. However, it was kind of a funny place. As soon as you walk in, to the left you were greeted by a stand up poster of an Air India flight attendant, and to the right a Korean Air flight attendant stand up poster. Quite the paradox, travel agency and clothing company in 1000 sq ft. of office space. We were so enthused though, finally our project started to look like a real business. To the good fortune of Dee’s parents, they supported our first bank loan and enabled for us to take the business to the next level. It really took “a village” to get this project off the ground, even to this day. My aunt was a seamstress by trait from her early days, she worked in production in the apparel business her whole life. She was retired at this point, and I asked her to sew all the labels on our shirts so we could save the .25 fee that the finishing house charged to put on labels. Every penny counts was and is our motto, luckily she complied and my mom helped her out too. Our first big production shipment was done out of Dee’s parents house den, and we stayed up all night doing it. We couldn’t sleep at the notion that our product would be in stores in just a few days, right around the Holiday season. Our first orders shipped, Dee called the stores to see how it was doing, selling was moderate, but people still believed in our brand, more importantly they believed in Dee and myself. Level 1 accomplished.
Building of the booth
MAGIC August 2002 (check out the booth, haha)
2003 came and went. We raised a small amount of funding from an angel investor (level 2), but parted ways in 2004. There’s a famous phrase that says a cat has 9 lives. We had definitely used up a couple of lives to this point just to survive. We still didn’t know what we were doing, it was the blind leading the blind. The only thing that really kept us going is our determination and belief in what we were doing and our brand, our baby. Finally in 2004, right as we were on the cusp of financial disaster, we struck a lucky chord. We linked up with an apparel company out of L.A. that believed in what we were doing and committed to investing into the project. Right at the brink of disaster, we were saved. It was fate, I knew we wouldn’t fail. Dee and I finally got a chance to really “do it”. We moved into our offices, which our investor let us design. We colored the walls to make the place appear a bit more fun, as we would be inviting visitors to come and show off our new digs. The same people that had been meeting up with us at Starbucks for business meetings or product placement opps, then later at Dee’s mother’s travel agency, now finally could come to our own place of business, something that we were proud of as a place of business. Boy, we were so proud. I had the good fortune of being blessed with the move out, as Dee had to go to India for a family event, so I got to move the old Five Four stuff into the new office. It was mainly just boxes, but it took awhile to pack and move. We set up shop, it was November 2004, the new era in Five Four, we had moved onto level 3. Up to this point, in February 2003 we spent our last big chunk of $ and got another booth at MAGIC. It cost us about 17k for the space and booth. Our idea has always been go all out, or don’t go out at all. After we spent our money and the well dried up, we participated in the POOL show in August 2003 and February 2004. It was kind of a blow to our pride since we had a 10x20 booth at the two previous MAGIC shows, then went to the POOL show with a small 10x5 space with essentially 1 rack and a table. August 2004 came around and MAGIC started a section called the Campground, cultivating young brands in young mens market and offering them a place to display at the MAGIC show amongst the bigger players, and the price was pretty inexpensive. We immediately signed up. Of course, we negotiated the best spot in the section, right up front. There was also another brand right next to us, called The Hundreds, it was their first show and it definitely showed. We immediately became friends with Ben and Bobby, the two brand owners. We sat there for 4 days making fun of ourselves and joking how little attention people paid to us and made us feel like our brands sucked, as buyers passed on our line. What great times.
New office in 2004
2005 was definitely the year of level 4. I had a great mentor at the time, Eric Kim, founder of Monarchy. He taught me the ropes of the game, he had been in the business for 10 years up to that point and was extremely honest with us and brash, being very opinionated usually in a critiquing manner saying how much we needed to learn. That was very important for us, we needed to get a slap in the face. You usually learn by falling down time and time again, luckily we fell a lot and learned quickly and kept progressing. Eric told me that we needed to focus on a product category that would have Five Four stick out form the pack. I said I wanted to make jeans, he said it was the hardest category and most challenging. I said perfect. I love challenges. He taught me the ABCs of denim and I took everything in. I met with vendors, fabric suppliers, trim people, sewers, cutters, etc. and learned denim inside and out. In one year, I was pretty familiar with the denim cycle, everything from cutting to sewing to fabric to wash to trim. My education in denim came from first hand experience, trial and error and a lot of mistakes, A LOT. We made our first hire in 2005, a guy by the name of Will Smith who went by the nickname “J Dubb”. He would be our marketing director, to this date he is indeed the marketing director, great friend and true loyal soldier to Five Four. Over the year, we made about 6 hires and finally we had a team, a real Five Four family. We had product, mostly in thanks to a guy by the name of Bhavik Shah out of India, who runs the sourcing division (for India) for one of the biggest apparel companies out there, International News. He made our first run of wovens, jackets and other fine items. Finally our collection was being created. Our denim was making progress and finally we were getting there. I had convinced my investor to go to Bread and Butter show in January 2005 in Berlin, then to take me on a shopping and inspiration trip to London and Paris. He complied. We went for 8-9 days and I finally started to explore the contemporary fashion world. I knew this is where we had to be, this is what I was wearing and what I was into. However, our brand around this time was being created as more of a streetwear based type of brand. We had a nice big booth at the MAGIC show. A nice big white flossy booth. Unfortunately, we listened to the retailers and went in that direction, never really thinking about where we were going, we were just moving so fast we didn’t really sit and realize the world we were going into with our brand. 2005 came and ended, I had learned a lot that year. I learned about product and also figured out that I was moving in the wrong direction, I needed to change direction up quickly.
Four years into the brand creation, we were starting to go places. We were doing the MAGIC show, had a real booth and a tangible business. We had about 10 employees by the beginning of the year. I met someone very important that year, wash czar Luis Chaparro. He is regarded as the best wash development guy in the world, he has and still creates product for brands such as Levis, Gap, Ralph Lauren, RRL, Seven For All Mankind, True Religion, Paper Denim, Earl, and many many more. I’ll never forget the day I met him, he was a stocky guy, real cocky about his work. He told me he was the best, and I told him I’m going to be the best, so we hit it off. He told me about all the brands he had helped get off the ground, and he said you’re next. He transformed our washes into amazing finishes that blew away our customers and consumers. We had entered the world of premium denim with a great product of value. Our jeans were washing in the same machines that washed Seven, RRL, etc. We were so pumped. Over the year, I had designed and developed our signature denim styles, the “Dres” pocket, the “Buckle” pocket (now named the “Andy”) and the “H” jean. Spring of 2006 I knew I had to make a change about the direction of the brand. I approached Dee and told him I wanted to change the brand into the contemporary market. He instantly believed in what I was telling him and where I wanted to go, so I was glad my partner agreed with me. I made some immediate design and style changes, and proceeded full force. I was designing the 2007 line and had to react quick.
Level 4 over, continue to Level 5.
Spring 2007 was a funny time, we were transitioning so fast some people were confused with where Five Four was going, even internally there was confusion. Where was the brand going? What is the identity? Who is the customer? I assured everyone that it would all be nailed out in 2007, just “trust me”. 2007 rolled and boy what a year it has been. Dee and I had a disagreement with our investor over the vision and direction where the brand was going, so we parted ways with him amicably. We found a new group that believed in our vision, where we were going and in us. We had another life given to us. Level 5 over quickly, Level 6 starts.
Over the past 6 months we have made some very extreme changes in our business, everything from our product, to distribution, to marketing, to our office space, etc. We have arrived finally, I can confidently say we are where I want to be. I am happy, Dee is happy. I love Five Four, Dee loves Five Four, our staff loves Five Four, the people are loving Five Four. What an amazing feeling. People always ask me why I do what I do. Apart from the fact that I love fashion (as displayed in the earlier part of the story), I love to see people experience the product. Some of the happiest moments in Five Four, have come when I have stood at retail stores analyzing customers look, touch, feel, try and buy Five Four. The reactions are amazing, and truly inspire me. I still get goose gumps when I see this taking place. One of my favorite designers is Tom Ford. He says that in order for you to be a successful designer, it has to be accepted by the mass. People have to buy it, your product has to sell. Level 6 finished, Level 7 starts.
Its November 2007, and I have thought a lot about the past 6 months and thought even more about the future. I’m so excited, every day every hour every minute I think about it. What a great time in my life. Dee and I are pursuing our dream, and have a great group of people that participate in our dream every day. Without the support of our staff, we wouldn’t be anywhere. Five Four Planet is being created every day and I look at it every day with so much pride, joy and eagerness. On October 6, 2007 we participated in the most exciting project to date at Five Four.
Dee, our rep Jonah and Chris (visual merchandising, our first actual true staff member, he was our West Coast Sales rep starting in October 2004, not actually employee, but part of the team, and still part of the team) were on Robertson Blvd. on an appointment. Dee was wearing our now infamous Slick Rick Jacket in black, with raw jeans and a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses. People were complimenting him on his jacket, saying it was really cool. He came to me with an idea. He said, “why don’t we send 15 or 20 guys on Robertson wearing the same outfit, jacket, glasses, raw jeans?!” I said, “great idea, why don’t we get 50 guys, 7 black suburbans and pick 10 spots in L.A. and send them all there”. The idea went from a small 10 minute production to a 12 hour saga. But that’s how it is at Five Four, we think BIG. We knew that this idea would be epic, if executed right. We phoned our friend Danny Lee, who is a director and brought him down. We explained to him the idea and he got it. Few days prior to the production, there was no ground work in place. We had to get organized. Luckily, I grew up in L.A. and know almost every street in the city, literally every street. With the assistance of Google Maps and Google Street View photos within the maps section, the plan was created, very methodically. An itinerary was created for the day with full instructions and we were ready to roll. The day was insane, completely insane. We rented 7 suburbans, had 50 guys, went to about 10 spots and created hysteria. It was perfect. The video was finally created weeks later by Danny Lee, who did an incredible job on the video, and it went live. We were heralded and praised by many members of the fashion industry and marketers saying the idea was brilliant, genius, creative and so fresh and different.
We definitely take different approaches to our brand, nothing we do is conventional. It may not be the right way, but its our way and it works. If there is a rule book of what to do and what not to do in clothing, we have probably broken every rule. But I think that’s why we have succeeded thus far and that is what will lead to our global success. You have to fall down, fail, before you truly succeed. Along the way you learn, humble yourself and prepare for greatness, and slowly it will come to you.
As I look forward to 2008, I look at it with a lot of excitement. The Spring 2008 line looks amazing, we are selling in the right stores, such as Fred Segal, Lulus, Atrium, Nordstrom, Metropark, and possibly many more I can’t state right now. It’s been a long road, we took the road less traveled, but luckily have been fortunate enough to create our own road, that will inspire others to create their own path. It’s funny, because when people start to see where your line is going, in which direction, etc. they start to pinpoint you as the “next…”. I’ve heard it all, the “next Polo”, the “next Diesel”, the “next Calvin Klein”, etc. It’s definitely a great honor to be compared to such great lifestyle and iconic brands such as these that I truly respect and admire, I’m very proud people recognize us. However, I’m even prouder to say that we are Five Four, period. Not next anything, we are Five Four, we are here, we will rise and conquer. Level 7 finishes, Level 8 starts.
I’ve been very blessed. I love to travel. I’ve visited many places on Five Four business matters. Those places include San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York, London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Lima, Peru to name a few. I absolutely love to travel, I could do it all the time, in fact I do do it almost all the time. These places I visit are what inspire me. I get inspired by scenes, on the street, in a plane, at a restaurant, at a club, etc. Whether its walking on Carnaby St. in London, walking into Harvey Nichols, shopping on the Champs D’Elysses, waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower, strolling down Rue St Honore to Collette, walking the shops in Milan, going to beach parties in Barcelona, clubbing in Madrid, shopping till I drop in Hong Kong, walking down Nathan road in Kowloon with 10 shopping bags, heading over on the ferry to Hong Kong side and shopping more, going out to LKF to the clubs, going to the Bund in Shanghai, waiting in line at the passport line at Shanghai Pudong Airport to get my passport stamped after waiting for almost an hour, visiting the Great Wall in Beijing, posing in front of the portrait dedicated to Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square, walking and visiting hundreds of stores in Shibuya in Tokyo, going into vintage jean shops with 100 year old jeans in Harajuku, waiting in the airport, walking down the street in Soho, walking into Atrium, heading over to Tao in Las Vegas, partying like a rock star, popping bottles, , driving to work every day, going to Coffee Bean and getting my chai latte light with soy, it ALL inspires me. Every day life is what it’s all about. All of these scenes are embedded on my head, this is what really truly inspires me. Life is amazing, isn’t it?!
I love what I do, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Sooooooooooo, lets take a look at things. I’ve come to realize that it all starts from the beginning, every thing in life starts at day one.
I had a mother that loved me and treated me with such great love and care. I had a family of a loving grandmother, 2 aunts, uncles, etc. that looked out for me. My grandma ironed my clothes and uniforms so I always looked proper, she kept me fed. I’ll never forget the trips I took with my aunt when I asked her to accompany her to work. She took me to garment factories in L.A. and I was so interested in the whole manufacturing process, even though I didn’t really know what it was all about, I saw action. That’s what I liked about it. Going to school in a uniform, shopping with mom, getting my Reebok Pumps, handed down my uncle’s old polos, it all counts. This is where it all started. My mom envisioning me to go to USC, going to high school with a uniform, working jobs to earn money for clothes, graduating, going to USC, meeting friends, new experiences, it all touches us in greater ways than you may think. Hustling to get into the business school, going to NYC on a trip, meeting people, going to the MAGIC show, participating in the MAGIC show, graduating, maxing out credit cards, pursuing the dream, support of friends and family, it all counts. Never believing in the word “NO,” support of our parents, learning how to make clothes, networking, inspiring others, recruiting team members, it all leads to something. All of this has led to Five Four. Not only in the creation of a new form of style or aesthetic, but that of a lifestyle brand that truly symbolizes aspiration. One that aspires for success and the pursuit of the dream. One where you must risk, in order to conquer.
And that my friends, is Five Four.
The End.
P.S. Special thanks to Dee, my family, Dee's family, my friends and staff.
We love you all.
PHOTOS
One of the craziest 72 hours EVER! Anand, Dee and I on the hustle...
Ready for War!
One of our first deliveries, November 2002.
Look Mom! I made it, I went and spent all my money on this stupid car!
Trade Shows are always lots of work and lots and lots of fun! At Five Four, a little too much fun. As you were able to see in some of the previous pictures, our first shows were real amateur. Over the years, we progressed...thank God.
Alan
Dee & J Dubb on the way to a trade show in a Uhaul.
Our friends love coming out to trade shows, especially Vegas.
August Project 2007
Australia
Agenda
NYC Rules
Izzy
Merrrrrrrrr
The Spot
Hong Kong and China have been good to me. I've been there 9 times in the last 2 years, and next week will be my 10th. When I first went to China in August 2005, I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard stories, but went in with an open mind. I loved the country. It obviously isn't perfect, but hey, nothing is. The development of the country over the past few years has been very impressive. The quick progression and adaptation of the country on a global level has been very swift and prosperous. It is the hotspot for economic and cultural growth.
Hangzhou, "heaven on Earth"
Eating chickenheads...literally
Nightlife
Christmas in HK
Fabric shopping
Chairman Mao
Great Wall
Kaihara denim of Japan
Some things don't make sense in China...
We love to have fun at Five Four.
Malibu
Viva Vegas
J Dubb
USC Football
Five Four vs. Nike
The Real Score
The Tampered Score
Holidays are the best time of year at Five Four.
ONE Day
Five Four X Reebok
Five Four X Flaunt Magazine X Ron Herman
Five Four X New Era
Europe was real fun.
Bread & Butter Barcelona
Madrid
Roma
London
England vs. Portugal (World Cup 2006)
Hawaii
"Cheddahhh, go get it!"
Ah...Japan...I love Japan.
2005
2007
Old Office (Nov. 2004 - Jun. 2006)
Gun wars.
Messy times.
Move out day.
New Office (Jun. 2006 - Present)
Our infamous security guard.
Johnny Alagem
Pinkberry
Luis Chaparro
Five Four Futbol
Hussein in the membrain
Late night dinners at the office
Groovy BRAAAAA
Possibly, the ugliest sweatshirt I've ever seen (courtesy of Sameer)
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Good night.
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Five Four X Reebok
November 28, 2007 0 CommentsOur project with Reebok is launching in the next coming weeks.
The only place to get the Five Four X Reebok jeans will be at the Reebok stores in New York and Boston...and of course at fivefourclothing.com online store.
More info to coming in the next 2 weeks.
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Online Store
November 28, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsIt's a few days away.
We are working around the clock to get it launched in the next 7-10 days. Sorry for the delay, we've been getting a lot of emails about the launch date. We are trying to make it perfect for all of you.
Thank you for your patience.
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Five Four x Hudson x USC vs. UCLA
November 28, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsFive Four and Hudson Jeans have decided to team up together for a tailgate party this upcoming Saturday for the USC vs. UCLA game.
Dee and I went to USC. Peter Kim, owner of Hudson, went to USC as well. We love USC. We love football. We love to tailgate, well they in particularly LOVE to tailgate, Peter is King Tailgater.
Anyways, so we teamed up to support our alma mater in the biggest game of the year, the famed USC vs. UCLA game. It's the last game of the year and we are still in hopes of going to New Orleans.
If you are coming to the game, which this year is hosted at USC, please join us in our joint tailgate party. It starts at 7:00am all the way to 12:30pm. Food, music, beer and more beer. And liquor.
Our tailgate is located about 30 yards north of Tommy Trojan, on the same side as the statue. You can't miss us.
Fight On!!!!
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Antenna Magazine
November 28, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsFive Four featured in latest issue of Antenna Magazine.
Check it out.
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Plain White Ts
November 28, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsPlain White Ts in Five Four.
From Fuse TV.
Slick Rick.
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Red Lemon x Five Four
November 28, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsCome join us tomorrow night at Red Lemon.
Info below.
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Dali
November 26, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsWent to check out the Salvador Dali exhibit at the MOCA this past weekend.
The exhibit hosted many of Dali's bizarre imagery which consisted of films, paintings, and sculptures. The Spanish artist surrealist work was incredibly imaginative and very intriguing. The exhibit also showcased his work with Alfred Hitchcock (Spellbound) and with Disney (Destino).
Dali
The Persistence of Memory
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Daft Punk x Medicom Toy
November 26, 2007 By Andres Izquieta 0 CommentsThese new Daft Punk Bearbricks are real dope.
Just checked out this on ToysREvil This is set to be released on Dec. 5th. It is being released along with their Alive 2007 CD. Only 3k of these toys made.
