Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Medrano.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Eric. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started making shirts when I was a senior in High School because I actually wanted to start a skateboard clothing brand called Switch when I first made clothes. I pretty much stopped when I entered college and after getting my associates, I realized that college wasn’t really for me, even though I still continued, I started to take fewer and fewer classes. Around that same time, I was heavily investing most of my time partying, drinking, and living the lifestyle that comes with that. Long story short, I ended up getting arrested after a night of drinking. After about two weeks of having time to think and constantly listening to The Weeknd (which was and still is a huge influence on my style of photography and just in general), I realized that I wanted to start making clothes again.
I started making Houston based clothes because of my love for the city (born and raised in the Westcott and Washington area) and chose the name Intimate Clothing because of two reasons. 1) The Weeknd’s earlier albums got me through alot over the years and his music greatly inspired me 2) The main reason: The area I used to live in has become gentrified. Growing up, my family has always been close, my cousins lived in a small house behind me, my grandparents across the street, and my aunt and uncle behind them. We were always together and we did everything together. There were so many fun and intimate moments in that neighborhood. Years later, everyone moved one by one, and now most of the homes we used to live in are completely gone, now it’s just nothing but townhomes and it’s just a completely different neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that it changed for the better, but seeing your childhood home gone isn’t the best feeling. I guess I just missed the intimate vibes the old neighborhood gave me so I chose the hashtag #KeepHoustonIntimate because even though the Houston area is becoming filled with more and more townhomes, I want to remind myself how it used to be growing up and how close everyone was that lived there.
I see the same thing in different areas around Houston and people tell me the same thing, they miss how it used before it was becoming too gentrified.
Like I said earlier, I’m 100% for the betterment of Houston, I just want Houstononians to see that even though their neighborhoods have changed, we should never forget the memories and the feelings we had living there. That is how I chose Intimate Clothing as the name of my brand.
Thats also the reason a chose the lotus flower as my logo, it symbolizes rebirth. As much as I miss how the area used to be, I do have to admit, it has gotten aesthetically nicer. It looks like a new Houston.
Anyways, I started driving around Houston any chance I could and sold shirts from the trunk of my car in the beginning. Now I have a website where I sell more of my brand. However, you can only get exclusive clothes in person and never online. You can always catching me hanging out in Eado ready to sell and expand!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth ride, but it has definitely been fun! I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew what I wanted so I would do anything to get there. I would drive at weird hours and sometimes about 40 minutes away from my location just to sell one t-shirt. I didn’t know about the business side of it (all the paperwork) so I had to figure it out. I knew nothing about photography but found amazing people who worked with me. building a website was frustrating! all I knew is that this was and is my passion so I would do anything to make it work
The thing that made it the hardest, however, was that I was on probation for most of it. I had to attend all these AA meetings, all these classes, and of course community service, and going to court once a month for two years.
It becomes so time-consuming and so costly ($8000) that I shut everything down multiple times just to get my life back in order, and because of this, I lost so many potential customers. People always asked when I would make more product and my answer was always soon, which greatly hurt me. Now I’m off probation and the ride has been so much easier.
Please tell us about Intimate Clothing.
Intimate Clothing is a Houston based clothing line that sells apparel and accessories.
I’m most proud of how far I have gotten after shutting down multiple times for personal reasons when I first started.
What sets us apart from others is the way we package your purchase! Each customer receives something a little extra with every purchase, it can be anything from a random toy, another Intimate shirt chosen at random, and if you’re lucky some of our customers have even gotten $1-$20 cash with their purchases! You will always get Intimate balloons and stickers with your purchase, and a personal thank you letter for your purchase and support. We put your purchases in a gift bag with your name on it and top it with gift wrapping tissue paper.
The faces on my customers are always worth it.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
The neighborhood and always being with my family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://intimateclothingco.com/
- Phone: 7138571502
- Email: IntimateClothingCo@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intimate.clothing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntimateClothingLine/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/xIntimatex
Image Credit:
Jenna, William Jahjah, Amber Martinez, Eric Medrano, Noelle Jewel, Vanesa Baldonado, Lesley Mejia, Athenz Armylagos
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