Designer Bio

Eric Espinoza
UNIF CLOTHING, Los Angeles
Owner/Designer
Age 29
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA

Thanks to my parents, I grew a passion and interest in clothing. Starting as early as age 6, my father and I would spend the weekends combing the malls for clothes and shoes. My father has always felt that appearance was important but always encouraged me to wear what I felt suited me best. My mother was not so much concerned with clothing but was very crafty. She would spend her off time painting, sewing costumes, and creating hand crafted gifts for friends and family.

In 2003, 23 years young, I started UNIF with $1,500 given to me by a very supportive and encouraging friend. I purchased a sewing machine and some fabric. I would make samples of my designs and go store to store to show and sell them. I would hand dye, sew, print, and ship all the orders myself from home. It was painstaking work. While friends were going out and having fun, I would stay home designing 100′s of T’s. I had no idea what I was doing but I was determined to do something with clothing and fashion. Looking back, it puts a smile on my face thinking how naive I really was.

For 2 years I worked single handedly trying to grow the company. In 2005, I was approached by another LA based designer with years of experience in the industry. He admired what I was doing and offered me an office and a list of vendors to work with, it was like going back to school. I was surrounded by talented people who helped teach and guide me through things that I couldn’t learn at home. There I was, working amongst designers, production coordinators, patterns makers, and sample executors, every day learning from them all. I soon found myself starting over but with the help of these people, things were finally looking bright. I was still the only UNIF employee, so I learned to multitask quickly, sampling, approving production, and shipping, day and night. I felt as though I lived in the office.

Fast forward 2 years, UNIF can be found all over the globe. This can be contributed to having a great showroom, shipping facility, accounting/operations dept., and 4 amazing designers (Luis Carlos, Christine Lai, Armondo Lopez, Richard Doan.) With that said, I am still apart of every aspect of the company from start to finish. 2008/09 has been our best years, picking up tons of new accounts. I am looking forward to 2010, as my feelings have always been positive for UNIF.