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trying to start a successful clothing company might be harder than trying to make it big in the rap game. so how did a 28 year old asian kid from the OC named Jonas Bevacqua manage to force the entire fashion world to take notice? I interviewed him and I still don't know how he did it. but what I do know is that LRG has grown exponentially over the past 7 years to become a world wide fashion phenomenon. and the LRG following has also grown; from Kanye West to Tony Gonzales (Kansas City Chiefs) to Robin Williams to Chico Brenes (Chocolate Skateboards)... all bases are covered. a whole lot of eyes are focused on Jonas and LRG right about now... SGV investigates.

 
SGV: LRG has been around for a minute, but would you mind giving the SGV the short version of how LRG started?

Jonas: LRG actually came out a long time ago, but as far as us delivering to stores, it's been since about 1999. back then I used to valet cars and work retail... just did odd end jobs. I realized what I wanted to do with my life which is to make clothes, design fly gear and spread a message thru it. while I was valeting cars (I used to also DJ) I met this dude who was working with me that had a live hip hop band so he asked me to come over, set up my tables, and jam with them. so I went over there and I met the rest of the band including the lead MC Robert Wright who is now my partner in LRG, mentor and best friend. at the time he was already an established designer, I was just a kid who wanted to start a clothing company. I had an idea, I had a logo, and a few sketches. I didn't know where to get a zipper or a button. I didn't know nothing, I just knew what I wanted to do. "Yo, so Robert, you're a designer? that's great. I wanna start this clothing company. I'll give you half of it if you help me with it." at that time I was basically offering him half of an idea... pretty much nothing. at the time he wasn't happy where he was at, he had worked for all kinds of random companies like Quiksilver and O'neal and all kinds of private labels. I don't wanna speak too much on his behalf, but basically at the time he was working for the man and it was about a paycheck not about the passion or the design. so I started saving money from valeting... I'd save 300 bucks and go make a run of stickers. then save up another 300 and get a trademark... shit like that. did some patterns, got some samples made. right around that time my dad introduced us to a few friends and one of them was in the business and they gave us a very small amount of capital to start. we basically took that money and made a production run... we were very fortunate because that year at ASR someone had backed out of their booth the day before the event so we went to home depot, bought some wood and just built our booth a day before the show... very grass roots, as good as it gets. we sold out of all of our product. I think we made 300 pairs of pants, 4 styles of hoodies, and 4 styles of t shirts and we sold out by noon the first day. It was amazing. It was really good timing too, because at the time the market was very defined as in; you're either skate, or you're surf, or you're urban as in Hip Hop... I hate even using that term. I feel like we were the first ones to really bridge the gap between these worlds... not really on purpose either, it was more just a reflection of what Robert and I are into. we're into gear, we're into skateboarding, we're into all different kinds of music. so our timing was great. now everyone is trying to do it, and I think that's great, but back in 1999 you were either one or the other. so we've now been doing it for 7 years... we lost money for the first 3 years. I basically made nothing during those years... drove a minivan, lived at my parent's house, ate Taco Bell. basically the same story for anyone who starts their own business. but we kept flipping our money ever since and that's where we're at today.

SGV: I did some research on you last night and I was reading some blog and on there some guy was saying that he used to like LRG, but that shit has changed and that's why he's not feeling it anymore. how would you say LRG has changed since 1999?

Jonas: It's typical human nature... especially in our market. it's like when you like a small indie band but then all of a sudden they get big and they have a video and you say "I don't like them anymore, they're too big". or how about the classic, "oh, I can't wear it anymore, too many kids at school are wearing it." and that's very much the attitude of the average kid today. if anything, our design and quality has gotten better. we're doing leathers now, real fur,blackberry cases,tents, champagne holders, basically doing and making all of the things we've dreamed of. but like I said, some people don't like things once they know too many people have it, and that's perfectly undertsandable. but I'm a firm believer in the idea that good design speaks for itself. I don't care how many people have it... if it's fly, it's fly. alot of kids want you to stay that little underground company that sells 4 shirts a year and only 10 people got em. they want you to live at home and drive that minivan and eat Taco Bell everyday. they think that's underground. that's not underground. underground is being independent and being your own boss. a lot of people got it twisted. they don't like it when you get too big or become too successful. I feel proud to be here doing what I do. We're living our dreams everyday. People think we sold out or something... people need to do their homework. selling out IS NOT expanding your distribution or making your product more available for the consumer. selling out IS changing your identity in order to sell something. LRG has never changed it's identity.

SGV: I bought the second season of ENTOURAGE on DVD the other day and I saw Turtle wearing LRG. who's the one person that you were the most excited to see wearing LRG?

Jonas: there are so many... Kanye... Robin Williams... anyone who wears it. I can't just pick one. but what I can say is that we have an amazing support group from the people that wear it to the people we work with and im very thankful for all of them.

SGV: speaking of Kanye West, I heard that you might be starting a clothing line with him. is that true?

Jonas: Yes, we might be doing a clothing line together, but that's all I can really say because of legal reasons.

SGV: earlier you mentioned that you had no formal training as a designer, was LRG a huge guinnea pig for you? were you just learning as you went along?

Jonas: Completely. total learning curve even to this day. we mess up all the time. I remember there was this one time when we made our first run of jackets and I left them in the back of my truck while I ran in and got some food. they were in clear bags and the sun actually bleached all of them. imagine your first time doing this shit and your entire production run is ruined. luckily we fixed them... took them to an enzyme house and washed them out. this is what we started with (pointing to an original sketch of the first run of LRG), literally hands on... sketching with pen and paper... thinking of weird shit, funny shit. we went from that (walking thru a few doorways into the main design room) to this. hundreds and hundreds of tech-packs (detailed line drawings of garments), and now we've got the women's line LUXURIE also. we went from 2 deliveries a year to now 8 deliveries a year, and its soon to be 10. but it wasn't overnight... it's been over 7 years.
SGV: the company seems like it's based on a message or philosophy. what is the message behind your gear?

Jonas: the philosophy is basically; underground inventive, overground effective. our logo is a tree... so underground inventive is represented by the roots of the tree... overground effective meaning when the roots grow strong and eventually form a tree. besides that we have so many other messages. we want to draw an emotion out of people... you might laugh, you might cry, you might get excited, you might get mad and you might just think its fly. there was so much bullshit out there before we started as far as companies that only had a name and nothing behind it. "how big can you get your logo, how many can you sell?" we wanted some substance behind our brand... not just selling an empty hollow name. we wanted people to read and question things, ya'know?

SGV: I was in the mall the other day I overheard these 2 kids walking out of a store saying, "they don't got LRG, lets go somewhere else". seems like kids that are down with LRG are hella loyal. what's up with that?

Jonas: well, me personally... I feel weird wearing anything that's not LRG. that's just my own loyalty to it. that's one thing we wanted... kids to be head to toe, we wanted to make everything you could possibly wear. I've always strived to make LRG a well rounded brand. I love other designers, but a lot of times it's like they make a dope ass hoody, but they make a horrible jean. Or they make a great jean but horrible jackets. we wanted to make the best of everything; jackets, tees, sweaters, denim, shorts, hats, belts. we want the fly gear award with everything we do. we like more than just t-shirts and hoodies, we like more than just denim. we're trying to do the whole gamut.

SGV: you've been in the game for 7 years now, what would you say was the most difficult obstacle for you to overcome?

Jonas: I wouldn't call it an obstacle, but there's a fine line that we've had to walk. like we were talking about earlier, having that edge and trying to please your core customer, but at the same time growing and evolving. you have to be very careful about how you do it. instead of growing with more stores, growing with the stores you have and more volume in those stores... things like that. and of course trying to maintain the creativity.

SGV: what other brands do you have your eyes on?

Jonas: I'm a huge fan of Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Stussy. as far as the streetwear brands I don't really follow them that closely, but what I've seen is really cool. I know there is a huge uprising going on. I know the trials and tribulations they are going thru, and I give props to all the independents out there. I think everybody has something dope about their line.

SGV: I'm sure that 7 years ago you were licking stamps as well as designing clothes and graphics. what are your day to day activities like nowadays?

Jonas: basically my role is more creative direction now. I do the line plan, set up certain collaboration projects like the jacket were doing with DJ Shadow or the snowboard we did with Forum. not so much of the hands on building of tech-packs, but more of the direction, sketching,the silhouettes, picking out the colors and the types of pieces we're gonna be doing, the theme... stuff like that.

SGV: so for kids trying to get into the fashion game what advice do you have for them?

Jonas: my advice would be to really believe in your idea and really go after it. you can't just sit on a couch and think something is gonna strike you and all of a sudden and you have a company. be willing to put in the time and energy it's gonna take. keep your head down... no matter what people say or who hates on you just do what you gotta do. you have to really believe in what you're doing. there's a lot of talk out there... oh I'm gonna do this, or I'm gonna do that. that's great, now go screen some shirts, go get that account, go stay up for 2 days in a row and ship out product all day. you have to really go after it. have a great mentor like Robert Wright and don't worry about anybody else and just believe in yourself... that's it. oh yeah, remember haters hate because you have what they want, instead of hating you should admire them and use that inspiration as fuel and apply it to your own life. peace to Kevion, big brother Bee, LRG crew, Atmos, Garbege, Universal Diamond Exchange, Good Music family, Palis, all my mommys around the way and of course Paul and the SGV crew.


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