Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernando Q.
Hi Fernando, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The main reason as to why I started this brand because I myself at a young age struggled with self-motivation as well as motivation from my peers and or family. Knowing this feeling, I know that I did not want anyone else to feel this way however I was having a huge struggle on how I can get my message across. In the year of 2015, I got accepted to The Fashion Institute of Technology (since high school, this had been my dream school). It was my 2nd semester in FIT and I had taken student loan(s) out and was getting little to no financial aid, it was so frustrating and heartbreaking knowing that I wanted to go to school, yet it was so expensive for me to do this…
November of 2015, I was taking a Marketing Course at FIT and was asked to do a project on a made up brand/business. I already had a lot of love for sneakers/streetwear growing up so this to me sounded great and I gave it my all because I wanted a good grade in the class. Our professor asks us to create a PowerPoint and prepare to present to the rest of the class and that’s exactly what I did. The morning of the presentation, I would say my life changed in a huge way, I presented this PowerPoint on a brand that I created called Club De Richesse (this means “Wealth Club” in French). The feedback from my fellow classmates was amazing… I had people asking me if this was actually my business or brand as they wanted to buy some product because it sounded so good. My professor told me that if this is actually my business she is prepared to take her kids to the storefront that weekend to buy them some stuff. This left me in great shock, I just couldn’t believe it… something that I spent the maximum of 1 week creating amazed this group of individuals to the point where they wanted to go out and actually shop at this made up storefront/brand.
Immediately after that class, I knew that I had to take the chance and make something of Club De Richesse as I could really be onto something. I thought it through for about a week or so, next thing you know I am dropping out of my dream school to pursue this brand that I made up on a school project. I established somewhat of a name for my brand on the East Coast (where I am originally from: Paterson, NJ to be exact born and raised) but for some reason, I just wasn’t content with the way life was going at the time back home and I wanted to escape and expand… Fast forward to March 2018, I decided to move out to Los Angeles, CA to pursue my brand’s expansion and create a brand new life on the West Coast. It has been one hell of a ride, but I am happy to be here. Los Angeles is an amazing city and I am happy to bring my style to this side of the world and share my message through the clothing that myself + Club De Richesse create.
In a lot of our pieces, you will find quotes that uplift and or motivate you because that is what I want this brand to do for the younger generation. I want to show the youth that anything is possible as long as you create a plan and execute it. I am nowhere near where I want to be yet, however I wake up everyday and work hard towards new goals/obstacles that may come my way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say it hasn’t exactly been a smooth road. In the beginning, I didn’t really have much money to fund the brand myself therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the idea to some close friends of mine at the time so that we can all work towards the bigger picture and potentially we can change our lives as well as our families.
However, that didn’t exactly work… You could be financially invested into something, but if your heart isn’t invested into it how will it exactly work? This, I had to learn the hard way. Slowly, I started losing the help of my peers and felt the pressure of building this brand upon myself. The more I tried to talk to them about it and shape everyone into an A-Team, the more we found ourselves drifting from one another.
Things got a bit too overwhelming with trying to balance the brand’s work and trying to ask my peers for help. I had a much better job in Los Angeles than I did back home so I thought it was time I took matters into my own hands and continue the Club De Richesse project on my own.
Since then, I would say some things got somewhat easier. However, you can already imagine what it is to build a brand from the ground up on your own. Luckily, I have an amazing partner by my side who supports me and cheers me on no matter what the case may be. I feel that having a support system on your side certainly makes a difference.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Here at Club De Richesse, we specialize in quality garments. If our quality products won’t make you love us, then maybe some of the motivational messages that we put out through our pieces will make you love us! We feel that this separates us from the rest no questions asked. This brand was not started for monetary profits, it was solely started to spread positive messages/offer motivation to those in need of it.
We as a brand are most proud that we offer some of the best quality on the market at competitive pricing! We will beat the pricing on all of your designer brands while sometimes surpassing designer brand quality or even offer similar quality to designer brands.
We want our readers to know that this started with a dream, never stop believing/investing in yourself as you could never lose!
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
A great mentor of mine who I am forever grateful for would be an elementary/high school teacher I had. His name is Edwin Hernandez. In elementary school, Mr. Hernandez was my computer teacher and in high school, he ended up being my Business Marketing teacher.
I always found Mr. Hernandez pushing me to my limits to be great and giving me great life advice. To add, Mr. Hernandez had his own T-Shirt brand when I was young. He called it “Elektro Shirts” they were such cool shirts because when you turned on a switch on the inside of the shirt, it would activate lights on the shirt that moved to sounds!
Growing up, I remember everyone at school wanting an “Elektro Shirt” from Mr. Hernandez. They wanted to wear them to parties, gatherings, etc. I always found that great.
Pricing:
- T-Shirts $30.00
- Sweat shorts $39.99
- Hoodies $60.00
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.clubderichesse.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/clubderichesse
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/clubderichesse
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/clubderichesse
Image Credits
L.A.G Photography (Luis G.) as well as Felicia F.
