Life & Work with Christian Garcia of Baldwin Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Garcia

Hi Christian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Mi Vida Loca had always been an idea l’ve had years before the making. It started with my first brand I created in high school, it was mainly screen printing and embroidery. I was taking graphic design classes at the time and started screen printing my first ideas all at home. It was doing well for a while but then I fell off of it and lost passion for the brand and began to take sewing more seriously. I started doing all types of cut and sew projects but never really had the time to put all my energy into making a brand as I wanted to. After our first year of just strictly doing cut and sew by hand mainly making bags, my fiancé and I felt like it was the right time to take a chance and go all the way with it and officially releasing the brand to the public. We received really good responses from our community and have just been pushing through since to create new ideas and just producing the kind of clothes we would want to have for ourselves.

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?
We are still learning and figuring everything out as we go. Throughout our journey the biggest continuous obstacle has mainly been funding. When starting the brand we really came together and kind of risked it all to just invest into ourselves and create the brand which has become the best thing we could have done. But it definitely was and still isn’t easy, we work harder at our day jobs so that we can fund our passion work. Luckily we are blessed to have the following we have been gaining and that has also really helped us with funding new designs and projects! I am a firm believer that everything will happen when it’s supposed to happen, we are still learning and figuring everything out as we go and know things will work out the way it is supposed to. We just have to keep pushing through our obstacles whenever they come.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Since I was 18 l’ve work for my family business, our business specializes in pest control and serves the Southern California region. I’ve always been a hard worker and have been proud that I can help and support my family. Now with the brand and balancing my full time job my days are typically long, I come home refresh and Power Nap then go straight to sewing and packaging/sending out orders for as many hours as I possibly can. It can definitely get tiring at times because I wake up early mornings for work and then work typically 8-10 hours and then come home and try and recharge my battery to continue working on the brand. I do try and take some rest days at least 1-2 times a week so I don’t burn myself out. It definitely helps having my fiancé split the work with me so we can knock out as much as we can as a team!

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I can say I was a little ghetto bad ass kid but l’ve always felt like I was a good kid on the inside. I ditched a lot and couldn’t keep my grades up in high school. I would go hangout on Melrose and Fairfax with the homies to show off my outfit and go to all the stores. I’ve always been heavy into fashion since I was young and would always find to get money so I can buy some pieces.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mividalocala.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mividalocala

Image Credits
Photographers:
Brandon Moningka ( all of the brand photos)
Jay Duke( took founders valentines picture)

Models:
Tomàs Gonzales
Julianna Aguirre Martinez
Sydney Yatco