Meet Antonio Lopez and Laura Peduto of ALLP Studios in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Lopez and Laura Peduto.

Please kick things off for us with some background on your story.
We have been together for seven years now. We grew up in the same town called Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and we were friends since we were kids and started dating in high school. We both had a thing for fashion and had always styled each other’s outfits making sure we were the best dressed in the room.

We really understand one another’s sense of style, so it’s fun and easy when it’s time to create. After we graduated high school we went in different directions, Antonio studied business at a college around Philadelphia and Laura took classes in New York and soon after moved to Los Angeles. Antonio had always loved fashion and was always turning heads with his outfits.

Especially in college where he was surrounded by vineyard vine frat boys, and he chose to wear ski masks, trench coats, and leather heeled boots. He spent a lot of free time sewing in his dorm room rather than studying and knew he wasn’t where he belonged. After visiting Laura, he loved it so much he booked his one-way ticket and decided to join her.

A few months later, Antonio visits Laura and automatically falls in love and knew he wanted to join her. During that time he took a semester of fashion design and learned the basics of sewing, while Laura took a semester of acting in Film school. We started our LA life in Hollywood working various 9-5’s to pay the bills, exploring the fashion and nightlife scene and exploring DTLA Fashion District which is now our new 2nd home.

We started messing with clothing, cutting and sewing scraps together, embroidering, etc. Antonio is teaching Laura how to sew when they decided to start making clothing and taking it seriously.

Within the first year, we put together our first mock collection entitled “Are We There Yet.” These were handmade garments designed and crafted by us in an attempt to get closer to our “identity.” At this point, we were still just making random pieces of clothing only for us. It wasn’t until after we did a second mock collection that we even considered ourselves a brand.

Mostly our friends and some random people off social media started asking for custom pieces. This is where we started to make some money. And the sewing became more intense. Throughout making custom pieces for clients, we still were trying to focus on our identity as a brand and who we were. For months it was a lot of trial and error mixed with research, dead ends, and a ton of overthinking.

We were so caught up in trying to make our brand this professional smooth operating machine when in fact it wasn’t at all. It was just two kids making clothing for themselves as a form of artistic expression. So we realized this, and ALLP was born! A creative duo is making pieces to satisfy themselves. No trends, no social media hype, strictly an open portfolio representing who we are.

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?
It has been everything but a smooth road! Since we moved out here, LA has done everything in its power to send us back home. In the beginning, there were much harder obstacles to overcome. There was a situation where we had to move into our new apartment, and the day we were moving in they sold our unit, causing us to be homeless.

We had a U-Haul truck filled with all our things and lived out of it for six days parking it on the street and sleeping in the back. We spent every day all day, driving up all the streets in Hollywood until we found an apartment in our price range. Day seven hit and we luckily found a place that was ready for us immediately.

Along with the typical Los Angeles problems (crazy roommates, car tickets/towing, and the joke of minimum wage) starting your own business comes with its own set of obstacles. We have ZERO funding from outside parties, meaning no investors, no parents giving us weekly allowances, no sugar daddy or mommy, just us.

After paying all of our bills, all of our hard earned cash goes right into ALLP. We don’t even remember the last time we went shopping for actual clothing for ourselves. This has been an issue just because it limits us on so much and causes us to move slower than we want as a business.

This industry has become a very saturated world filled with rich kids flexing their parent’s money, and hypebeast “influencers” selling Gildan sweatshirts for $200. Whereas for us, we hand make our pieces from scratch and price them reasonably in regards to fabrics and labor.

Our goal is to tell the story we are creating in the most authentic way possible. We don’t rely on hype to keep our brand alive. It will continue to breathe because we put the work in.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about ALLP Studios – what should we know?
ALLP Studios is an openly creative business that currently specializes in fashion. More specifically streetwear and urban fashion. Right now we are known more for our range of tactical bags. From our signature chest bag to our tactical vest, these pieces include different pockets and attachments to ensure full security of your items.

These pieces have given us the most feedback so far they are perfect for concerts, exercise, camping, or traveling. Since we are still hand making every piece, these accessories have given us the ability to get more product into the world’s hands since the labor doesn’t take us as long as more complex garments.

What sets us apart from other brands is the same thing that continues to make us proud of who we are. This just comes down to who we are as Antonio and Laura. We have never been ones to conform to the norm. We have always had strong opinions and shared them no matter who was in the room. ALLP is a representation of us. We will not make clothing for trends. We will not follow the normal fashion calendar. We intend to do everything the way we want to do it, with full control.

And if it’s done right, our followers will reciprocate this same energy in their lives, thus promoting everyone to do what they love strictly because they love it. No financial, social, or physical situation should stop you from being 100% you, and that is what ALLP as a brand represents — staying true to ourselves in an industry full of clones. This is what makes us proud.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Right now, what’s most important to our success is loyalty and hard work… Something LA has really shown is that anything can happen, and you can’t trust anyone. So it’s really important that you have someone you can rely on.

Since we’re still young and learning who we are while building an empire, loyalty and our family is key. Hard work speaks for itself, you need to outwork every single person in your industry. This means you have to be willing to sacrifice more than them and stay hungrier than them. But our most important characteristic is that we are Antonio and Laura no matter what.

If you know us then you know what that means, we will always stay true to ourselves, our values, and continue to bring new energy to the world. As long as we stay loyal and work hard, there’s no doubt ALLP will grow into an empire.

Contact Info:

• Website: allpstudios.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/allpstudios

Image Credit:
Seidi Hakkanen, Howard Campbell, Raul Guitron Jr.

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