DEZO EMPIRE

3 CommentsThursday • November 12, 2009 • by CULT OF BEAUTY

Dezo Empire is one of the few streetwear brands for children that are  currently out there and its founder, Julio “Dezo” Patino and I share similar stories. Before becoming parents, we both were painting trains, but on opposite coasts – I was hitting up freight cars on the West Coast and he decorating the NY transit system on the East. Julio was kind enough to send over some of his favorite designs from the Dezo Empire line of high-quality children’s tees. Below is a High Gloss exclusive interview with founder, designer and father Julio “Dezo” Patino.

Please introduce yourself.
Julio (Dezo) Patino , born in Cuba, raised on 110th. street in Manhattan NYC from the age of 1.5 to approx. 25

How many little ones do you have?
I have four boys total – yup I hit the grand slam – two of which are still small enough to wear our t-shirts.

Having kids of our own makes us reflect back on our own childhood. What was it like growing up? What are some of your favorite childhood memories? How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
Growing in up in that dirty, rat infested, bums on every corner city was nothing short of amazing. I wouldn’t trade or change any of it. You see back in the ’70s and ’80s NYC was a very different place than it is now. I take the boys up there all the time and they can’t get enough of it; just Central Park alone is mind boggling to them, but it wasn’t that appealing (visually) when I was a child. What the city had back then and still does today is heart and character. It was a place where a boy could have an adventure on the way to the corner store. In a simple walk you’d experience so many emotions, from seeing a girl you liked to hiding from a kid that wants to kick your ass, to finding 20 bucks on the floor. You get my drift, all that would go down constantly and it really kept you on the edge.

Favorite memories would have to be the long summers, where you’d get up early and play all day. The days seemed like weeks and the weeks like months and the three months of no school felt like a whole year. I made the best friends of my life and still have them in my life. The world is different today by way of media. I think the media in one way or another are rushing the way our kids grow up for their own benefit. Every TV show, every video game, every new technology that kids feel they have to have is just making them think like grown ups too soon. All these things I fight daily to slow them down as much as possible.

Your graffiti background is apparent in your designs. Can you please tell us when you started writing and share with us your experiences painting the NYC transit system and such? Who were you seeing up back then?
I’m really dating myself now. I am part of the beginning of it all, first generation b-boy, breakdancing on the corner of Rockefeller Center for tips and praise of course. Lee pants with the sewn in permanent creases, British Walkers, Pumas, and of course graffiti. The scene was huge in my neighborhood; I am proud to say that I grew up watching and learning from the originals, such as Futura 2000, Revolt, Zephyr, Haze, Kel and his brother Mare 139 and Doze, just to name a few. I started decorating the subways in my high school years with a bunch of writers from Brooklyn – great times even when we were running for our lives from the work bums in the tunnels.

How and when did your brand Dezo Empire come about?
My friend Tonto and I were trying to come up with a name for me to tag. There were letters that I wrote or enjoyed writing more than others, Z being one of them. I really liked The way Doze (yes, Doze Green) tagged his name, so we flipped the letters around and Dezo was born in 1981. In the early years when I was designing and printing for Kingpin NYC, the brand was called Kid Dezo. It later evolved into Dezo Empire as empire was to be related to NYC the Empire State.

What are some of the obstacles that you encountered when first starting out? What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started?
“Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off our goals.” There has been many, from not being able to get quality blanks in the beginning, divorce, you name it, I’ve gone through it and am still going through it, I just keep at it. Somedays you are more creative than others. I wish I would have gone into manufacturing the best shirt possible back then when the market was new, I think nowadays most consumers just want what everyone else has instead of wanting what is original and fresh. I guess I have to get some product to some celebs and have their kids rock the line, then everyone will follow.

Could you please share with us the process in creating a Dezo Empire t-shirt, from creating the design to finished product?
More than half of the time an idea pops in, I grab paper and draw a rough sketch or I record my idea on my little recorder, because if I don’t do that, I will forget it as easily as I thought of it. Next step is taking it straight to film, I try to avoid the computer as much as possible, I believe that art programs make the end product look too perfect, I want my design to look and feel real, made by humans hands. Going straight to film gives me a freedom that I can’t even explain. And then I burn my screens, I never create to be mass produced like products banged out at the factory, I love limited prints, if you get one you got it, if you didn’t too bad, snatch one up from the next batch.

Your t-shirts are made of luxurious, Peruvian Pima Cotton. Could you please tell us more about the fabric for those that are unfamiliar with it?
I’ve been in the t-shirt business for many years now, and you always have a heads up of what’s the best stuff out there so when my hands touched my first pima shirt a couple of years ago, I just knew that this is what I had to use and combining it with soft water based printing to make the perfect kids shirt. Abercrombie has been using it and Banana Republic is now claiming it in their softest t-shirt ever ads. But I believe that I’m the first to use it in a kids t-shirt line. In short the strand (fiber) of Pima cotton that is grown in Peru is very long, about twice the length of regular cotton and when it is spun it creates almost a silk like feel and is very strong and durable.

Where do you see the market for street influenced wear for children going in coming years?
I think it is going wherever our kids want it to go, big brands need to copy us not the other way around. Big brands just want to make money they don’t care about the consumer, we want to produce fresh stuff for our kids. Plain and Simple.

What were your first thoughts when you found out you were going to become a father?
Wow, becoming a father was a scary thought, I couldn’t relate at first because I was raised by a single mom my whole life. The day my first son was born and each time that my others were born, I have felt extreme joy, everything around me was silenced for a second and I could here God’s voice whispering to me ” I’m trusting you to take care of this for me”. I have learned more from them in life, than what I have taught them.

How has becoming a parent changed your outlook on life?
The outlook has changed in the way of treating others, it feels great to be good to others and is is great to raise my kids in that matter, I feel like they are depositing wealth in the bank of goodness and they can make withdrawals all of their lives and live full.

One of my favorite quotes by Picasso is “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Your creativity must rub off on your kids. What do you do to foster their creativity and what types of things do they like to create?

I agree with that statement 100%, there is no better freedom than to create from a child’s view, no pressure, just a hand, a vision, and a pencil doing what they naturally do. All my kids draw. I love when the four of them get going and it is like an art class at home, papers everywhere. Not only do they create art but they are also becoming young musicians which I never did any of when I was a child but I definitely see the happiness that comes from that art form as well.

Do you have any advice for parents out there?
Sure do, take your time, do it right. Nothing else matters, careers, things, cars, big homes, nothing matters more than the small span of years that we share with these little humans before they become grown ups.

To pick up some tees for your little one, visit www.dezoempire.com.

Posted in: Artists, Consumer Products, Dads, Fashion