“The Beginning”
The story starts in the 80’s, rock was king and we ain’t talkin bout Metallica. As kids we saw the hood stars they were “fresh” and “bumpin’” as they used to say. They had the nicest kicks and gear we’d ever seen, and we wanted to emulate that and strived to be the freshest. As we came into our teens we did what we had to, we were up and coming and we started buying the newest kicks of the day AF1’s, all reds, all blues even all greens with white checks, yeah we had them! The kick game is in our DC blood, we’ve always known, females look at yours shoes so you better be fresh!

We would frequent Georgetown to Prince and Princess and Sweat Style, Players of Georgetown for the freshest Filas and Sergio Tachini sweatsuits, rhinestone jackets, anything that would set us apart from the squares. We’d shop on Connecticut Ave. , Friendship Heights, we’d go high and low for the NEXT or what we thought would make us the next.

We would buy the latest gear and get them customized with fendi and gucci on the trim, we were fresh in the late 80’s early 90’s. We’d even go so far to wear 2 sweat suits at once in the winter to show we were fresh ta deaf (yeah sounds dumb to us now too) we did whatever it took to stand out. We had to be the first with the certain type of shoe, shirt, jeans, we had to be them dudes! It was always like this, something was good, but it had to be different than the last person with the same item. It could be better by adding something. Thus the customization began. Be it shirts, sweats, jackets even coats, it all could be done better.

It wasn’t until 2001 that Bustamante came to being a company in of its own. Done with buying clothing from other brands and seeing the DC clothing scene saturated by Madness knock-offs (colorful embroidery of said company name). Bustamante forged ahead to create their version of what was out there with a twist. Universal Madness was original and everything else has been riding their coat tails.

“What makes us different?”
Growing up in Uptown DC (NW) we ran with hustlers on Ga. Ave. (7th st.) to shopping and rubbing elbows with folks in Georgetown and dating females from Sidwell Friends and Wilson High, we had that high and low access. We ran in diverse circles and that’s what makes us different from other designers. The designs are very diverse, some are street some are high brow, there’s something for everybody. You can’t pigeon hole us, we’re really men about town, renaissance men in a way really.

“Old to the New, Best of the Best, Keeping you Fresh”
The concept behind the Bustamante is to incorporate our DC and LA roots and street sensibility with the feel of DC and SoCal. The Bustamante signature look, which showcases the versatility of “tees, polos, jackets, hats” and their ability to transform and transition from low key to stand out.

Though most people consider these the most basic of clothing, to us it all depends how you wear it. From new school skaters to old school go-go heads, Bustamante has designs for all the different people that make the District such a melting pot of cultures and styles. We want people to look to the Nations Capital for fresh designs the same way people look towards NY and LA. Fashion in the District has definitely been saturated with the same look and feel for far too long, the cookie cutter DC brands is just overdone. Having been there when Madness created this (much respect to the originators) we think its time to focus more on the design aspect and the meaning behind a design. The idea is for people to start caring about fabrics and designs more than just the name and price, so with Bustamante you get both, quality and substance. Before launching Bustamante, we observed the state of current DC fashion. Our ultimate goal is to bring fresh, creative designs that make you stand out (in a good way). For that reason, we feel it is only necessary to introduce Bustamante to the DC and offer something classic and new at the same time, to the DC…to the world……..

With all this said we want anyone who purchases anything from us to stand out from the crowd. This might not be for the masses but thats a good thing, no?

So go ahead and Buy Some Goods as we say, support a local home grown brand that keeps freshness and creativity in mind along with the history behind this city we call home……. DC.

by admin