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Life & Work with Isaac Padilla and Roman Flores

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Padilla and Roman Flores.

Hi Isaac and Roman, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We’re Isaac and Roman, best friends and co-owners of Que Rico T-Shirt Co. Our company was originally conceived when we were in high school but didn’t materialize until 2013. We originally started a men’s accessory brand that created accessories for the dapper gentleman (pocket squares, lapel pins, etc.). With that brand, we participated in various markets and trade shows throughout Texas and California. It was during those events that we noticed there wasn’t much (or any) Latinx representation or products that catered to our community. Since high school, we had always wanted to start an apparel company and after witnessing this lack of Latinx representation, we decided to start a new brand with lifestyle products that were inspired by our culture and how we grew up in West Texas with our Hispanic families.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Financially yes because we were able to leverage the profits from our previous brand to start this new company. However, our struggles have been more around logistics and production. Our first products were t-shirts and aligning with strong suppliers and vendor partners was a process. We needed to make sure that we were sourcing the best quality t-shirts and custom color transfers for the best price. Another challenge was also determining how many t-shirts to produce for on-hand inventory while juggling inventory needed for customer orders, in-person markets/events, and wholesale orders. We found out very fast that our production facilities needed to expand.

And like other small-business owners, the Covid-19 pandemic has also been a struggle. We had to transition our business from selling at in-person events to focusing more on our online business and participating in virtual markets. It was definitely a learning curve for everyone involved, but it’s a challenge that allowed us to be very creative in our execution.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The key to our partnership is that we have very defined roles within our business that leverage our strengths and talents while at the same time ensuring a collaborative environment and creative process.

Roman has always been a creative person since he was a child and has always found opportunities to embrace his creativity. He’s been fortunate to work for great big-box companies during his career where he’s had roles as a merchandise manager and visual merchandising assistant. When he left retail, he knew he still needed to fuel his creative side so that’s where Que Rico T-shirt Co. took over. He’s most proud of being a small business owner and is lucky to surround himself with other creative entrepreneurs, giving him the opportunity to learn and grow from each other. What he’s most proud of is the business and sharing his culture with others, one t-shirt at a time.

Isaac is an entrepreneur and currently works as a Managing Director for an architecture design-build firm in Dallas, Texas. Isaac’s background is in operations and marketing. Prior to his work with this group, he worked at 7-Eleven and served as the Franchising Marketing Manager for the US managing all marketing and advertising efforts for the franchise and business development teams. He is most proud of this work because it was a role that didn’t exist before he was hired and one he crafted and created for the company. And before that, he worked at a boutique Hispanic advertising agency once located in downtown Dallas.

What matters most to you?
For us, it’s about sharing our culture and heritage with others while also giving back to our community. Our goal is to make people smile when they wear and use our products.

Pricing:

  • $24 – Adult T-Shirts
  • $19 – Kid and Toddler T-Shirts & Infant Onesies
  • $12 – Pet Bandanas
  • $12 – Tote Bags
  • $5 – Can Coolers (Regular & Slim)

Contact Info:

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