Local clothing with a global message
Sep. 26—Cole Hughes grew up in Española wanting to wear fashionable clothing.
About two years ago, he and his friends began making clothes under the clothing label, Asymmetric.
Since graduating from high school, Hughes, along with Santi Romero, Keanu Gurule and Jared Henlock, has made a huge effort to move the brand forward.
"We wanted to create cool things," Hughes says. "It's kind of developed into something more than that."
Inspiration for the line comes from their day-to-day lives and wanting to bring change.
"We're all from a small town in northern New Mexico," Hughes explains. "Life can be rough and making a difference in the community takes a lot of work. To be able to make money and change people's minds with our clothing is special."
Running the company has definitely come with some learning curves.
Each of the members holds down a day job and/or school, so any down time is spent developing the next fashion drop.
"We didn't know how to run a business," Hughes says with a laugh. "All we wanted to do is make T-shirts and work on our digital art. For us, it's becoming more than just a side project. It's genuinely something we enjoy doing."
A recent line Asymmetry dropped in the spring was called "Do it for Donny."
Hughes and crew wanted to pay homage to a friend, Donovan Lujan, who died by suicide in January.
"It was devastating and he was one of our best friends," Hughes says. "His mom (Misty Lujan) started a scholarship fund for people who want to get into the mental health field. Once we heard that, we wanted to make a piece of art that people will willingly buy. In return, we'd donate the money to help fund the scholarship. Suicide is a huge problem and, as a society, we're kind of lacking in ways to help. If we can make a small change with this, we're happy do to it."
Hughes says all the shirts from the "Do it for Donny" line sold out and the company was able to donate more than $1,000 to the Donovan Lujan Kanye Lujan Memorial Fund.
Hughes says the clothing brand is planning to restock the "Do it for Donny" line.
The masterminds behind Asymmetric keep the entire creative and production process in house.
Hughes usually is the one that draws what's on the T-shirts.
"One message is to save the planet," he says. "We want it to really sink in. After we did the 'Donny' drop, we realized that people do care and they want to make a difference. That's what it's all about for us."
Online
To find out more about Asymmetric, visit asymmetric.store
