(Phoenix, Arizona) — The colorful and original pattern printed on the front side of a black t-shirt created by Alicia Lopez and showing the image of a woman dressed as a Mexican revolutionary —wearing a sombrero, and pointing a rifle— is irresistibly eye-catching.
The imaginative illustration, surrounded with the inscription “Viva la Revolución” (or Long live the revolution,) immediately captures the attention, and awakens the desire to know more.
Worn by her designer, Alicia Lopez —a self-described Mexican woman born in Phoenix, Arizona— the t-shirt is just one of several from Trucha Gear, a new line of t-shirts and accessories that is breaking its own ground in the competitive industry of apparel design.
While Trucha Gear is a new venture, the dream that shaped it in Lopez’ mind goes back to her childhood. As a little girl, Lopez would make clothes for her toy dolls, thus piecing together the strings that eventually weaved this small but rising Arizona business.
Lopez, 30, began Trucha Gear in 2009, a startup based in Chandler, Arizona. She estimates the percentage of growth she has had since then is about 50 to 65 percent.
“I am fairly new [in the business] so it has been hard, but from when I began to now I had a lot of progress!” said Lopez.
Lopez is the creative force —and often the main model— behind all of the designs that bring the Trucha Gear t-shirts alive. Sometimes the idea for a new design is just an image that all of a sudden forms in her mind; some others take form in her dreams as she sleeps.
“I create them from my mind then I draft them on my computer with help from my little bro,” she explains. “I then send them to my graphic artists who are out in Los Angeles, California. One’s name is Jose Alva, (AKA GERM,) and I also have had help from other Cali graphic artists, Mike and Art Castro. I have used drawings and actual photos from my photo shoots to create some designs. I have had a lot of help from photographer and printer Julian Barrios of L.A. also.”
The “Viva la Revolución” t-shirt proposes a woman of action, one who is a fighter and is poised to bring change. It is not the image of a soldadera (a camp follower) but rather of a woman soldier who proposes a revolution as a statement for social change. That meaning is precisely the message Lopez wants to convey to other women through her designs.
“Trucha Gear focuses on empowering women,” said Lopez. “A lot of women think they are weak, but women can be very strong.”
Therefore her designs evoke strong symbols of Chicana/Mexicana culture. Among her T-shirt designs are the “Mexica,” “Frida,” “Trucha Logo,” and the “Mamacita Guns and Roses.”
As many startups, Trucha Gear faces common obstacles that Lopez says she works to overcome by staying focused and motivated.
She acknowledges that some people have tried to discourage her by telling her that she’s wasting her time, and other times she fights her own discouragements. Moreover, Lopez works six days a week at a warehouse “doing men’s heavy work.”
Lopez says some of the continuous motivation she needs to keep promoting and growing Trucha Gear comes from some people who have positively influenced her. Some of her biggest influences are Mexican famous painter Frida Kahlo, the late Mexican-American singer Selena, and her own father.
“Frida Kahlo influenced me not only as an artist but as a woman,” revealed Lopez. “Selena also inspired me, the way she was as a woman, being Chicana; she followed her dreams, not just as an artist, also as a clothes designer; that really influenced me. But also my dad, Pedro Lopez, a migrant from Chihuahua, Mexico, influenced me. I’ve seen him struggle his whole life, working really hard for the family, working —sometimes all day he’ll be gone— to put food on the table.”
But as Lopez makes her own statement through Trucha Gear to empower women with her own t-shirt designs, her example is also a challenge for other women to get trucha.
In the Spanish language, the colloquial use of the phrase “ser trucha” is the equivalent of being clever or smart. In the straight sense of the word, trucha is the trout fish. Among Mexicans, however, trucha is informally used to refer to a person who is ingenious, talented or smart. While these three words describe Lopez well, all three can be best summarized in just one: trucha.
Alicia Lopez’ story of hard work and perseverance as she pursues what she calls her “lifelong dream” can also be an inspiration for other women. whether they are working six days a week, just thinking about starting their own business, or just watching their daughters play with toy dolls.
© 2011 – 2023, Eduardo Barraza. All rights reserved.
