Today we’d like to introduce you to HUGO QUINTERO.
Hi HUGO, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was growing up, it was hard to afford new clothes every school year. My mom was a single parent since my dad was in prison for a majority of my childhood. Keeping up with what was in style and stuff was hard and so I would often get made fun of for how I dressed. Fast forward to when I got to high school… I LOVED music. But I never felt musically inclined nor was had I ever taken classes like for an instrument or anything. I began to work and be able to sort of afford clothes for myself. Sometimes I would do things like draw on my clothes or sharpie logos onto various items. I think this was when I decided to I wanted to have a clothing brand. I realized that 2 things. Fashion and aesthetics is so tied to music and this could be a way I could feel culturally intertwined to the thing I love indulging in. The other thing is I knew I wanted to create a brand that was affordable. Fast forward to COVID and I decided that I wanted to pick up DJ’ing. Of course my love for music and the desire to share music I loved played a big part, but I found it to be a way that I could curate a vibe or soundtrack for when I had clothing releases. Right now the DJ’ing is taking off. I throw events put on by my brand MAINEY SWOG as a way to keep them holding eachother afloat if you will.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every win has for sure been hard fought. The biggest hurdle when it comes to making clothes is being able to afford production and of course successfully making sales. It’s hard to make the world like something completely new. I’m not taking the easy route and ripping off established IP’s, logos, or anything people are already familiar with. Even my brand name has a made up word in it that’s just meant to mock the word “swag”. On the DJ side… People may be surprised by this but only until recently I was not getting hit up too often to DJ events outside my circle. I would reach out to promoters and event organizers but people were not giving me the time of day. Using MAINEY SWOG, I decided to start doing my own parties called STAR STUNNAS. On top of that my friends have a collective called HOMEBODIES and they also throw events which I basically always DJ. They give me a prime time slot whenever they do their shows. All these things have grown overtime and I think this year I’ve finally began seeing the fruits of being rejected or ignored and just deciding to do it my damn self. Right now I’m kind of having a hard time finding free time but that’s a good problem to have!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a DJ and I also have a clothing brand! I take pride in the fact that I am self taught. I taught myself how to use Photoshop, no tutorials. I handle production myself on a majority of the pieces as well. When it comes to DJ’ing I also learned myself. When it comes to how I DJ I think of myself as “all over the place”. I feel like a mad scientist when I DJ, blending and mixing things in a really free’ing way. It’s almost reckless, if anything I’d say it’s very Punk.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I have a mixed take about risk taking. The way I see it is that risk taking is more of a “not if but when” type of thing. Some people’s lives have just allowed them the means to take more risks and have a safety net while some people get 1 or a handful of chances before reality strikes. I think there’s more power in putting in the work so that all the pieces fall into place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maineyswog.com
- Instagram: @thehugoat @maineyswog
