Cozy Cult is a brand centered around clothes, with plans to expand into a diverse e-commerce platform selling everything from skincare to kitchenware. The founder of this so-called cult is Fernando Villarreal, a 17 year old from San Marcos.
Fernando’s competitive edge is what first inspired him to start Cozy Cult. “There was a kid at school who had a clothing brand and I thought it was cool. But he just wasn’t managing his company well, and I felt like there was so much potential there, so I ended up just starting my own brand with my brother.” From here, Fernando and his brother Roberto, invested a lot of time and about two-thousand dollars into creating clothes for a first drop. It’s been about a year since then, and they continue to make tees, hoodies, and jeans with unique designs that reflect a casual, minimalist, skater style.
Fernando was able to gain an initial following for his brand by putting his clothes in the hands (and Instagrams) of the right people. He explained “It wasn’t that hard to be honest. We did a lot of just getting our friends, and people a lot of kids liked, to wear it and post it. Just give cool kids your stuff and have them post in it and other kids will want to have it.” Although he’s had significant sales and success in the clothing world, Fernando envisions Cozy expanding to other industries, and doesn’t want to be written off as just another t-shirt brand. Fernando sees the t-shirt market as incredibly oversaturated, and limited in terms of growth. “You don’t see a lot of t-shirt brands going into the 100 million dollar range and if I wanna do something, I want it to be big.”
Long term, Fernando wants to see Cozy Cult selling products in a diverse array of industries, from soap to pottery to coffee.
But Fernando’s ambitious vision for Cozy Cult is more than just making a lot of things, he is committed to making everything the right way. “We feel a moral responsibility to do things different.” The clothing industry, he explained, is very wasteful and employs a lot of inhumane labor. For these reasons, Cozy Cult does not source its materials from big companies like Gildan, whom Fernando claims create their garments under deplorable “sweatshop” conditions. Rather, Cozy uses blanks from LA Apparel, a company committed to paying its workers competitive wages. Additionally, Fernando intends for all of Cozy’s packaging to be biodegradable and compostable, so as to limit the brand’s environmental footprint. Although Cozy has not yet achieved complete sustainability, Fernando expresses a commitment to continually take steps in that direction.
From this, it’s easy to see that Cozy cares about broader issues facing all of us. This is further evident in the fact that during these troubling times Cozy is including a free, hand-made face mask with every online order. The passion, drive, and care Fernando has put into Cozy Cult is clear, and SHEESH! considers it a brand worth supporting.
