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Streetwear Designer Guillermo Andrade Teams Up With Footaction to Further Appreciation of Latinx Music Through Fashion

Designer Andrade BELatina

To celebrate the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, acclaimed streetwear designer and co-founder of FourTwoFour on Fairfax, Guillermo Andrade, teamed up with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation and Footaction —  the leading national retailer of lifestyle apparel and footwear — to launch a capsule collection inspired by some of Latin musics leading stars.

Looking to the nominees of this year’s Latin Grammy Awards as a source of artistic inspiration, the Guatemalan designer Andrade added to his playlist songs by Sebastian Yatra, Bad Bunny, Greeicy, and regional Mexican star Christian Nodal, interpreting each artist’s individual and signature style into limited-edition graphic t-shirts. The collection will be produced and sold online by Footaction. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, whose mission is to further international awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions of Latin music and its makers to global culture, through college scholarships, grants, and educational programs.

For the designer, being part of this project was a no-brainer and an experience that he believes will leave an impact on the Latinx community. When I received this offer and I saw there was a charity involved, that it was for the Latin Grammys and we are celebrating its 20 years, I immediately accepted it,” Andrade told BELatina. I thought about the younger version of me and what I would like to see while growing up: someone like me, with the same background and doing great things.”

Andrade also said that finding inspiration from the musicians was an organic process. When it comes to the artists, they do their job just great. They make music and just need to pay attention and understand the version, whether its a ballad, rap, or a pop song. All of that type of music has a high energy frequency and its very colorful — and if its about love it’s even easier to feel,” said the 35-year-old designer.

He wasn’t the only one excited to be on board this project as its designer. Richard McLeod, Vice President of Marketing at Footaction, said that Andrade embodies the spirit of the collection. Guillermo is a visionary designer who bridges art, politics, culture, and music. He, along with the musical artists from which he drew inspiration, embody the spirit of No 1 Way and were thrilled to launch this project and celebrate the individual paths to success that these creative forces have forged.”

Gabriel Abaroa Jr., President/CEO of The Latin Recording Academy, echoed this excitement over Andrade’s creations. ”We’re thrilled to unveil these limited-edition designs to celebrate a once in a lifetime 20th anniversary of the Latin Grammy Awards in collaboration with Footaction, these four talented artists,and designer Guillermo Andrade,” he said. “This collection continues to forward our mission of enhancing Latin music around the world and it’s also a testament to what the U.S. Latin community can achieve when we work together.”

When it comes to the fabric selection, for Andrade it was extremely important to use affordable but high quality materials as a way to deliver the best product possible. You want to give your clients the best thing that you can — and in some cases a $1000 dollar t-shirt limits the amount of people who can have it,” said the designer. ”So moments like this are really nice because you can make a product and connect with a version of yourself.”

What I hope to accomplish is to reduce the misrepresentation in our community,” revealed the designer. Its a moment for us to empower ourselves, be united, and sort of claim the proper identity for the Hispanic community in this country and what it means to be 35 and successfulin America and be American. It is not what it used to be in the 50s; we are different people now and there needs to be a proper reflection or projection of our contributions to this country. We give a lot of ourselves to this place and in some cases we even leave our culture behind to embrace this one, and yet we are still being painted as the bad guys, the cheats, or the person who is taking advantage, and it’s just not true.”

The designer emphasized to BELatina that he will do anything in his power to create more jobs for people because thats a contribution that cant be disputed. People can call us whatever they want but ultimately we have our receipts to prove them wrong. We pay our taxes, we create jobs, and we empower people to accomplish their dreams — and they are not only Hispanic,” he said. Andrade also added that the more successful we are, the stronger we can all grow together.

If you want to know more and be part of this amazing cause, you can purchase the collection from anywhere in the world at www.capsulebyfootaction.com and on the Frenzy App for a limited time. T-shirts will retail for $49.50, including shipping costs. For each t-shirt sold, $5 will be donated to the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundations philanthropic efforts.

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