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 Business News | August 2007 
Now, Wear T-Shirts that Poke Fun at Racism
 CNN
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| POKE FUN: With NACO t-shirts we want people to laugh at racism, we’re not trying to offend anyone, says Meza.
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Mexico City - Being tacky is being cool!
Tacky t-shirts are the latest fad to hit the western world and the unique concept has helped one company sell thousands of t-shirts to youngsters, who see poking fun at themselves as the latest trend.
A Mexican design company called NACO that is Mexican slang for tacky, has produced the t-shirts that are meant to combat racism and discrimination.
For years, the t-shirts have been sold online and only in a city shop in Mexico. But now you can also find them on the other side of the border.
“Naco is at first sight a derogatory term used to single out the lower class in Mexico and what we have been trying to do for years is to erase that, says Carols Meza of NACO T-Shirts.
The T-shirts are also a way for Mexican designers to poke fun at themselves at the unfortunate reputation the country is getting.
For example, there is a shirt that sports a logo for the ‘Quintero-Arellano export company’. Quintero and Arellano are two of Mexico’s most notorious alleged drug traffickers.
“We are just trying for you to know, relax have fun, and laugh at racism as we laugh at so many other things. We are not trying to offend anybody, “ says Meza.
But the people who are buying them on both sides of the border obviously don't mind as it makes the reality of discrimination easier to take.
T-Shirts With a Message
Lisa Hinojosa - Caller Times
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Corpus Christi — A Mexico City line of urban chic T-shirts has stopped in Corpus Christi.
The saucy tees by NaCo are emblazoned with a plucky written or graphic message, such as ‘M is for Mija’ or ‘Se Habla Español.’
One of the more popular designs is a picture of sneakers hanging from cable lines.
“It’s cool that a big company like (Macy’s South) is taking a chance on us,” said designer Edoardo Chavarín, who launched the brand in 1999 with Robby Vient, his schoolmate at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif.
Their clothing company is named as a wordplay on a desultory Spanish label — naco — traditionally used to insult someone’s taste and class standing.
“It (was) like somebody saying, ‘Oh my gosh, you look so tacky — you’re not going to get in the club wearing that,’” a representative for the retailer, said.
The label has worked with big-name celebrities and has produced limited edition apparel for events such as the Latin Grammy Awards and MTV Video Music Awards Latin America.
Chavarín sees the Latino cultural expansion into the mainstream as a continuing trend. “Latino Hispanic culture is getting so big in the U.S. that I don’t think it’s wise to ignore it,” he said.
In a nod to empowerment through humor, the message tees sport edgy designs that riff on cultural cues.
“We try to be very simple and direct with a sense of humor — kind of a no-design design. It’s trying to send a message,” Chavarín said. The majority of NaCo shirt slogans hint at multiple meanings.
“I really like the one that says, ‘Brown is the New White.’ We’re talking about rice, not people,” Chavarín said. |
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