As of late, we’ve been featuring a lot of work from the local South Florida brand “Bumps and Bruises“. Being that I know one of the cats that created the brand, I thought I would take it upon myself to pick Manny Cabrera’s brain about the brand and its future.
What is Bumps and Bruises?
The simplest explanation is that when we started out, it was just a little boys’ clothing line. There was really nothing on the market that exists like it. My friend and I do freelance t-shirt work for big time companies. We had been like, “Man, we gotta start our own t-shirt line.”. But, the market was so flooded that I never really wanted do it. Ya know, you go and do research and it seems like a new company was springin’ up every week. Ya know, I refuse to be like anybody else. So, we finally started thinkin’ about it and my partner had a baby girl about a year ago, knowing that I had a little one on the way, I was thinkin’ about doin’ baby clothes.
We came up with the concept of doin’ a streetwear/funny inspired thing for kids. It just made sense.
Initially, we just did up the designs and started showin’ it to friends, and everyone was blown away and they loved it, so we figured we’d go all out with production and see where it went from there.
That’s pretty much it, just seeing a need and trying to fill it.
What is Bumps and Bruises going to evolve into?
What trying to evolve into is a mens line. At first we wanna do a family style line, where it still connects to the kids.
What we kinda blew up with was with those Miami Heat shirts and the Miami Dolphin, so from sports fans and local trends, that been received really well. Like, a lot of people like the brand, but its a niche market. So, its kinda hard when you don’t have kids. You can be a fan of the brand, but it doesn’t equate to retail sales. You can be a fan all you want, but if you can’t wear the clothes, you’re not gonna buy it. I guess kinda outta necessity we have to become a mens line and a kids line.
Right now, with the kids line we focus on toddlers because we didn’t wanna carry too much stock. Later, we’re gonna switch it up to onesies and focus on younger babies. Cuz right now, the age group is from like 2 to 6 years old, so we’re gonna have to switch it up to 6 to 9 months up to 2 years old. We’ve found onesies sell a lot more. We’ve been to a lot of higher end boutiques and they tell us that’s what they’re lookin’ for. You can sell that even in boutiques that don’t sell kids clothes. Be it a promotional thing, or things that are just there, cuz women shop there. That’s our main target, women.
But with the mens shirts that’s what we’ve actually been able to sell to stores down here, like sneaker stores. So, we’re trying to get into that market.
Where can people buy Bump and Bruises products?
Right now, as far as physical locations go, you can cop it at Solefly in Miami or bumps-bruises.com.
Could you see Bump and Bruises having a flagship store?
I would love to. Our dream is to have a showroom/studio. We still do marketing, websites, logos on the side for other brands. I’d love to have our brand exist and then also have our studio. Kinda like Jeff Staple.
What influences Bumps and Bruises?
For the kids end of it, its more about culture and music. Just inspired by Hip-Hop in general.
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Manny and I touched on a myriad of subjects during this interview. So many that I had to condense all the info he gave me into what you see here. I will tell you that you should keep yourself in the loop, for something that is gonna rock the casbah. The Bumps and Bruises crew definitely has their sights set on success, and from what I know, that is all that awaits them in 2011.
Check them out on Facebook & Twitter.
- peace,
t.
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