JONATHAN OE / MY STORY
BEGINNINGS
My grandparents migrated from Japan to Hawaii 130 years ago. They worked in the pineapple and sugar cane fields, then made their way to California. They experienced the war. They lived in the relocation camps and lost their homes. My story begins in Venice, California, in the late 60's. It was an amazing community of blue collar workers, gangs, surfers, and artists that shaped who I wanted to be. After college, I worked for a couple years, then made my way back to Japan, searching for spiritual awakening and an understanding of who I was.
LEOTARDS, SHOWTIME,
AND GIRLS SOFTBALL
When I returned to the U.S. I found a job, saved my money, and started a company representing U.S. sports accessory brands in Japan. I soon met Bob Marx, Co-CEO of Gilda Marx Industries, one of the world's leaders in the leotard business. I went to work for Gilda Marx and built a division for the company in Japan. I loved this business, of reshaping a woman's self image through spandex, and I was very good at it, shattering company sales records and opening direct business into major Japanese retailers. But within a few years, aerobics would fade away, and so did the business for Gilda Marx in the United States. So I moved back to California, and started again...
Right before the 9/11 attack, I bought a tiny, dying, cut and sew business in Glendale California that made custom sports uniforms for teams. They also happened to do the lettering and alterations for the Los Angeles Lakers, and for many years made everything for the them. While supporting the team through 5 championships, I went out and found new high school and travel team clients during the day, and during the night taught myself how to make patterns for football, basketball, and baseball uniforms. Then one day, someone suggested that I make girls softball uniforms, because girls were being dressed up like boys, and they no longer wanted to play the sport. And parents didn't want to put them in the sport. I realized that there was one person in the world that could change that reality. I spent several months, working late into the night, making patterns that would create attractive feminine, yet athletic body lines for teenage softball playing girls. I created a pink and black logo of a 3/4 open heart with a "G" in the center that looked like something from an Austin Powers movie. TheGluv was born, and would shatter the way teenage softball playing girls saw themselves. We not only re-engergized the sport, but we also changed the way girls softball uniforms were designed, manufactured, and sold - all right here in the U.S. by my amazing production team. As we helped teenage softball playing girls find greater self acceptance, joy, and empowerment, it was time to turn my attention back towards developing a line for American men that would lead them to a different place...
THE PATH OF THE LION
I've had big successes, and enormous failures. Being extremely hard headed, I never believe anything anyone tells me, unless I experience it myself. To me, clothing design is about creating attractive body lines, and making garments that make us feel alive. I weave textures, create tensions and open space throughout a garment that you can feel, that give you security, that make you want to stand just a little bit straighter and hold your head higher. Power, strength, elegance, calm, freedom, those are all emotions that clothing can help create for the everyday man.
Leomicci is about giving Men a line that is aspirational in it's quality, in it's ability to inspire us to dig a little deeper, and challenge ourselves to go farther. It's about dreaming about who we want to be, and having the courage to become that person. I've put my heart and soul into creating clothing that, in it's outstanding quality, will inspire you, and assure you that excellence is always within your reach. The Leomicci team and I make it ourselves, here in Huntington Beach, just for you.
MENS INVINCIBLE COMPRESSION TIGHTS AND ATHLETIC LUXURY CLOTHING MADE IN USA