MADE Kids: Where Streetwear Meets Youth

Calling itself “the rap music of children’s fashion,” California kids’ label MADE Kids has been making waves in the fashion industry for its unique approach to priming kids for a future of fashionable self-expression. Founded only a year ago by Andrew Guzman, Pedro Tuma, and Louie Esquibel, the label now has two collections to its name, neither of which fail in making kids look hilariously OG while wearing them. The Hundreds caught up with the three founders of the label to talk about the importance of timing, marketing to the parents rather than the kids, and the rate at which children outgrow their clothes. Read the excerpts below and check out the full interview here.

Is there a reason why you guys only go up to a size 10, rather than all the way through a 16?
Pedro Tuma: We feel like when kids get to a certain age, when they’re about in middle school, they want to be in high school. They want to be wearing the older kids’ clothes because they can kind of fit into them. What we’re doing is for the parents who want their kids to look dope [before they get to that age].

Can you talk a bit about timing in fashion?
Pedro Tuma: A lot of things in life are about timing; coming out at the right time. And I think for some reason, right now it’s the right time for kids. And the reason I say that – it’s weird – the emails that we get, the response that we’ve been getting, the collaborations that we’re working on. Everyone wants a piece of this right now and it wasn’t like this when we first started. It’s been probably this year where it’s like, “Okay, it’s being accepted by a lot more people.”

What’s something that’s overlooked when it comes to MADE Kids?
Andrew Guzman: Honestly, I think it’s the attention to detail that we put into everything. We really care, we get the fact that in the kids’ market there are nuances that we don’t have with an adult market. Like for kids you have to have – the print has to be certain quality because the kids will get sick by it. The standard stuff we’ve covered. But the attention to detail that we go into to making sure that the thing fits right. Making sure that everything we put out is merchandised the right way. The thought we put behind everything is extensive.