FASHION
SHOOT FOR THE
staz
A UW STUDENT USING HIS PASSION FOR FASHION TO SPARK SOCIAL CHANGE By Elise Andersen, Deputy Editor Antonio Sanchez photographed by Annika Ide, Photography Director
Many of us can attest to having an entrepreneurial spirit—having a desire to start a business or be our own boss. It takes nerve to actually pursue these ideas, especially in the face of judgment and failure. Antonio Sanchez, a UW-Madison student studying economics, decided to make his dreams a reality. In 2016, Antonio launched “Staz Industries”, a forward-thinking fashion label with an emphasis on unity through diversity. While packing up recent orders, Antonio offered some insight on his brand’s mission, roadblocks and advice for future CEOs. MODA MAGAZINE: How did you come up with and start Staz Industries? ANTONIO SANCHEZ: I came up with the idea for Staz from my diverse background. Being both black and Mexican, I always felt conflicted 50 MODA
between the two cultures. I felt like I couldn’t identify with both. On top of that, the majority of my friends were white, which furthered my confusion about my identity. One day, my best friend Rafa (who is also Mexican) and I decided to stop being ashamed of our races and instead embrace and express what makes us uniquely different. Rafa is more into the design aspect of Staz, while I am interested in the business and fashion side—we make a strong team. When we were seniors in high school, we applied for business and art scholarships in order to get the funding to establish the brand. I won a business startup scholarship, which allowed me to make Staz an official LLC in collaboration with Rafa, who is still the brand’s Creative Director. From
there, we designed our first shirt and sold it to family and friends. Since then, we have designed three more shirts and have plans to expand into more pieces. MM: What is the deeper meaning behind Staz? AS: Staz is a way of life. There’s two ways of looking at it: one way is that the word “staz” is slang for stars, and stars represent the future, which we strive to change for the better as a company. The second way of looking at it goes a little bit deeper: we derived the name from our favorite symbol, a star. The sun itself is a star, and light from the sun allows us to see. This light that the sun gives off is made up of UV rays. We see Staz as the sunglasses that allows one to see