424 On and Off the Field

The limited edition capsules and fanwear collections are availabe online at 424, Liberal Youth Ministry, Leagues Cup, and in stadiums.

Guillermo, I saw you're an Arsenal fan.

GA— Correct.

Yeah, I'm a Chelsea fan, so… 

GA— Oh, yeah, we got beef.

We got beef for sure.

GA— I mean, I guess, yeah, we're doing all right right now. The truth is I'm a football fan first and foremost, you know so soccer's been like a saving grace in my fucking life, you know what I mean?

In what way has it been a saving grace?

GA— Because if I didn't have that, I'd probably be doing a lot of other bad shit, you know, that a lot of my other friends got into. Just because of soccer, I got to spend a lot of time dreaming, like positive dreams. And that kept me from putting my energy into anything else.

Yeah, I feel that. I feel like anyone that plays football at a young age has that dream of being a professional, no matter how good you are, you look up to those players and it keeps you in line to some extent.

GA— And then when you play and it's going for you, it's like, I'm gonna continue this. And then the homies, they leave you alone, cause “Ah, he plays soccer, leave him alone.” No one cares.

Yeah. I'm guessing that’s the case here more so than a lot of places. Obviously football here is getting bigger and bigger now, which is amazing. But I'm guessing in your younger days it was a lot smaller than it is now.

GA— Yeah, you know, when I think about it, I always felt like the only kid who liked soccer, especially in my group of friends. So when I finally got on a team and I got to play a lot it was really nice, but the opportunities were not really there. You know, I had a scholarship, so I had a chance to be there and to play, but now there's so much more opportunity. There's so many different ways that you can go and take part, and that's really awesome.

Antonio, what about you? Are you a footballer?

AZ— No, no. I suck at football, but I am based in Mexico, Guadalajara, and I'm 100% Mexican. So you cannot escape soccer. And for me, my grandfather used to play it, my father used to play it, my brother used to play it. I tried to play it when I lived in The US for a couple of years, maybe to feel a little bit closer to Mexico. Yeah, but I wasn't good. I'm not really good at playing but it's always there, you know? I grew up playing FIFA with my dad on PlayStation, so you cannot escape from it. It just swallows you and it's just part of the Mexican heritage. And I grew up watching Jorge Campos with these crazy outfits, so it's just something you cannot escape. And so that is super important for the Latin American community. So that's kind of my history with it. 

Yeah. I feel like it's such a beautiful thing with Latin football, that even if you don't play, everyone's immersed in the culture, and everyone's so passionate about it. You know, if your team loses, it's a big deal. If your team wins, it's a big deal. Like, you live and breathe it, even if you don't play. Guillermo, you were born in Guatemala. I'm guessing the football culture there is quite big too?

GA— Yeah, I was born in Guatemala. I was like 10 years old when I came to the States. I mean, I don't even really have that many memories from being a kid in Guatemala outside of football, if I'm honest. Most of them are terrible except for the ones I have surrounding football. It's not just a part of the culture. You know, it's like in America they have the American pastime, right? It used to be baseball, and now the popularity of basketball has gotten to a whole ‘nother level. American football has gotten to a whole ‘nother level, and now soccer is taking the center stage. But around the world, I feel that soccer represents hope and for a lot of people who are not born into great situations soccer is a way out. 

Whatever it is you're going through, if it's not money problems, it's like mental health, which is super important when you're a kid. Soccer keeps you in a great state of mind, even if you lose, you know, I think the physical activity, the camaraderie, being around people who may or may not like you, learning about life at a young age through the sport, is really a beautiful thing. So I think in third world countries, honestly, in every country I've been to, except America, soccer is like what basketball, football and baseball and hockey and tennis and everything combined is to America. Soccer is that to everywhere else, right? Like he said, you just can't escape it because it's like there's Jesus, there's food and then there's football.

Yeah if you have stuff going on in your life, football's such a great way to escape. It's such a healthy way to escape it. I remember in those later teen years, as a lot of kids were, being angry at not much and having a lot of frustration, and then for 90 minutes or however long you play, that goes away and releases.

GA— It's the best feeling ever. Well, scoring a goal actually is like the best feeling ever.

I mean, I played right back for the most part. So, for me, it was making those goal-saving tackles.

GA— You would've hated me (laughs). A goal is the best thing I've ever experienced. Like an important one. You know, when you score an important goal, you send someone home. Oh, man. Oh my God.

I wanted to ask about the relationship with football and 424. Is the name a reference to the formation, or is it just a coincidence?

GA— Well, I mean, it depends if you believe in coincidences. The truth is, it's the physical address to my first place of business. We were there for about 10 years, so I always had a particular relationship with buildings that are named after the address. Here in The States, every time you go to a building that's named after the address, it's a government building or something kind of intense, something kind of powerful, you know, usually it means that you're in trouble. And I had a really bad affiliation to any physical spaces named after the address. So I wanted to kind of flip that a little bit.  And internally it wasn't even a public thing, or it was just not some angle. It just naturally came to me. I think I also really loved how permanent it feels, you know, to have the name of your work be the address of it. It's a physical space. It exists in the real world outside of the internet. And it's actually very definitive, you know, it's like, it's here, and I just wanted to kind of, put my foot down and say, I'm not going anywhere. You can't deport me. You can't send me back. You can't hate a number. It is kind of like a new start.

It’s cool that's the mentality, because in football, that's obviously quite an attacking formation.

GA— Yeah. It's aggressive, you know.

Aggressive, yeah. So I assumed it was a football thing. That's funny. And the red armbands, is that a reference to the captain's armband, or is that something separate as well?

GA— Again, the armband is the attitude of the best player on the team, right? Usually the leader. And they might not always be the fastest, or the guy who scores the most goals, but he's the guy on the team that you look to when you wanna feel you're a part of something. So, in the same spirit, but in a totally different way, armbands in general have always been a symbol that you belong to something bigger than yourself. And I really like that as a canvas for my first statement as a brand to have that energy. If you feel left out, I see you, I respect you, you know, if you don't have money, I'll give you a fucking armband, put it over your own H&M jacket, it didn't matter because it's not about the money. I grew up loving a bunch of shit that I could never get my hands on for whatever reasons. So an armband really sends the message; “I'm with this group, and I like the camaraderie”, you know, there's a connection between football and the work itself. It's not really football but the spirit of it is. It's not like I'm taking a football kit and putting a ‘424’ on it, and selling it for five, six hundred.

Antonio, can you tell me about Liberal Youth Ministry, how that started, the inspiration behind it, and what it means to you?

AZ— So, I started the brand in 2016. I don't know, it is kind of a cliche, but it was just a way of expressing myself and just doing clothes that I couldn't find anywhere.  We are based in Mexico and everything we, or at least 90% of the products we produce are made in Mexico. For the name, my background was really into music. So I think for me, music and punk and grunge were things that kind of helped me going through dark times. And when I was looking for the name of the brand I just wanted something that sounded political, dangerous, like a new way of thinking, or a new way of expressing yourself.I just started to play with something that also sounds a little bit religious but in a little bit of a twisted way. 

For the brand, for the past three years, I've been really close to Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market. They've been capital for the growth of the brand, and I am part of their showroom in Paris. And that's where I think most of the brand operates, like, we produce everything in Mexico and we sell it in Paris. But for the brand, I think it's always changing. It's not like a space without movement. I think in the past, in the first collections, I was really into exploring different subcultures, but at the end it felt a little bit tiring. Like, punk already made its revolution decades ago. So I'm just trying to find new ways to express myself. And right now for me, it's really important to create a mix of what I see in Mexico and, and what I see in the streets and incorporate it into the brand and to the collections.

For example, I think this connects with the football jerseys that I've been doing over the past years. But in 2020, when I went to the first showroom in Paris during Fashion Week, I was like, ‘oh, okay, so now we have this big stage, how can I bring Mexico into it?’ And I didn't want to bring it with a folklore vibe. I wanted to bring Mexico to my collections and that's where I started to find this connection to football. I was really into the aesthetic of Campos and different football players, so I started to design these football jerseys with Mexican slogans because that's something that I felt like can fit into the concept of the brand, but also bring Mexico in a creative way. So from there, these were my most known products. And whenever I do a collection, this is always a top seller. So, I think it's something that is just always changing for me. The brand is always chaotic and colorful, and it's something that I think also represents Mexico.

You cannot escape color. Like when you're in Mexico, you see the clashes of different things together. The clashes of reference when you go to a flea market, you see anime, but then you see cowboy boots, but then you see tropicalized Nike. So I think all of these concepts and things go into my brand, and also the rock scene is super powerful. When The Cure or big, big bands come to Mexico it is always sold out. So I think it's just a mixture of all these things that create a brand. And it's… it's Mexico.

Yeah. How did the two of you begin working together? Did you have an existing relationship beforehand?

GA— No, I was just a fan, man. I mean, we're in the scene and there's so few other names that sound like mine or that ring familiar. So you start to recognize each other in the room, you know, or even just by name. I always kept up with his work and found ways to include it in stuff that I was a part of. And when I got this job he was my first call. And we haven't looked back since.

So Antonio was someone you always wanted to work with, but you were just waiting for that right project?

GA— Yeah, of course. Well actually if I'm honest, I was a little intimidated (laughs), you know, so I was like, ‘well, I better come correct. I gotta bring something good, or else what the fuck's the point?’ So then I was like, ‘yo, you're gonna want to hear this.'

AZ— I think from my side, I’ve known Guillermo's work for a long time so we always tend to gravitate closer to each other as friends, but we never found, like he said, a project to work with. And to be honest, from the first call that he's talking about, it was like a couple months ago, it was like instant chemistry. And then I finally had the chance to meet him in Los Angeles three weeks ago. And it felt like he was a brother from the beginning, it wasn't this weird corporation chemistry like you are trying to just have fun from the beginning. It's been a dream come true to be working with him. And it's just super fun because we know each other's languages, like the other day he was wearing this super cool 424 grunge shirt, made out of silk. You know, he's Latin American, and likes football. So it just makes a lot of sense to be working on this project together.

I wanted to talk about the first Leagues Cup tournament and the importance of a competition that brings the whole of North America together.

GA— I think just the fact that it's happening is already quite a big deal. I mean, three countries taking their league and then playing a World Cup style tournament against each other is kind of unheard of. And then the MLS are doing their bit to make sure that the Premier League isn't the only league that's watched in the world. And they're creating a full blown community that's going to be watched all over the world. I mean, you look at what happened the other day in Miami, you know, Messi's first game was a Leagues Cup in a sort of inaugural game. And I would argue that probably the whole world watched that game.

And of course he scored too, he just had to.

GA— It was written, bro. I think that the Leagues Cup is an announcement that soccer's here, soccer's here in The States and it's not going anywhere.

It's super exciting for me moving here. Western Australia, where I grew up and Bermuda, where I'm originally from both have strong footballing cultures. So to see it growing here, now that I live here, is just super exciting. 

GA— Right. I know, it's nuts. An, the two most important leagues in Central and North America coming together, dude, and doing this, if I was a kid, I would've been all over it. It's like a World Cup every July. So as the teams progress and the games get better and there's more support for the game here, the tournament will only grow and grow. So this is a great new step. You know when they did the Super League and they just cherry picked all the teams, you know, it feels a little bit more inclusive. It feels a little bit more thought out. Yeah, and from my experience so far, it's still about the game. It's still about promoting the game and growing the game, and that feels good.

I mean, it's amazing for the MLS of course as it's getting bigger. But I feel like, especially for Mexican football, where there's so much talent, particularly a lot that play in MLS. I think that'll start bringing more attention to that as well, which is amazing.

GA— It's a new beginning, you know? Iit is a new beginning. And even with the Leagues Cup hiring me and giving me the resources to go and work with people like Antonio and to take on the initiatives that we're doing and to try and do something cool as a tournament, that's a big step too. That doesn't usually happen. It hasn't happened, not on this level. So I think that shows the intent for it to be on and off the pitch so that the growth is not only about selling tickets.

AZ— From my side, what my mind and my body reads about this is just so beautiful because, I think in a world that has a tendency for hate and to separate things, I think this league really creates a manifest of joy and coming together, you know. Like Mexico and The US and Canada, the way it looks in the photos that I've been watching over the weekend about the celebration of it. And for me as a Mexican to know that your people in different parts of The US would have a chance to see their football teams that they haven't seen for 20, 25, 30 years because they have something political or they cannot come to Mexico. And for them to see their team is just beautiful to watch. And it's something I think is really inspiring and something that is just beautiful to see. For example, in the game that we just watched with Messi, people from Argentina were flying to the US and just celebrating the sport. I think it's necessary.

Yeah, it's beautiful. It's definitely just further proof that football brings people together. Its so nice to see.

GA— Hell yeah, it does. It's gonna be sick. It's gonna be sick. It's about soccer and its impact on people beyond the game, you know, people who don't make it as pros, because I still love the game. It gave me everything. And I’m grateful to give back. That's kind of it.