ALL ABOUT CEO, TRINIDAD GARCIA III

Trinidad Garcia III, with a wide array of skills, but a passion at heart that he would not give up on. Going from Sergeant to fashion designer - Trinidad has a story that deserves to be heard, and is truly aching to inspire.

It all started with starting a screen printing company. This occurred prior to his experience at FIDM, or his time in the Marines. As many entrepreneurs before, this business did not succeed as Trinidad had hoped; so he started to look into alleyways of making a living. That’s when the Marines came into play. Trinidad joined the Marines, and when talking to the recruiter he saw that FIDM (The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) was in the schools that accepted the GI bill. In the interview with Trinidad he said he looked at the recruiter and said, “I can go to this fashion school?” And the recruiter kind of scoffed and said, “If it’s in there then yeah you can, although I don’t know why you would want to.” He realized that making this commitment he would be able to accomplish something he had always dreamed of, so off he went.

In stepping into action in the Marines, Trinidad started his career as a Machine Gunner for 2nd Battalion 7th Marines. However, the dream of starting a fashion brand continued to push Trinidad’s passion in furthering his education. He started at FIDM in 2012 while still on Active Duty, and immediately noticed a need. The Student Veterans of America was a program that was started not long before Trinidad entered the Rotunda of the FIDM, Los Angeles campus. As a Veteran that was transitioning back into a “normal” lifestyle he noticed that he was always looking for a safe haven, or somewhere to clear his thoughts. He brought this to FIDM’s attention as the President of the Student Veterans of America, and got everyone on board for creating a safe space for Veteran students to decompress, and concentrate. While accomplishing all of this for other Veterans in the learning space; Trinidad also launched his brand “Trinidad3”

Trinidad started the brand, Trinidad3, while still a student at FIDM. He graduated in 2018 from FIDM and started his brand in 2017. As if we couldn’t tell already, Trinidad was determined to see the success of his company, and actually used an Airstream to build out his mobile store that was often seen at many pop ups across Southern California. Better yet, he would hire Veterans from SVA when he needed help at events to allow them some job experience in the industry. When Trinidad graduated it did not feel natural for him to snatch a typical job in the industry, rather he built his business while being a contractor for the Navy logistically handling small arms and medium machine guns.

Trinidad3  was always his main focus, and he eventually got an appointment with one of the corporate fashion conglomerate, Nordstroms. The only kicker is… it was March of 2020. If you do recall Seattle was the first to feel the wrath in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic on the West Coast. Nordstroms headquarters are in Seattle, forcing the originally scheduled meeting that Trinidad had to be cancelled with no set reschedule date in sight.

However, not all was lost. In the chaos of trying to figure out what in the world was going on that day, one of the members of the buying team, who happened to also be a Marine Corp. Veteran, asked to meet with Trinidad outside of the Nordstrom headquarters. As they were attempting to grasp what was going on, and what COVID-19 really was - they went into lockdown just like us all, but Trinidad never stopped creating.

Once everything was able to be up and running again, Trinidad3 launched the selvedge jean. Almost all shows had been cancelled, but there was one in Dallas that was still set to go! Everything was made in Los Angeles, and in the 11 appointments that were booked, they walked out being available in 10 stores. Now Trinidad3 is available in 23 stores, and has been online with Nordstroms since 2020 with a capsule relaunching in the coming weeks.

These Trinidad3 jeans were not just seeing the streets of suburbia, but were also under Hollywood lights! Trinidad was pulled into costume design on the movie, “MVP.” Doing what he loves most, Trinidad designed denim and shirts for the movie. Trinidad3 also received some time in the spotlight on the show, “Mayans MC” where on Season 5 - you will notice Frankie Loyal wearing the “Loyal fit” jean.

Trinidad’s skills and heart do not stop there. In the interview Trinidad spoke about how he designs jeans for Amputees. If you are familiar with prosthetics at all you are aware that they have a tendency to be very impending on not only your everyday life, but even how you wear clothes. Trinidad creates full custom jeans for them due to the complexity of their bodies they are unable to wear a “normal” jean, and Trinidad has said that this program has been one of the most rewarding things of his career and look forward to continuing to make veterans feel comfortable and confident in trending styles and luxury trims.