By Monica Morones
Since the start of this independent company in 2000, Enfamous Kloathing started out with a couple of artists, drawing every day, their whole existence about art and 15 years later, Enfamous Kloathing is still around. Founding member Victor Pacilio and Emmanuel Becerra are the kind of artists that would rather give you a shirt than sell you a shirt, because they want everyone to rock one of their designs. ENK (short for Enfamous Kloathing) started with original founder and co- creator Gabriel Gonzalez, who was an amazing artist, screen printer and a visionary. He passed away in 2009 and it was up to Victor Pacilio to keep the vision going. Emmanuel, an artist as well, jumped on board with the screen printing and the management, keeping the same concept alive. ENK’s esthetic is raw, urban, surreal, and some would call it underground.
MM: Who is Enfamous Kloathing?
We are a small company from the Coachella Valley. Members include:
Gabriel Gonzalez 1982-2009 Original Co-founder, Creator
Victor M. Pacilio 32 Original founder, creator
Enrique Solis 32, Accountant
Emmanuel Becerra 7 years- Manager
MM: What is Enfamous Kloathing?
Victor: Enfamous Kloathing is a universal collective of vibrations, receiving and translating language, an art form of expressionism, individual escapism if you will.
We made ENK a company in 2000, in Cathedral City California. Gabriel and I, we wanted to make our own shirts cause we liked drawing, thought it’d be cool to make tees with our art on it.
Emmanuel: Enfamous Kloathing to me is our brand, our stamp on the world. I want everyone in the world to have at least one of our products. I joined the company 6 years ago as an investor, about a year later I became manager and part owner of the company. As far as the start of ENK- that was all Vic and the homie Glez, R.I.P., Samo was there too.
MM: How did you come up with the name?
Victor: The origin is ENKORE. Later on we shortened it to ENK (EVERYBODY NEEDS KLOATHING)
I was sitting in class at Mount San Jacinto continuation school in Cat City sketching on my note pad and somehow formed the letters ENCORE, I spelled it ENKORE cause it looked hard with a K instead of a C, Took the first 3 letters and got ENK, added some meaning, found a little purpose, shared it with Gabe, he showed me some steps…Later on it evolved into (EN) ENFAMOUS (K) KLOATHING. Honestly were just trying to keep it all together and move forward with the company. I don’t know what it means, I just think this is HARDCORE and I like turtles.
MM: How did you get into screen printing?
Victor: Gabe suggested taking a screen printing class at C.O.D. Mrs. Foreman, she showed us the basics, programmed our brains, got us started.
Emmanuel: I got into screen printing after I took over as manager of ENK. I wanted to learn how to print so that Vic could focus more on the art and so that I could be more a part of the company than just the money. I linked up with and was taught how to screen print by my cousin Aaron Hansen, who’s an artist and runs his own clothing company called Ancient Youth and my friend Rick Rodriguez who’s an artist and musician and at the time was running Rick’s Prints.
MM: How would you describe your style?
Victor: Free
Emmanuel: Our style is definitely different from most clothing companies out there but with similar influences. I always say “we make your favorite shirt” and that’s because every time I see people rocking our gear out in public, I thank them for supporting us and our movement and they say things like “this is my favorite shirt” or “I rock this all the time and get compliments everywhere I go.”
MM: What is your biggest struggle as an artist owning your own business?
Victor: Feeding Manny and hunting for Samo. Honestly, it’s maintaining the creative process, remaining constant in the art category. We have to run it ourselves, and while we do receive outside help at times, it’s really is up to us to make things happen, from setting the table to cleaning it up. I would say staying inspired having the desire to make and to give. Let’s face it, we give away more product then we actually sell.
Emmanuel: One: Not getting my feelings hurt when shit doesn’t sell. Two: Not costing myself money, I personally would much rather give you a shirt than sell you one. As an artist I personally feel like all of our skills and talents are a gift that we were given to use to give back by creating things that impact the world in a positive way without the intent of gaining fortune and fame. We’re in our 16th year as a company and we’ve probably given away about 90% of the merch we’ve produced and we’ll probably keep doing that because we’re ENK.
MM: What do you think of the art scene in the Coachella Valley?
Victor: I think it’s tough, been seeing a lot more murals downtown Palm Springs and the murals in Indio are really nice. We’ve been growing a lot I think. People seem to be more open and accepting. I find it to be fitting here in the desert, it’s comfortable, it’s bright and vibrant, from the photography to the food. The current frequencies are moving in a positive direction. I can really dig it. Big ups, right on Coachella, let’s keep moving forward. Keep pushing.
Emmanuel: I think it’s a joke, there’s so much raw and incredible talent out here in the valley but you’ll never hear about it because it’s all about who’s cool with who. I’ve been to a lot of art shows out here and most of the time most of the artwork is terrible but the artists that are in the show are friends with the owner of the gallery or they’re just popular, meanwhile there’s so many other artists that are much more talented that get no love.
MM: Where do you guys draw your inspiration from?
Victor: GOD. FAMILY. MUSIC. Science. To God goes the glory. Inspiration is all around us like music. The things people do, I’m getting all choked up just thinking of how beautiful life can be. Honestly though, the company Ecko was one of my biggest inspirations. Just go make it son.
Emmanuel: I draw inspiration from life itself as well as everything and everyone around me, especially all of my friends and family. On the business side, what inspires and motivates me to keep pushing is the fact that ENK is as eternal as inspiration itself. There will always be inspiration out there just as there will always be ENK. We’ve been around since before we were even ENK, back in the day my mom and Vic’s mom used to cut, sew, and make clothes and they had their own little clothing line. I feel like we just resurrected what they started and that inspires me to keep doing it forever.
MM: Where do you sell Enfamous Kloathing at?
V& E: We sell our merch at all the shows that we sponsor, as well as our As One booth at Joshua Tree Music Festival (which is every May and October), and our ETSY page (Enfamous2000forever). Follow us on Facebook under the name Enfamous Artforms.
