Ganas Clothing is ready for the world

A skull with red and blue wings sails across a black T-shirt.

A matador struts across a flaming red background, and two skeletons kneel in prayer on a beige T-shirt with the name Ganas written provocatively across them.

The T-shirts, tank tops and hooded sweaters with these colorful images are the creations of state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-San Benito, and his business partners, Ruben Gallegos and Edward Rodriguez. They launched their Ganas Clothing line on Wednesday at venues across the state.

At Evolution Martini Lounge and Patio, high octane music throbbed in the club as models mingled with the scores of people who’d come to admire the new clothing line and even made purchases.

Louie Liendo stepped up to the counter and purchased a gray T-shirt with a scorpion on the front.

"It’s got the logo on the bottom," said Liendo, drinking a Dos Equis. "He has the whole cultural experience, the whole picture. It’s all together."

The logo is the name Ganas written stylishly across the clothing.

Lucio said he was very pleased with the big turnout Wednesday night.

"That’s exactly what we wanted," Lucio said. "People like our designs. It’s been really positive. The art work on our designs, we just hope it catches on."

The idea for a new clothing line began when Lucio observed Hispanics at various events who were part of the fashion world but wore clothing that did not have "their demographic" in mind.

"That’s all they had available to them," he said. "They adopted a culture that most often wasn’t their own."

He began to consider a clothing line that would help Hispanics celebrate their own culture through fashion, with art and imagery to which they could relate.

"I left it in the back burner, obviously having so many irons in the fire," he said. "But here recently I thought, you know, I just don’t want to wake up and think ‘what if’ 20 years from now. So I got together with my partners and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ "

They approached Latino artists about their ideas and shared what the word ganas meant, the idea of it being a "very powerful word that inspires and motivates and resonates a lot of motivation."

The Ganas clothing Web site says that ganas means "heart, power, desire, energy and pride."

"They got excited about it," Lucio said. "They got vested in it. So we created a men’s and women’s line, and the women’s line only is three pieces. But we’re hoping to expand on it depending on the response we get, and we’re going to go full speed ahead and see what happens."

Admirers at the launch party at Evolution were responding well.

Lynda Cisneros bought a hooded sweater.

"I like the material," said Cisneros, 40. "It’s very soft, very comfortable, and the design, it has an angel. I also bought a shirt for my husband."

Learn more about Ganas Clothing at www.ganasclothing.com.