Our Story

Fitness was my outlet. For letting go of the heartache, loneliness, and disappointment that life had handed me. I think a lot of people who develop a passion for the gym can identify at some level the therapeutic power of reaching physical goals. It is a healthy way to relieve stress and transmit pain into energy. 

The idea behind CL Sportswear stemmed from a place of true failure. Two steps forward led to 5 steps back and each setback seemed like my goals were impossible. The only thing in my life that I felt like I could control was my diet and exercise. 

Growing up in a very small town with limited resources in Veracruz, Mexico, I felt like my options were very limited. Since I was raised by my grandma, it had felt like my parents’ absence was just another reason for everything bad happening. The first chance to find more opportunities, I took it, and being in the United States was a decision I made to gain access to a better life. 

As I started working in restaurants, gardening, car washes, house cleaning, and many other blue collar jobs; I soon realized that the type of jobs I was doing did not reflect any of my passions. It felt like I was wasting my time, and as I continued to work to pay off my debt, it was never ending. I felt stuck and disappointed with myself. I worked a lot and still felt like I was not advancing. However, I did learn the value of hard work and learning from my errors to grow. With each new experience, I slowly started to see how successful businesses are run.

I want the clothes that I sell to represent the connection between struggle and perseverance. A way for athletes to relate to not only my failures and growth but the community around us. As similar as our experiences may have been, we are incomparable to one another. And that uniqueness transmits a level of diversity that we are proud to embrace.  I want my clothing to speak to people who have felt like at some point life felt impossible, but know that there is hope that things will get better and your goals are possible to achieve. We are human, and as cliche as it might sound it’s true that we make errors and mistakes that we might regret. However if we attempt to learn and fix our mistakes, we distinguish ourselves from others.