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My most favorite type of design out of all of her work are the custom made rhinestone tanks and halter tops. These tops have personable sayings such as, “D-lish, All About Me, Between Boyfriends, Tasty and Hombre Beater.”
These are not the only messages Teeze Us carries; you can special order a tee for yourself to say anything you want such as, “I love Mija Magazine” or “My abuela is a jibara!”
Paulina grew up in this business. Her parents owned a clothing factory and as a young child she wanted to get into fashion, but her parents didn’t want her to follow in their footsteps. This halted her chances from going to F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of Technology), forcing her to take another path…banking.
“While working at my 9-5 in banking, no where close to my dreams in fashion, I began teaching myself everything I could about web design. One day I was browsing on the net shopping for a Rhinestone shirt, it just clicked.
“It’s my time to do this. I am going to start my own small custom apparel business and see where it takes me,” says Paulina.
She is involved in every aspect of the business. She shop for the shirts, creates the designs, hand embellishes every piece, packs and ships the goods,.
She also creates and updates Teeze Us’s website site, herself! “It’s a lot of work, but I am driven and my drive is what will get me to be one of the well known custom apparel designers in the world.”
Teeze Us’s best selling products are the tees that say, “Hombre beater.”
Many customers love customizing it. She has had so many different requests like “Bite Sized” and “I Kiss Girls” to “Everyone loves Latinas.” She even puts the bling on I-pods!! You name it, Teeze Us does it.
Even though Paulina can’t pick a favorite design of her own; she loves wearing her California fleece pants with her uptown sneakers one day and the next time, pin them up at the ends and wear them with stilettos and a tank.
“The shirts I wear with jeans or under my business suits. I love how you can switch up all the pieces accordingly,” said Amaniera.
Teeze Us was designed and developed to meet the needs of the new U.S.-American neighborhood—a melting pot of culture, lifestyle, trend and uniqueness, without burning our pocket.
“Empowering fashions are inspiring for today’s Mija. Mijas of any age can express their unique style through trendy shirts that make a powerful statement about who they are! Your ideas put to life on our affordable products – how cool is that?” It’s really cool Mija! I rather purchase a custom made shirt that displays a message that I created than one that is costly and says some guys name on it.
What makes great fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, so designer? Is it mass purchasing, the design, or the price tag? In my opinion, I feel WE the consumers put the greatness in the name of a fashion designer.
Most of us were brought up with the mentality that the most expensive is the best…porque it’s what the rich people buy. That is not the case, because if it was the best and so elite, we wouldn’t have outlet malls building on every corner.
My point is, we need to support and encourage good work when we see it and if it is from a Mija working on another boring job from 9-5pm to earn money in order to keep her dreams going; than it should drive us to support her even more. And now Mijas the two questions that we could just not go without…
What is one mistake that you do not want anyone to recreate?
Procrastination & Self Doubt, Seriously, If it wasn’t for that I would have been started my business a long time ago. Who’s going to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself? Life is a struggle and you can do what you want, never let anyone hold you down!
Do you have any words of inspiration for Mijas that want to follow in your footsteps?
Just do it. Look for the resources; let your heart be your guide. Always remember to love what you do and do what you love, otherwise, what’s the use? Working hard always pays off. Maybe not right away (trust me, I know) but eventually, when you see your items on a model, a runway or have returning customers, that’s when you know your hard work is paying off. If there is anyway I can help an aspiring Latina make moves let me know!
Mijas you can visit Teeze Us online at www.teeze-us.com or Paulina Amaniera at [email protected].
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