Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Torres.
Hi Alexandra, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to own a business but was uncertain which one. For the longest, I thought it would be a sports bar because I grew up playing soccer. However, life has a different path set out for me. I had gone to school to be a Medical Assistant but quickly realized that wasn’t for me. I ended up working for a bank in their auto underwriting department. Texas Luna (originally OAV Designs) first started when my high school best friend was getting married. I did shirts for the bachelorette party and knew that I’d like to do this, even if it was just a hobby. Life kept moving, and making shirts was something that I had fun with, but I knew there was something more out there. Then, COVID hit. As the world stood still, I needed something to occupy my time. That’s when I noticed all these cute shirts for everyone except the Latino community. So, I had decided to dabble in some graphic design; I am no pro by any means and see if we could start selling transfers for the Latino community. I started with one popular Tejano artist design, and we just took off. Most nights, I would stay awake until 2-3 in the morning, working on designs for our customers. It was super hard to find any designs for the Latino community on Etsy, so I had to rely on Photoshop knowledge to get designs done. We went from having a small 20-divided shelf to hold our transfers to a 46-split frame, then moved onto more extensive shelves.
In August 2020, I was let go of my almost 10-year career. At that time, I decided that I didn’t want to give anyone else that much power over me. That is when Texas Luna truly started to grow. I pushed our Facebook group in every and any group possible. I showed designs, hired digital designers, hired my first employee, and ran with it. Honestly, many nights, I questioned myself if I had what it takes. Then my customers would randomly send me an email or comment on our group, giving me the motivation I needed to keep going. It slowly took over my living room until we no longer could fit. We moved everything into one of the teaching rooms my parents have in their driving school until, after two months, I realized we didn’t fit in there anymore either. In July 2021, I made the big move of opening a storefront in Carrollton. We still cater to the Latino community, but now we’ve added more. We are slowly adding our embroidery machine and making high-quality custom requests too. While the recession is trying to bring us down, I am not letting all of my hard work and dedication be for nothing. We are continuously coming up with new ideas, trying to find different ways for our customers to rock this recession, and are even bringing our retail side back.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It most definitely has not. There is a lot of research that goes into our line of business. It’s not as simple as creating something on Photoshop and sending it in. Sometimes our contractors get the work wrong too, so then you are left trying to fix not only your issues but also their issues. I spend a lot of my days researching what is new in the industry and what is wrong. We have learned how to navigate troubleshooting virtually for customers as we work with people worldwide. Sometimes, it’s user error, and sometimes, okay, a lot of the time, it’s me making the mistakes. This industry shows me that I need to slow down and not rush so many things because I end up paying twice for products. You need to ensure that the ink being used is high quality, that the colors will match once it’s on the shirt, and that the shirts themselves are good quality and have no holes. And even the t-shirt industry is getting hit with shortages thanks to COVID. Many of our suppliers are running shorts on different shirts or colors, making it harder to complete some orders.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Texas Luna?
Texas Luna is a diverse, BIPOC representative company. That’s what sets us apart from much other transfer and wholesale companies. When I started to do shirts, I realized that many designs were not made for people like me and how we grew up. Sometimes I get major designer block, but when the juices start flowing, I can’t stop. We truly began because we wanted to provide representation to all BIPOCs. We are most proud that we are no longer staying silent and can provide clothing that they can relate to. We still offer custom shirts for those who need them for birthdays, graduations, or one-off situations.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Perseverance for sure. There have been many times when I want to give up. Where I have sat on the floor of my living room with screens surrounding me, just bawling, people think that this job is as easy as designing and sending it into production, but there is so much more that goes into it.
Pricing:
- Adult shirts $25.99
- Youth shirts $22.99
- Custom starts at $25.99
- Screen prints or wholesale, please reach out to me for pricing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.texaslunascreens.com
- Instagram: @TexasLunaScreenPrints
- Facebook: @TexasLunaScreenPrints
- Other: TikTok @TexasLunaScreenPrints
Image Credits
K.D. Photography
