I always considered myself the black sheep of the family. I was the problematic son, grandson, cousin, and nephew, the one who was never good in school, the one who seemed destined to fail. While others had clear expectations, mine were non-existent. But as I grew up with that label, I also grew up surrounded by rolls of fabric and sewing machines. My family worked in clothing manufacturing, and although I didn’t care much about it at first, over time, I began to understand what those garments meant. They weren’t just sewn fabrics, they were identity, emotions, a way of embracing ourselves and defining who we are when we look in the mirror. That was my first awakening.

In 2008, I was expelled from my third high school, and my family, resigned, gave me a job at the factory. What seemed like punishment at first became the greatest blessing of my life. I started with the simplest and most undervalued task: removing threads. Those little loose threads that often go unnoticed. But for me, it was the beginning of a journey. Each thread I removed was a step closer to understanding what I truly wanted. Little by little, I immersed myself in different processes: tailoring, screen printing, embroidery, sales. Until I reached the design department. That’s when everything changed. From being just a dreamer, I became a creator. My ideas came to life, and for the first time, I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be.

Over the years, I became skilled in almost every area of the business. In 2011, I became COO, and that’s when I realized I wasn’t the “problem child” my family thought I was. I understood that my life wasn’t defined by others’ expectations but by what I decided to do. In 2015, I married the most wonderful woman (I know it sounds cliché, but she makes me the happiest man in the world). Together, we decided to leave the family business and start over, even though no one believed in us.

The path wasn’t easy. I didn’t receive support from my father or my uncle, who had always been the heads of the business. However, my wife and I started making clothes for established brands. We were doing well, but something was missing. I had a bigger dream, one I couldn’t ignore: to create our own clothing brand, one that didn’t just dress but made us feel better in every way, one that meant something, one that would impact not only our lives but yours as well, and the world!

In 2020, we visited the "Sustainable Thinking" exhibition in Florence, and it was a decisive moment. Seeing garments made from organic and sustainable materials blew our minds! There, in the middle of that exhibition, Pipafé was born. Our dream, our brand, created with the purpose of touching lives and making a difference. But just as we were starting, COVID hit. Everything stopped. We had to put our plans on hold, but we didn’t give up. We researched, we learned, and we discovered that the road to sustainable fashion wouldn’t be easy, but we kept moving forward.

In 2021, we found organic cotton from Peru, soft, durable, and full of color. We began developing our collection, but the effects of the pandemic reached our manufacturing business. The brands we produced for stopped selling, and we ran out of resources. We had to suspend Pipafé.

By mid-2023, after many struggles, we managed to get the manufacturing business back on its feet. But something was still wrong. I had lost the spark, the purpose. That’s when Pipafé came back into my mind. And with it, the meaning returned. We realized that this dream couldn’t stay hidden. We decided to take a leap of faith, move to the United States, and launch Pipafé from there. Not just for us, but for the impact we want to have on the world.

This is the journey of Pipafé, a brand born out of struggles and dreams, made to embrace, connect, and improve our lives!