How Made In The City Built a Successful Streetwear Brand Out of San Francisco

The streetwear designer who counts mission natives as day-one fans explains how he built his brand and why community comes first.

On an overcast day in San Francisco, a group of men is crowded around the counter of locally revered clothing store Made In The City, their laughter boisterous as a string of Birdman songs filter through the sound system. In particular, it was Made In The City founder Cente in blue jean pants, a black 49ers hat, and his infamous Made In The City Jersey. And his brother, Joe Mabz, in a red “Made In The City” sweatshirt, and his girlfriend, in a black “Made In The City” sweatshirt and bucket hat; and her homegirl party host and store regularly with a multicolored shirt. As Cente tries to help a customer survey the store, his friends take it, in turn, to relish him with their love and laughter.

Catch the entire interview with Made In The City below. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Where did you get your name Made in the city?

Made In The City is something that happened organically. It was Made In The Mission. This was an experiment that I was doing, and I happened to come across some white T-shirts, and I went to my cousin Frisco who’s a well-known jeweler. The concept of Mission versus hipsters was my way to bring light to what was happening regarding gentrification. I made it because it was something I liked, and I paired it with a street sign. I also had an uncle who had a connection with a sticker farmer, and I asked him to make me a big obnoxious street sign. I drew that inspiration from my aunt because whenever we would come together as a family, you would see images of street signs in the photos. That family members would pull from the poles like Harrison street, Mission street, and Frisco Finest, and this was stuff I was growing up around. This was an experiment of mine to see how it would resonate with people. Suddenly family members like my uncle, cousin, and others started requesting shirts. At the time, I didn’t want to do it, but my uncle ended up putting up the money. How it blew up was Carnaval. I gave my aunt Sandy and father street signs, who showcased it at the parade, and the next thing you know, it took off.    

How did you get started making clothes?

I’m a child of the Hyphy era when painted shirts were huge on white tees and tall tees from Footlocker. I took a web design class, and I wasn’t really into web designs, so I ended up altering figures into Hyphy characters such as Stewey from Family Guy with dreads and a grill. I started off making clothes for myself. I didn’t know anything about fabric paint, so I would take acrylic paint and paint a shirt. The next thing I know, people would come up to me and ask the question, where did you get that? And I would tell them I made it. 

Who are some of your clothing design influences?

I draw a lot of inspiration from Mitchell & Ness, Jeff Hamilton, Ben Davis, Starter, Karl Kani, and lastly, the Nipsey Hussle Crenshaw movement. Everything he did was very influential to me. Also, upcoming brands friends of mine inspire me. It’s a friendly competition in my eyes. Importantly, my cousin Frisco and Dying Breed are the stuff that inspires me.

Why did you choose to use San Francisco Muni colors?

I chose San Francisco Muni colors due to nostalgia for the memories I had hopping on the backdoor of Muni buses with my cousin. 

Frisco not for sale slogan? Who came up with that?

I did. I was shopping at Costco wholesale, and I wanted to do my version.

Where did the idea come from to start doing Pop-Ups around the city?

To get people's attention, you have to stand out, so I was on my lunch break in the financial district downtown one day. I was standing on the corner, and I saw a bus roll by, and I was thinking to myself, 'that's it," and we did everything ourselves the medal work, the flooring, put the windows in, the vinyl work, Tv, and put the slap in there. 

 And where did your inspiration come from when you made "True to the city"?

My girlfriend and I randomly pulled up to True clothing store while she was shopping for some shoes. I ask the guy at True, "how do you get clothes in your store?" nonetheless, he was hesitant at first. And my girlfriend was like, "Nah, bruh, come look at this, show him your page" from there, they did the collab and pop-up. It was a success. 

Also, no, we do call it Frisco?

I was tired of the snobby people telling me that it's not called Frisco just because their experience was different from mine.

How has the Pandemic been on you?

The Pandemic allowed me to focus on the business, and I'm very thankful we've had an excellent response from our audience. Without the Pandemic, this probably wouldn't be here. Due to the Pandemic, I had time to focus on this, and I know it's not something you say about the Pandemic because it's impacted so many people negatively. However, it's been an eye-opener to see how many people rock with us to see what we're putting out. Because before that, I was always one foot in and one foot out, so it's been an eye-opener to see people are interested in what we're doing over here.  

The last final question I always ask is how San Francisco has shaped you as a person?

When I think about San Francisco, I don't think about tangible things like the Transamerica Building, Bridge, and all the bells and whistles. I think about my family. As I mentioned earlier, everything is influenced by my family. Because it was made for them, even if nobody was going to buy this stuff, they were still going to rock it. Even today, if I put something out and nobody buys it, I'm not tripping cause I make stuff I know my family would like.