Custo Dalmau

Custo Dalmau spent his childhood and adolescence together with his brother David Dalmau in Barcelona, where Custo later studied Architecture. After a round-the-world motorcycle trip through the U.S. the brothers, came back impressed by the California lifestyle, especially the colorful and innovative T-shirts that didn't exist in Spain at that time. So the brothers created their fashion empire “Custo Barcelona” in 1981 and started to create their famous T-shirts.

The decision to sell their collections on the American market, which at the time was open to new ideas, produced excellent results and marked the first stage of a highly successful career. Their T-shirts soon attracted the attention of stylists and television and film directors, who chose them for some of the leading actors and actresses of the day. They were also captivated by the colourful Custo style, resulting in a phenomenon that the North American media termed Customania.

News of the revolution caused by these young designers soon came to the attention of the organisers of the New York Fashion Week, who invited them to present their collections for the first time during the Spring-Summer 1997 season. Their first fashion show caused a major impact on an audience accustomed to the minimalist greys and blacks that were the order of the day. The intense colour schemes of their garments, the careful combination of fabrics and their bold designs attracted the attention of the North American journalists, who featured their collections on the pages of the major fashion magazines. This constant presence in the press and on television boosted the firm's sales in the USA, and led to a growing interest in the brand on the European and Asian markets, where the designers once again enjoyed considerable success.