Axel, Mexico City

Axel Escalante is a creative director and founder of one of Mexico’s most influential youth and street culture magazines, Crom Magazine. Since its foundation in 2013, Crom Magazine has expanded to include Crom Agency and Crom Club, and their focus is on highlighting and giving opportunity to young, local artists and creators, as well as providing parties and events for the youth community. Axel is also an ex-TV host and actor, although he says, “I like this new chapter better.”

Let’s start from the [almost] beginning! What inspired you to start Crom Magazine, Axel?

I think we are our experiences; that’s what inspires us. I was inspired to start Crom Magazine after coming back to Mexico from living in LA briefly. I met people there doing incredible things. I was friends with Jeremy Scott before he was famous. I worked in LA at Freak City. When I came back to Mexico City, I saw things differently, and that’s when I started Crom Magazine. 

And how exactly did Crom Magazine start, back then?

We started as a really small group of people, maybe 15 or 20 people, that were all on the same page. I used all of the contacts that I had with people and brands, and the magazine started growing and showing totally unseen things, here in Mexico. It started to create a whole new street culture and scene here in Mexico City.

Can you tell us a bit more about street culture and the streetwear scene there? We’d love to get an insight.

Out here there are so many good artists who are talented and with great ideas, but they just don’t have the capital to make them happen. It simply doesn’t exist. The factories, the technology, the money… like, doing a shoe, just the mould costs 200,000 peso [equivalent to €8,400 EUR] … most people here don’t have that. When they actually get somewhere is when bigger brands invest – for example like Tony Delfino*, a Mexican brand now doing a collection with Vans, the shoes are beautiful, and the brand had this support. But there are so many more. I think things are changing in Mexico and Mexican brands and creators are starting to be recognised in other places. I think that’s the cool thing that is happening now with street wear and fashion here - that it is opening to new people, more than ever before. 

*You can read our interview with Smithe One, the person behind Tony Delfino, here.

Is that partly what you’re trying to do with Crom – be a cultural catalyst in a way, for people like this? For the creators?  

I definitely have been told that. I’ve been told I’m a ‘social agitator,’ [laughs]. Brands have often come to me and it has never been hard for me to point to other people that they should be working with, like photographers, designers… I connect a lot of people, for sure. With my magazine I also give light to young people that are not known yet, so I feel I have helped and promoted a lot of up and coming talents with Crom.

Is this something that drives you – to help unknown creators become successful?

Definitely. I love that I am able to use my platform to help them be seen. That is also what made me first think of starting the Crom Agency. I would like to see a moment where all of that talent in Mexico City can see the light - to produce their ideas here and be successful, to be recognised. But creating here is so expensive. We don’t have all that technology to make sneakers. Take Esteban Tamayo, for example, his first catwalk show was with Crom Agency five years ago, and it was incredible. And now – with the help of companies that believed in him – he is doing his own shoe collection and is putting out things so original that I haven’t seen anything similar, even in Japan. And he really started from the bottom.

That’s amazing that you’re helping young creators like that, through your platform. We’d really like to understand Mexico and Mexico City a little better. What else would you like to tell a global brand about streetwear there?

I’d tell them that Mexico is really diverse. Each place is very different. Like, in the city, I really like the skaters, but in Guadalajara, for example, they really tend to copy stuff that comes from the USA. The interesting thing about street culture and fashion in Mexico is that it’s a mix of outside influences, with everything that it means to be Mexican.

Who are some names that you feel are leading in this creative mix?

I like Sanchez Kane, and how she is actually making art with her fashion designs… like putting five cowboy hats together and making it wearable, wow! These are things I have known my entire life, but just presented in a spectacular and original way, breaking out of the norm. There are a lot of young kids just killing it, too. Man Candy, Julio Renata, people who created a momentum in Mexico. In terms of music, which also has a huge impact on culture here, there’s Alemán and his crew, they’re Hip Hop and rap and have really elevated the genre to new heights. Also, the Neoperreo [an underground offshoot of Reggaeton; ‘Perreo’ being Spanish slang for the way you dance to Reggaeton music] trend that was started by Tomasa Del Real, that was heat! That trend got super big here in Mexico City. It’s like Reggaeton but more hood, mixed with gothic… more inclusive, more queer, trans… ghetto…

It sounds like there are some incredibly exciting young creators in the city...

Yeah, and people like this are even starting to have their own space in places like New York, or Europe. It’s beautiful that this is finally happening.

We’ve heard this same sentiment echoed in our interviews here in Mexico City…

Right?? People like to come here for holidays, like to go to somewhere like Puerto Escondido, where they can feel inspired. So it’s crazy to me that people come from other places to get inspired here, when there people already here weren’t appreciating what we have! But I think that is something that came about from the past, whereas now we see that our culture is liked everywhere, that there is so much to offer. Now, people like Barragan [a Mexican architect and engineer] is being talked about in schools, whereas before these people were the alternatives and nobody talked about them. Now they teach about them like they’re an inspiration. We were under the influence of colonisation, but now we are getting out of it. And not only in terms of fashion, but everything, the models, the makeup references, gastronomy …

This is super interesting. And how has Mexico City itself influenced your magazine, Crom?

For me, when I started Crom Magazine, I was inspired by the combination of all of it; the dark, the gothic, the cyber... I love this city, you can’t even imagine... the places, the music, the artists, paying 5 pesos and entering the best party of your life, the looks…. There is so much underground culture here in Mexico City. They make their own clothes. People don’t realise that gothic style is Mexican. There is so much of that here…

It sounds like an incredible place. On the flip side, do you have any frustrations at all?

I think they’re the same frustrations that come in any artistic movement; the support, how hard it is to make things happen. If something is commercial then OK, you can sell it and it’s all good, but as soon as it is something different, it becomes hard. You can find anything you want in Mexico. We have everything here, and I don’t think anyone would leave if it wasn’t for the circumstances that I just talked about. People don’t leave Mexico because they don’t want to be here. They leave because the eye is in cities like Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo…. But I think the world is starting to turn their head to us.

And do you feel you’ve played a role, there?

I do. A lot of people like Nayeli De Alba, Diego Jimenez, me… we are not that young, we’re all in our 40’s, but we helped make this possible for Mexico and the creative scene, and we are finally being recognised for it. And it all started with our love for the craft. I have always fought to get these people out there and to get support for new designers and alternative proposals, and I have succeeded sometimes, and that makes me happy.

It’s a fantastic achievement. How could brands - big brands – also help here?

I want to see brands supporting and giving creative freedom to the artists – that, together, is magic!

Do you think it’s a realm well-suited to adidas?

Yes! They’ve always been one of the favourites. Imagine, with the experience of a brand like adidas, with their platform, and to have the power to be able to support these artists that haven’t had an opportunity to show their work. It’s so hard to bring your vision to life when you don’t have the resources.

If adidas did decide to do more of this in Mexico City, what should they be careful of?

Never use the stereotypes of the culture and force artists to do things your way. That is horrible, so limiting. Especially when you have people like Sanchez Kane doing amazing things, creating new narratives using real Mexican culture. 

That’s a very, very important point. “Be appropriate, don’t appropriate” is a key commandment for adidas… Anything else?

Brands always arrive late to cultural opportunities, and the reason is simple: you cannot be creating, designing, running a brand and be in the street all at the same time. And cultures are created with movements. Like the combination of music, people, experiences, places… and that is impossible to recreate. So I think brands like adidas should have a position that is exactly that, to be out there, not in the office... Someone that is social, and is looking for models, in parties, in things happening in the cities. You have to be part of it to know how to move within it and what to do with that. 

Are there any global brands that you think are doing a good job of connecting with Mexico City?  

One brand that did really good last year was Levi’s. I think Vans do pretty well, too. I think for adidas and Nike, the issue here is the price mark. They’re more elitist, even now that people spend more money on fashion and streetwear and keep some sneakers as a treasure. Vans was the better-connected brand for years, but they had some issues in their team where they hired the wrong people and became disconnected. Who you hire is so important, as it’s gonna reflect on how the brand does.

How else can a brand like adidas connect better?

I think they should use more Mexican models; use people that look like us. Look for essence. Find original people. You can find a lot of amazing ambassadors here. Focus on our culture. We can be a big influence. There are so many of us - Latin America is so big, with so many people. It’s a huge opportunity.  

We love that. And would you be interested in working with adidas?

Yes, of course. I love the brand. I think I could do that as a creative director - bringing ideas to life, putting a team together, providing talent, pointing to the right people before they became well known, or doing parties with the club. I think we could do so many things. We should talk…