Updated 03:38 PM EST, Sun, Dec 22, 2024

'El Chapo' Now a Fashion Icon?: Shirt Sales Skyrocket After Drug Kingpin is Seen Wearing It

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The recapture of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" made international headlines. Now, a clothing company in Los Angeles is banking in on the news sensation that has taken the world by storm.

According to The Guardian, '"El Chapo" has sort of become a fashion icon following his recapture last week, in which actor Sean Penn is partly to thank, as the actor went to visit him for the magazine, Rolling Stone. The drug cartel lord escaped from a high security prison in Mexico and was on the run until his capture last week. 

While famed gangsters Al Capone and Pablo Escobar also had their own sense of style that everyone will remember them by, the feared drug lord has favored a style inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt and Coco Chanel. The shirt in question came from the Barabas boutique in Los Angeles' Fashion District.

Store owner Shawn Esteghbal told the publication that what made him excited was not because "El Chapo" was an international criminal, but the fact the famed drug kingpin is remarkably wealthy, having landed in the Forbes' list of billionaires in 2009.

Esteghbal added that a man of "El Chapo's" financial stature could afford to buy luxurious brands from Versace, but instead he favoured a paisley shirt from his store.

When Esteghbal and his brother saw that Guzman was wearing their shirts on the Rolling Stone pictures with Penn, they decided to advertise and bank on it, calling the shirt the "MOST WANTED SHIRT."

The brothers have a philosophy for fashion, borrowed from a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, and they have emblazoned it on their website, which reads: "Good words, good thoughts, good deeds."  

The silk shirt's design is striped silver with a black cobweb design, which Penn described to "gleam with a metallic sheen."

In a report with News.com.au, the brothers have no qualms about selling the "El Chapo" shirts. When asked about the possibility of the drug cartel lord being associated with Barabas clothing, they simply said that they "just making clothes."

The brothers say that the "El Chapo" shirts are flying off the shelves and selling out fast. Despite the controversial figure the shirt is associated with, the Jewish brothers seem to be laughing all the way to the bank.

Esteghbal tells their detractors that "reality is reality," and that people can think what they "want to think."

An "El Chapo" shirt retails for $128 apiece. "Sales are skyrocketing!" said Esteghbal in closing.

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