By Jessica Lu,
Staff Writer
Clothes and paint supplies surround class of 2022 alumna Sierra Barrios as she smooths out the shirt in front of her, feeling the fabric beneath her fingertips. Turning to the side, she grabs a fresh piece of tissue paper, hearing it crinkle in response and places it on top of her desired sketch. Barrios then carefully copies the design onto the tissue paper, making sure each line is neat. After placing the completed outline onto the shirt, Barrios traces the design, this time with fabric markers so that it bleeds through the tissue paper and onto the shirt. Removing the tissue paper, she prepares her paint, hearing the liquid slosh around as she stirs it. Barrios hovers her paintbrush over the shirt and begins dyeing the fabric, watching the various colors blossom underneath her paintbrush.
Barrios first started designing clothes with thrifted items. Entering high school, she began customizing more pieces for herself and received positive feedback from her peers. This caused her to become interested in starting a business which would include making custom clothes. After a year of brainstorming, Barrios launched Chaos Customs, her own clothing brand, in July of 2022. Following her acceptance into UC Berkeley, she decided to quit her previous job and work on her business full time.
“I chose the name Chaos Customs because I wanted my brand to represent a diverse range of styles, cultures and attitudes,” Barrios said. “I felt like the only proper way to describe that was chaos, because there’s just so many different multifaceted ways of expressing fashion.”
Barrios uses recycled and upcycled materials from thrift stores, making her brand environmentally friendly. Though this raises quality concerns, Barrios assures the best conditions in her items. She sanitizes everything and offers free exchanges for any flawed products. In addition to being eco-friendly, Chaos Customs focuses on affordability and size inclusivity.
“A lot of the time, clothes that feel unique and original don’t exist in the right sizes or the right prices,” Barrios said. “I want to make those things more available to people, and to be able to accommodate everybody’s needs the best that I personally can and help them make their designs a reality.”
Along with custom orders, Chaos Customs also has multiple designs as well as jewelry and tote bags available on its website: chaoscustomsco.com.
Barrios is currently working and planning on launching two new collections; “The Patchwork Collection” and a men’s line. “The Patchwork Collection” will feature “collage-type” clothing with accessories such as jewelry and other types of fabrics being sewn onto clothes.
“Ultimately, one of my huge goals is to allow people to feel comfortable in their own skin and confident in their wardrobe,” Barrios said. “I’m making fashion affordable, sizable and available for all different people. That’s what I aim to do, that’s what my brand stands for and that brings me a lot of joy.”