Meet Armando “Mandi” Pereira | Fashion Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Armando “Mandi” Pereira and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Armando “Mandi”, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Definitely quality over quantity. I believe a defining trait about my brand is my obsession with quality and details. I am always trying new techniques, new silhouettes and searching for higher quality materials, ensuring that anyone that buys one of my pieces gets something I’m proud to showcase as my work

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think authenticity would be something that best defines my brand and sets me apart from most. Everything I create comes straight from my own lived experiences, my tastes, and obsessions. I create based on what I would like to wear and believe can be functional for other people too, so I think that people pick up on that, they see something with DNA behind it, a thought process behind it and gravitate towards that. My strong attention to detail and obsession with quality is also something that has gotten me recognition, I believe that caring about the little things that people might not appreciate or even notice pushes me to keep improving my craftsmanship and gives even more worth to the piece for the people that do notice. Something I’m proud of or excited about? I would say the growing fashion scene here in PR, when I started you could count in one hand the people that where doing clothes in PR, even less “cut & sew streetwear”. I have mad respect for the people that take fashion design as a craft seriously cause it’s definitely not easy making clothes in PR, until recently we’ve had almost no government incentives or initiatives for the advancement of the fashion scene, the access to quality materials is limited, and manufacturing overseas can be unnecessarily costly do to shipping laws and other factors. A big lesson I’ve learned along the ways is no one gets to the top alone, I’ve always stayed away from gatekeeping, cause I know the struggle of having to figure things out on your own, and that has been reciprocated to me by all the people that have collaborated with me and helped me along the way without asking for anything in return, just mutual respect and the vision to do something dope. Fun fact, my first ever presentation was 3 months after my graduation from fashion school, it was the first independent cut & sew streetwear runway show on the island, I had 10 models, 3 photographers, 2 videographers, 3 stylists, 4 makeup artists, some of the best musical artists in PR performed that night, I would say it was on par with some of the best productions done on the island and it was all done in collaboration, just people that saw the vision and decided to bet on it. I believe building genuine relationships opens just as many doors as talent might.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am definitely the worst person to ask where to hang out, I am a cave dweller, I’ll probably just tell him to chill out at my house and play video games haha, but if I have to go outside I do have some of the best places to eat on my list..for criollo El Obrero o El Toston Criollo, for traditional japanese Kemuri and for some real good mexican El Mex y Acapulco.. just to name a few cause if I mention more he’ll probably want to stay outside longer.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve had a lot of people that have backed me up since the beginning, but I will always give a special s/o to Alexandra my producer and right hand, Tito who is one of my best friends and my graphic designer, Muela who has been a mentor for me since my early days and of course my parents who have always supported every idea I’ve had even if they had their doubts.

Website: https://apmanufactured.com

Instagram: mandi_pereira

Youtube: @armandopereira9817

Image Credits
Lorainne
Angel Manuel Soto
Antonio
Alan
Rauw
Jayden
Cheick
Belmariliz
Lucky