Sunday 17 April 2016

Tony Peniche: No Ordinary Graduate

In order to understand how the education system affects our daily surroundings it is best to look at its results; the students that come out of it. Sadly the picture is not as pretty as one might imagine as many are left in crippling debt and move back in with their parents. A large portion of students that leave university or college end up in jobs that have nothing to do with their studies or little relevance to their areas of interest. This is perhaps the reason for the decline in popularity in the education world, but there are some exceptions to the rules we have examined. In the arts and creative industries there are graduates who now find themselves in a world that is finally accommodating the arts with business, making it a welcome environment for them to enter. An individual that has benefitted from this and gone beyond is Tony Peniche, a man of many talents who did more with his studies than most.

Tony Peniche is no normal college graduate. He studied at the Arts Institute in Portland and it was here that he found his flame. Many people decide what they want to do in college but how they go about doing it is where Tony Peniche excelled. Instead of moving back in with his parents he decided to dive headfirst into the world of fashion design, employing his creative skills from the get-go and having to learn many more. He did not reach the top in a day, but the rate at which he made haste is definitely something to be observed. He now operates a fashion line on the verge of turning global thanks to the education he received and the connections he made afterwards.

Tony Peniche runs the eponymous Peniche label that has been in the works since he started studying. Putting the hours in at college helped Tony Peniche to formulate a plan for afterwards, and this time revealed to him that college cannot be viewed as a capsule – it must extend outwards. This is the reason that he has done so well post college and the reason that others should be turning to his example. Like education, fashion is a global practice that he has managed to engage with in a way that considers the future, and it is students like Tony Peniche that can help to inspire educational faculties to improve and update their programs to meet the changing demands of industries and students across the world.

Tony Peniche: The New Breed of Entrepreneur

For centuries the way business has been done and the businesses that people do have defined and shaped the world around us. It is no secret that the economy and its fuel are the things that make the world go round as well as buildings go up and neighbourhoods fill out. Taking a look at the world around us today reveals that business has taken something of a turn, and in tandem requires a new sort of businessman. No longer are the offices in our streets filled with suits, brogues and ties. Indeed, no longer is the office found in the economic sector of town, as it may well be located in an arts suburb on the outskirts. What is this new currency that is now being traded in and sought after? And who are the people that know how to mediate it? In this article we take a look at one of the hottest young businessmen who has made a career out of what every company is talking about: the arts.

Tony Peniche has something of a knack when it comes to seeking out talent and incorporating it into his work. Over the years he has worked with all kinds of creatives such as photographers, choreographers, models and editors that have helped him to build what can truly be called a creative industry. He operates out of one of the most thriving artistic hotbeds of the United States, Portland, and it is here that Tony Peniche continues to find inspiration. Tony Peniche has realised that business needs a fresh face and this face can only be found in the younger creative generations that surround him. There is more to this realisation however, because Tony Peniche is an active part of this generation.

As an artist himself Tony Peniche has a serious head start in the game. He founded the Peniche fashion line that he has been working on since graduation and is now proliferating across America and even on an international level. Recently Tony Peniche found himself in China distributing the brand making sure that he was part of a global network of creative businessmen. Being a creative soul as well as a dealmaker Tony Peniche is a fine example of the new breed of entrepreneur to whom the future belongs. Embracing the arts and making sure that there is a reciprocal dialogue between business and creativity has been at the helm of his career and it will form a model for others to follow as time goes on.

Monday 4 April 2016

Tony Peniche – The American Dream and What it Means Today

America was born as the land of opportunity. In 1931, historian James Truslow Adams wrote “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement,” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. This was the beginning of the concept of “The American Dream,” which would later go on to influence and persuade thousands of immigrants to leave their homes in pursuit of streets paved with gold. Admittedly, this notion is a bit exaggerated; anyone who has been to New York knows that the streets are far from golden. But the core concept of the “American Dream” – equal opportunity for all – is still very much alive today.


In what other country could a barely 30 year-old entrepreneur establish several successful brands of men’s fashion, open a revolutionary creative development corporation that builds and manages office-studio spaces for creative professionals, and invent a patented line of laser-etched pieces of wood that can upgrade any bottle of whiskey to top-shelf quality in just 24 hours. Not only has Tony Peniche achieved all of these, he has also managed to find time to contribute to the pursuits of his fellow entrepreneurs by giving talks at colleges like the University of Oregon and Portland State University about startup business strategies, and by providing free business consulting throughout his home city of Portland.


A self-proclaimed natural leader, Mr. Peniche made a name for himself in fashion while he was still a student at The Art Institute of Portland. In 2011 he was awarded by PDX 30 for being one of the topmost entrepreneurs under the age of 30, and the following year he was named Fashion Designer of the Year by the Portland Fashion & Style Awards.


Miraculously, Mr. Peniche has managed not to let his fame go to his head. On the contrary, he uses his formidable position in the business world to promote other startup up companies. One such company is Findlay Hats, which provides customers with customizable, personalized hats that are the perfect signature to any style. Like Mr. Peniche, Findlay Hats founder Jimmy Hickey was a true believer in the “American Dream.” This is why, in 2013, Mr. Hickey drained his bank account and invested all of his money into his idea for a hat company that would be unlike any other. Today, Findlay Hats is a profitable company that continues to “outfit and inspire true adventurers.”


America is indeed a land of opportunity for those who are willing to seek it out. And fortunately there are people like Tony P

Tony Peniche – Making a Bold Fashion Statement in Business

Everyone has heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, human nature isn’t wired to initially respond this way when encountering a stranger. In reality, people judge others by their appearance just as much as others judge them. How someone dresses, how groomed someone is, or how someone carries themself acts as an early indicator of what kind of person others think they are. This is not to imply that people should make themselves appear in a way that is not true to their nature – if this were the case, the world would be pretty boring. However, it is good to be aware that the way a person packages him or herself is often the way he or she will be perceived.

When it comes to appearance, Tony Peniche is a seasoned expert. A serial entrepreneur, renowned fashion designer, and professional photographer just shy of 30 years old, Mr. Peniche has achieved more than many do in their entire lifetimes.His brand of men’s clothing line, “Killing Beverly”, was showcased at the 2009 Portland Fashion Week, making Mr. Peniche the youngest designer ever to be featured at the event. “Killing Beverly” was an innovative, albeit controversial, brand that set out to deconstruct the fake, materialistic culture that has become synonymous with Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. It also represented notions of love lost to this vapid universe, using bold cuts and graphics to portray an array of intense emotion. Mr. Peniche’s clothing is not just for wearing – it depicts real messages about the struggle between genuine creative originality and the corporations that try to reduce this creativity to nothing more than a price tag. 

 Mr. Peniche quickly took the Portland fashion industry by storm, but his insatiable ambition pushed him to reach further than the border of his home state and country. In 2010, he accompanied some of Portland’s top fashion delegates on a trip to China to establish international relations between Portland’s designers and China’s manufacturers. Mr. Peniche was given the opportunity to display his Fall collection to the fashion association of China, which made Mr. Peniche fully realize the global extent of the fashion industry. 


 Tony Peniche has made quite a name for himself in the fashion industry, but he has no intentions of slowing down any time soon. With his successful fashion line and production company, fashion enthusiasts should expect many more creatively enthralling ventures from Mr. Peniche.