Only days after Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chapo was recaptured, two particular shirt's sale goes up the roof. Apparently, the shirts are similar to the ones El Chapo wore in his interview with actor Sean Penn for Rolling Stone.
In fact, Barabas, the Los Angeles-based store who sell the shirt, claim that their shirt has indeed the very style as the drug lord's. TMZ reported that when Sean Penn's secret interview story and pictures came out, the shirt's sale skyrocketed in no time. The soaring sales even caused the store's website to crash twice already in the last few days due to traffic spike.
Recognizing why and how the purchases increased, Barabas then used El Chapo's image on their website to market the shirt. They showed the picture of El Chapo and Sean Penn's picture shaking hands, the drug lord wearing the striped button-down shirt they designed.
Shawn Esteghbal, who own the store with his brother Sam, told CNN that they cannot keep the shirts in stock, and they have a lot of demand all over the world. Wholesale buyers also came to put the shirts in their own store. "Right now, it's crazy," Shawn said.
The brothers shared their excitement with The Guardian. "It's not about that he's an international criminal. We're excited because he could buy anything, he could buy Versace, any other brand, but he choose our brand, our designs!" Shawn Esteghbal said, referring to the fact that the cartel lord is a billionaire, shipping drugs internationally. El Chapo even landed on Forbes' list of billionaires in 2009.
The two shirt designs in question are called "Fantasy" and "Crazy Paisley". The Fantasy is a men's button-down with blue-and-grey stripes and abstract pattern, while Crazy Paisley is all blue with paisley prints all over the shirt.
The "MOST WANTED SHIRT", as written in Barabas' website store, is sold for $128 each. As for the specs, the shirts are all 100% cotton satin, slim fit, and have good quality stitching, according to Shawn.
Even though the store is based in Los Angeles, Barabas is a wholesale distributor. They have more than 500 vendors, they ship their products to Mexico, Brazil, Italy, and more countries. Even so, the Esteghbal brothers said they have no idea how El Chapo got their shirts.
Right now, both the shirts design are sold out, and potential buyers will have to wait until the Valentine's Day, when the shirts will be available in stock again. The "El Chapo shirt" is now sold out, while Barabas still receive a lot of demands.
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