With styles emerging every second of every day, fashion not only inspires, but tests one’s abilities to make themselves stand out from the crowd.

Those characteristics are what drew Martin Rodriguez, 21, Business major, an upcoming designer and brand owner of OUTSTRUCT, to pursue his life goals.

Rodriguez first discovered his love of fashion as a kid. Surrounded by a wide variety of punks, skaters and international kids, Rodriguez gained different perspectives on life. As time went on, those perspectives nurtured his love of fashion.

“I never want to be in a category,” said Rodriguez. “I just want to innovate and influence other people who have potential.”

The meaning of his clothing brand OUTSTRUCT means out of the zone, said Rodriguez.

“Out of the zone that you’re afraid, out of the zone in which you’re obligated to do something that you’re not supposed to do, and also to give everything a new and different atmosphere,” said Rodriguez.

Making his own designs for his brand is what he’s always wanted to do.

“It’s simply making myself content with what I’m wearing,” said Rodriguez. “Even from graduating high school [to] going into college, I just didn’t like the transition that everyone kind of [losing] their creativity side. We only have one life and we have to take advantage of that creative outlet.”

Rodriguez aims to appeal to the middle school and high school age groups, as they help popularize the brands as well as cultivate new trends and styles.

“I wanted to create a brand that the middle school version of me would wear,” said Rodriguez. “That’s what I wanted to strive for.”

Rodrguez says that people often overlook how much work is actually put into starting a clothing brand. It is a combination of looking at the company from both of the business and designer stand points.

“You have to test and see what works with the brand and what doesn’t work with the brand,” said Rodriguez. “You need to know how people will react to your product at the end of the day.”

Aside from being the creator and designer, Rodriguez uses his photography skills to discover and capture exactly the look he wants for displaying his products. Rodriguez says that what he sees in catalogs of different department stores teaches him on how to better connect to the buyers through photography.

“The pictures I see in the catalogs aren’t that great sometimes,” said Rodriguez. “They don’t make me want to buy their products. So I wanted to give my brand a cool dark vibe that gives off something different for people to actually like the clothes.”

To everyone around him, Rodriguez doesn’t only bring his loud, crazy and vibrant energy, but also his personality to the table. Ariel Merm, a 21-year-old Psychology major, said that Rodriguez is super fun to work with.

“He’s serious but at the same time he literally makes jokes and laughs with you the whole time so it’s not boring, not one bit,” said Merm. “It’s a blast.”

Bella Velarde, an 18-year-old Political Science major at California State University Los Angeles, also said that Rodriguez is an overall positive person that can work any little things he sees into his photo shoots and clothes.

“He really puts a lot of thoughts into his work, even the smallest little details that the viewers might not even be able to tell,” said Velarde. “He’s very creative when it comes to the settings of his photo shoots and can be serious but fun to work with at the same time. He’s just an awesome person to be around with.”

Every day is always an inspiration for Rodriguez. Wherever he goes, sees, and does to create new ideas for not only his clothes. Sending a positive message to the buyers is his goal.