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LOS ANGELES — The big hoop earrings, the lowrider bike, even the font used in their merchandise are all part of the story of Bella Doña or Bella Dona, a Latina-owned lifestyle brand now partnering with the NFL.
Co-owner Lala Romero recently visited the space where they’ll debut their new collection with the NFL for the first time. Taking the elevator upstairs, she took in the total experience.
“We’ve been working on this for months and months and months, and so I think that it’s so tricky when you work on something for so long and your silo of creating, and now it’s literally out in the world,” said Romero.
It’s a dream that began in the apartment that Romero shared with her best friend, Natalia Durazo. The two women shared a love of street wear.
“One thing we had in common was that we would always wear boy clothes,” said Durazo. “We always wore boy clothes and boy sneakers. And that was a conversation that would constantly come up, like, ‘How come there’s nothing for us?’”
Romero said that they were “not really seeing like Spanish or Spanglish or LA represented through the woman’s lens, through our lens, and so we wanted to make things that we wanted to wear.”
In 2013, they created Bella Dona, a lifestyle brand that includes clothing, home decor and jewelry with its roots in Chicano and LA culture.
Now, they are among the four prominent LA-based street wear designers that are part of Origins: An NFL Collection.
“Working with the NFL is probably even bigger than I ever imagined, and with this origins collection, it just makes complete sense,” said Durazo.
“It’s the ultimate goal because we grew up in this football culture,” added Romero.
By working with the NFL, designers like Bella Doña are not only sharing their merchandise but their unique story with football fans across the world.
Their clothing is available at NFLshop.com.