After attending a photography exhibit in 2013 on the 21st anniversary of SEXO, a sex-positive campaign that featured Latino men, Elicia Gonzales and Didier García felt inspired to create clothing that would celebrate love, intimacy and sex.
The two started texting each other phrases — like “Kiki & A Half” and “Post Gender” — that ultimately became buttons. García also designed simple outlines of a penis and vulva with hearts in the middle. The collection is called heart-on.
Gonzales and García debuted their new company, called unatee.co, at OutFest. Despite the rain and wind, people darted to the unatee.co table. The “Post Gender” button was especially popular with young people.
“These little symbols inspire conversation and curiosity,” García said. “We want people to talk more about love and sex.”
Anyone who missed OutFest can check out unatee.co online at www.unatee.co. Buttons sell for $2 and T-shirts for $20. Gonzales said the project is “very DIY” at the moment. She produces the buttons in-house and a company in New Jersey helps print the T-shirts. People can have the pieces shipped anywhere.
Gonzales said they’re putting together a community poll that people can find online in the coming weeks. She and García want input from people about what they want to reflect their voices in the LGBT community.
In the future, Gonzales would like to see unatee.co expand into community events, interactions with other artists and programming to teach youth about starting and maintaining a business.
García said he’d like the company to catch on globally. He’s already seen people in other states sporting the buttons.
“We’re both really big dreamers,” Gonzales said.
For more information, visit unatee.co on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.