…telling stories with product…
Albizu is a creative professional with over 19 years of accessories, graphic, and illustrative design experience, 16 of which devoted to fashion based product design in lifestyle and sportswear.
He has designed with, led, and established creative teams at New Era Cap, ’47 Brand, Hat Club, and ISlide in developing product for all Major Sports Leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), Entertainment Licenses (Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Warner Bros., Disney, Lucas Arts, Hanna-Barbera, and Hasbro) and celebrity collaborations (Spike Lee, David Ortiz).
With an Illustration degree from the University at Buffalo, that was only used to draw guests at his doorman podium at the Hyatt in downtown, Albizu finally listened to his then girlfriend (now Wife), and applied for a temp Tech Pack Designer position at New Era Cap. Determined to impress, Albizu would purposely leave illustrations, and designs where superiors could see, ultimately landing him a full time role with the company.
After a brief stint as a Production Designer, Albizu was promoted to Assistant Designer, and then Lead Designer for Entertainment Licenses, opening up a world of story telling options through a different medium of product, materials and colors. With the success of the Ent. Lic division, Albizu was tasked with heading up all of the Lifestyle Product as the Assistant Design Manager for Sports, Ent. Lic, EK, NE Branded, and Flagship product.
When Albizu’s wife was accepted to a school in Massachusetts, in support of her dreams, he resigned from his position at New Era Cap to go on a new adventure. Blessed with a supervisor’s rejection of his resignation and replaced with an idea for a proposal to work in Mass with intermittent travel to support the new NYC office for a short period of time until alternate work in his new location could be found. Luckily, after New Era, ’47 Brand was literally right around the corner.
At ’47 Brand, Albizu accepted a position as Designer Manager for Lifestyle product, incorporating headwear and apparel into unique seasonal stories and capsules with a team of talented young designers. There he worked on several initiatives and collaborations including David Ortiz, Coast 2 Coast, Carhartt, the Global Artist Project, and MLBxGoya in an effort to showcase the company’s holistic creative potential to lifestyle buyers.
After the layoffs at ’47 in early 2019, eliminating positions in the Lifestyle division, Albizu has since done design consulting work for Hat Club, PVCK, idegy, and ISlide, lending them his experience in graphic design, product design, and processes to their success.
“Throughout my career, despite being fortunate enough to have designed award winning and trend relevant product that resonated with consumers, I noticed I was usually the only person of color in my position in the building, let alone the company. That can sometimes lead to fewer POC design initiatives and give you the impression that minority cultures are less important. Here, I can continue telling stories with product but have it resonate closer to culture, its diversity, and its celebration….and maybe some nerdy illustrations too for good measure.”