Belize-born and Los Angeles-raised Angel Gentle is a young Black creative hoping to bring his flea market fashion back to his South Central roots.

A streetwear designer known for his patchwork designs that feature famous faces, cartoon characters, and unique jackets that use vintage quilts and tapestries, Gentle broke into the fashion business with his eponymous brand nearly three years ago.

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Taking inspiration from the legends of streetwear — namely Ye, Virgil Abloh and Dapper Dan, the latter of whom Gentle said “opened the door for streetwear art” — Gentle has set out to bring a stylish flair to his neighborhood.

“I wanted to create something in this area that isn’t existing already,” Gentle said. “There’s no stores like what we have, because there’s a Goodwill, and that’s it. I grew up in this area and I would love to see more stuff than just another liquor store or smoke shop.”

retrofit la, Gentle’s first store, opened at 2678 S Vermont Ave. just over two weeks ago. The vintage collective first opened its doors to USC and the broader South Central community Feb. 9.

While Gentle is the frontman and namesake of the brand, all of the behind-the-scenes work to make the brand’s iconic patchwork garments wouldn’t be possible without his right-hand woman and artistic partner: his mom, Joan Sanker.

Sanker said the most exciting part of working on “Angel Gentle” was “seeing the business grow from small to what it is now.”

In Belize, her home country, Sanker learned to sew at just 12 years old. She worked at a Dickies factory in Belize as a seamstress from the ages of 15 to 25, making the durable, rugged workwear that the brand is famous for. Now, she’s putting her skills and passion to use in the Los Angeles streetwear market.

While Sanker has had a lifelong career making clothes by hand in Belize and the U.S., she was concerned about how her job prospects would change after losing one of her eyes because of complications from diabetes a few years ago. Although Gentle started the brand partially to give back to his community, the biggest reward is being able to give back to his mom.

“I’ve always seen my mom be able to sew, so I wanted to create something [where] she can be herself and create everything she wants to create without worrying about working for someone who might take advantage of her for her disability,” Gentle said. “That’s a big drive for why I do what I do.”

As a creative outlet for both Gentle and Sanker, “Angel Gentle” has been a constant learning process for both of them as they study streetwear trends in the City of Angels.

“I started molding the things that people I see are wanting,” Gentle said. “Once you make something that’s created from a vintage inspiration, it becomes cool in the eyes of everyone else. I went from being told I’m not gonna last to still being there today and being one of the top earners at the [Silverlake Flea] market.”

Since the brand has taken off, the mother-son duo has made regular appearances at the monthly Black Market Flea in South Central, as well as the weekly Silverlake Flea, where they set up shop every weekend. From working at Silverlake Flea, Gentle struck up a friendship with fellow designer Freddy Tyler Paul after being assigned neighboring booths.

“I taught myself how to screen print at the same time as I lost my last job, so I just went all-out on that and I started going to Silverlake Flea every Sunday and Saturday,” Paul said. “Randomly, [I] was just always put next to Angel, and me and Angel just became good buddies. Here we are a year and a half later, opening a shop together.”

Now, Paul and Gentle have officially begun doing business together in the artist collective that Gentle founded on Vermont. There are five total vendors at retrofit la — all of whom sell at Silverlake Flea — that have adorned the shop with their curated collections. Paul has certainly brought humor to the space with his designs that greet customers as they walk in, made from drawings and old magazine cut-outs digitally arranged in a collage style before being screen printed onto tees.

“I just stopped giving a fuck at the end of the day and I just started putting what I thought was funny on tees, and I think it’s kinda resonated with most people,” Paul said. “I’m not like a crazy streetwear god or a fashionista or anything, but I like doing what I’m doing and it’s working for me.”

This spring, the duo behind “Angel Gentle” is tackling a new project to add to the beloved collection of patchwork tees, hoodies, one-of-a-kind “bonfire jackets” and totes that the brand has amassed.

“We’re starting to do our own line of jackets like the Carhartt-looking jackets,” Sanker said. “It’s a little challenging because I haven’t been in that industry for a long time, so it takes a little time but I’m getting back into it … We’ll get there.”

Gentle stated the importance of perseverance when making a career in the fashion industry, and acknowledged the challenges that have hit along the way. By opening his first-ever store mere blocks from USC’s campus, Gentle has circled back to his South Central roots in hopes of further advancing his career in streetwear, for which he has already garnered local celebrity status with nearly 6,000 followers on Instagram.

“I didn’t quit and I stuck with it even when it got really, really hard,” Gentle said. “I’m proud of every little achievement that I make. To be growing in this industry so fast in L.A. is not the mold — people spend five, six years trying to make it, and for my mom and I to just go through it so quickly is honestly just incredible. I’m super proud and grateful for us.”