Talking shop with Rio Uribe of RIO

For more than a decade, California native Rio Uribe has shaken up the status quo of fashion with his notorious brand Gypsy Sport. Exploding onto the scene in NYC, Rio’s universe was always one of inclusion, cultural pride and diversity. A DIY - even punk? - approach to what sustainable and earth-friendly fashion can also look like: loudly unique, explicitly urgent and essentially cool. Rio now resides back in California where he has been plotting his next move and today he announces the next era with the rebrand and name change to simply: RIO. 

Submission Beauty is thrilled to announce that we will be collaborating with RIO for the upcoming SS25 show on September 11th. Read on below for a glance into Rio’s world

PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN @hichristophers
INTERVIEW JESPER GUDBERGSEN @yessirjesper

Hi Rio - how's show prep going ?

It’s all going really smoothly! Honestly it's been a pretty nice month of preparing for the show. We have a great team this time so I'm really excited. 

Submission is excited to be working on the show with you too! Rio, tell me a little bit about where you are right now and what led you here?

Right now I am at home in my work studio in LA. I am preparing for the relaunch of my brand RIO, FKA Gypsy Sport, which I've had for 11 years now. I started the brand without much and didn't really know a lot about what I was doing, but it’s been a very educational experimental journey for me. I think I've learned so much over the past 11 years and it’s been super fun. I've loved all of the challenges and all of the great moments have been very valuable. 

Congratulations on charging a new path for the brand with the name change. What does this all mean to you?

Looking towards 2025, I want to take everything I've learned and unlearned so far and present everything in a new way, with a fresh name and just a more pure sensibility. We’re keeping the parts of the brand that I've loved and enjoyed and letting go of whatever has not been working.

It feels like a great time to refocus and recenter. Can you tell me a little bit about what you're thinking - how is RIO different from Gypsy Sport?

Aside from the name, the logo is staying the same. The collection has traditionally been very DYI and experimental but this season most of the range is cut and sew, which means it’s producible in a whole new way for us. We're still keeping the planet friendly, sustainable aspect and everything is still very ethically made - probably even more so than ever before. We’re working with beautiful fabrics that are eco-friendly and I am trying to make more of a lasting impact.

Exactly how did you create collections in the past and how has that changed? 

In the past we mostly used vintage pieces and deadstock materials, but this process was frustrating at times. We would make something super cool and get a lot of requests for sales etc, but we often couldn’t find more of the same fabric to make it again. It’s hard to build a brand with that type of business. 

With this collection, we’re still doing some upcycling and have found places with deadstock materials in large quantities, but have also found factories that work with sustainable virgin fabrics. In addition to this, I think there is something very sustainable about owning or making something that will last forever, as opposed to an upcycled piece that is pre worn-and-torn and is not going to stay pretty forever.

Has your approach changed now that you’re now based in LA?

I think LA is really good for my business. The factories here treat their workers much better and in New York it would be almost impossible - i.e. very expensive - for me to do the collection like this. It feels sustainable in a much more organic way. 

Speaking of sustainability, our perception of the word has changed so much over the last few years. Do you like the word sustainability?

I don't really love the word sustainability because of all the greenwashing we’ve seen over the last few years. When I first started hearing the word sustainability, or being called a sustainable designer, I received itbecause I understood it as meaning how I was upcycling and making a lot of things without creating more garbage - for instance, I’ve always liked to upcycle denim because it’s one of the most toxic fabrics to produce from new.

"I love the idea of sustainability and what people think of when they hear it. But there is so much greenwashing in the world and I really don’t like the idea of someone buying a fast fashion piece and thinking they’re making less of an impact on the climate, just because the brand slapped the word ‘sustainability’ on the label."

What words do you like to use instead?

I like to use eco-friendly, conscious or ethical, but I feel like even these words are gonna be washed out  in a couple of years… I wish we could educate people a little more about what this all really means. A sustainable approach also affects the work environment and the way people are feeling when they're making the clothes or working in your company - all of that really matters.

When I think of you and your work, I see you as one of the pioneers of a more planet-friendly and inclusive approach to fashion. You were able to bring sustainability to the forefront in a way that felt new and edgy - also in large part because of everything else your brand is about. Tell me a little about what it was like in the beginning and what it is like now?

Thank you for that, that’s a big word. I honestly don't feel like I was a pioneer with sustainability - I think a bunch of great designers were doing this a long time before me. 

For me, it came from a place of necessity and not having access to the materials that I wanted to work with. I also think what made it cool and new is that I would style my pieces on my New York friends. I didn’t work with typical models, which was the standard at the time. My friends were - and are -  people of different genders, different body types, different sizes and I think that's what made people look at Gypsy Sport, and thereby also at the sustainability aspect. It was also a question of timing; things came together organically and I was lucky to do this at the right time. 

Fashion is always looking for something new and I think because we were introducing a new vibe, we were able to also show people a new way of thinking about how to create. I'm glad we were doing something sustainable at that time and I'm very happy that I’ve had all these years to learn how to do ‘sustainability’ in a more sustainable way for myself.

Of course I was also hinting at your brand being about so much more than the clothes themselves and how they are made. Your brand has always been so much about community. Tell me a bit about your casting process?

I love the casting process, that's a super exciting driving force in what I do. In every city we go to - Paris, London, New York, Mexico City - wherever - we love to do a casting and find the cool people, discover all the talent and give people an - often first ever - opportunity to walk a show, giving someone who never thought they would be able to model their own Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell moment.

Your casting always feels really personal and the approach very hands-on. What’s your process and does it change with the story you are telling each season?

Thank you so much… I usually start with an online casting, and our samples for the runway come in a pretty big range of sizes which gives us the freedom to cast a wide range of people, from outside the establishment. 

Some people come to the in-person casting in head-to-toe designer clothes, and that’s fine - but the vibe for me is usually inspired by people with a lot of natural style. When you have your own vibe, that really makes me want to work with you - that's way more important. For me it's vital to let the outsiders in, because I pushed my way in as an outsider myself. I had no formal training and luckily I was relentless enough to get people's attention. I like to cast models that are the same way.

"For me it's vital to let the outsiders in, because I pushed my way in as an outsider myself. I had no formal training and luckily I was relentless enough to get people's attention. I like to cast models that are the same way."

Tell me about your relationship with New York, moving to LA and what the two cities give you today?

I love New York and I always will. I moved there shortly after high school and I always say New York was like my university: I learned so much about myself and about the industry. 

I always knew I wanted to be a fashion designer, and that’s why I moved to New York, but once I got there I realized how competitive it was. I was just like - what happened? Who do I think I am, coming to New York to become a designer? It was a struggle. Once we started Gypsy Sport and I had some traction and community, I saw that my other designer friends were struggling. They would be really hot for a year or two and then New York didn't care about them any longer. It took me some years to realize that I didn’t want to be there when people stopped caring about Gypsy Sport. 

The pandemic happened at the same time that I came out to LA, which really helped me to kind of - unintentionally - pause the brand. Because of the pandemic I was able to take a pause, restructure and think about what I wanted the brand to look like.

We started looking into new types of production here. In LA it's a little more affordable and it’s definitely more ethical than New York. A lot of people don't know this but the factories in New York are in very harsh conditions and it's nearly impossible to make a good working wage there, because it’s so expensive to afford the city.

Ultimately, I’ve really loved moving to LA because it’s given me a bit of ease, but I think both cities are very important to me and the aesthetic of Rio. I feel at home in LA now, but I need to go to New York a few times a year to get that rush of inspiration and energy. 

After last season, you had mentioned toying with the idea of being an accessory focused brand, after coming out with your first signature bag. Can you tell me a bit more about how that vision has changed?

We introduced the logo bag last year and I’m really proud of it. Honestly, all of my designer friends are doing really well with their bags, so that inspired me a lot. I was trying to get more into accessories and a bag just felt right. 

I love seeing the way people mix it with their own clothes, high and low, and I think it’s such a great and accessible way to own a piece of a brand. When we first launched the bag it felt right to produce it in ‘vegan leather’ - a term I have a hard time with by the way, but after doing an online poll I learned that a lot of people actually would rather spend a little more for real leather which is longer lasting, so we are introducing those soon. We found a factory that uses by-products of hides, cutoffs and scraps, so we are not producing any more waste or doing additional harm. I will keep doing both, both because of the price range, but also because I love some of the colorways and textures that you can’t get with real leather. 

I would not call it a sustainable material though. The name vegan leather doesn’t sit right with me - I wouldn’t exactly throw it into the ocean… We’ll see what works best for us - and I am excited to move into shoes and perfume next!

That seems like a good place to wrap things up for now - we’re excited to see where you’re going next ! Before we go - can you share one of your proudest moments so far?

I think I would have to say one of my proudest achievements has been getting one of my designs displayed at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That's an amazing accomplishment, and it’s been an incredible feeling to see how many of my friends and followers were inspired by that. 

I respect and admire so many of the established designers that were included in the show and are also in the collection - they’re amazing. But of course you expect them to be there, so I think it’s very valuable to see someone like me be a part of that. I am still a bit of an outsider and I'm not formally trained, so having my work there was a really exuberant feeling. To take my mom to the Met to see my work means so much to me.

Also, it was a deconstructed American flag, so it felt very right for that to represent my work.

Amazing. Thank you so much Rio, it was great speaking with you

@RIOSPORT @GYPSYSPORT