May 18, 2020

Meet Leticia Montoya of Toxico Apparel in San Marcos

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leticia Montoya .

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2018 my husband and I had been talking about starting a business where we could help out our community. I had just had a baby and was going to the park for walks because I was suffering severe postpartum depression. I felt better when I started walking and getting motivated to do something to help out at home financially. We had a construction business already , but there was something else we wanted to do. I came home one day and was talking to my husband and had mentioned I wanted to start selling workout apparel. I was going to workout at the park and I noticed a lot of the women would wear nice apparel and I was getting ideas. He had mentioned to me he had purchased a domain by the name of Toxico. He had been thinking of using the name and make construction supplies such as face masks , hard hats, vests that said Toxico. We than put our ideas together and decided to start an apparel business. A business that would help out the community and help bring awareness to the community. We hired a married young couple to design a website and a logo to kick off the business. We decided to start off with 3 designs and with t-shirts first. They had done such a great job with it, that we decided to put the plan to work. In October 2018 we started with the planning and in 02/2019 we decided to move forward with the business fictitious name , business license, state of secretary for the business and we didn’t stop there. We decided to hire an attorney to help with the trademark. He had been referred to us. We had samples made out first to capture the idea . After a few weeks shopping around for the print shop we found the to go person. April 2019 we launched our 3 logos on the shirts printed and ready to go. The feeling we felt inside was amazing. We had mixed emotions of excitement, nervous and just what if? We surpassed that and just put out all our faith into it and ran with it. At the same time I was involved in the I am one project a project that made a trailer with 2 showers for our homeless in the community. Toxico without even making one sale we immediately jumped and sponsored and donated money for the great cause, we were super excited because that was on of the main reasons why we had started this amazing journey.

What started in the garage of our home in 2018 had become a reality. This adds to one of the many stories of millionaire business such as Amazon, Apple, Disney ,Monat, Google, Harley, Mattel and many more. We believe in helping others because you never know when you’ll be on the other side as well needing an extra hand. We love and support all small businesses. We put our hearts into every new logo , shirt, accessory, any new item we pour our hearts into and are very grateful for the outcome. We are not where we would like to be at , but we are precisely where we need to be at. We enjoy helping out the community as we have helped with many charities, Cal State San Marcos, I am one project and many more we are not counting. We like to share and spread the word out. If we were asked if we would do anything different , we would say no we are very grateful with the results and we are just moving along to become a well known brand in the future. It will come at it’s right moment, When we do reach that goal we will most definitely help our community more. Our help will grow and we grow.

Why Toxico? What does Toxico mean?
Toxico means Toxic in Latin. Meaning poison , negative, venom
What are some things that can be considered Toxico: negative thought and actions, gossip , bullying, drugs I mean the list goes on and on.

We believe that the mind, body, and soul are all connected and each one of us has the power to spread toxicity or spread what’s good. Our mission is to make a statement when you wear your apparel to say no to bad habits, no to negativity. We have a blog section that talks about Toxic things and how to make them positive. We are not perfect by no means we are also working on all these things as well. We are reminded of our action and thoughts on a daily basis. We not only want to inspire ourselves to live better but be an inspiration to others.

I have been married to my husband for 11 1/2 years we have 2 boys in common ages 2 1/2 and 8 and I have 2 older adult kids ages 19 (female) and 23(male). We live in San Marcos , CA border of Escondido. I was born in Oceanside Ca, and raised in Vista, CA and my husband was born in Sinaloa Mexico , raised in Ensenada in a small town Called San Quintin and came to the USA at age 18.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been a smooth road. Finances has been a struggle, finding the right place to purchase material we want to give out quality. At the beginning we were criticized and were told this was not going to work. We paused for a few months as we were feeling overwhelmed. Learning how to market and who to market ? Not enough support. I believe everything happens for a reason and at it’s right timing. I feel like it’s a blessing . We have been blessed with health, a family and work. We work hard for what we have accomplished. The struggles we go through are lessons and they make us stronger. It either makes us or brakes us. We have been blessed with in life and with our business. We both have had a tough life growing up we had to learn how to hustle at young ages to make a living, but because of those lessons we have grown to be the strong people we are today.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Toxico Apparel – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We never thought we could make a brand come into a reality We can say we are very proud of ourselves. We have learned that in this business we will fail, but failure is good because we learn from our mistakes and improve on flaws. We are now known in our neighboring cities as Toxico. The shirt people. We are always open foe ideas and of course always given them credit for their work. We have attended a few events that have opened doors for us. We have met amazing small business owners with a vision of their own. We are very grateful to be surrounded by hard working people that are making their dreams become goals. We are unique unlike anyone else. We are not here to compete with any other business we are our own mind and have our own goals to pursue, but at the same time we give a helping hand. We help and support all small business in and around of our reach. We extend our hand out to everyone with open arms.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our future plans are to merge into the stores. Possible in the future do a collaboration with a well know name brand and or promote out brand to where we become like the other well known brands. Eventually going world wide as well. In the future we would like to help to build a center for our homeless and children in need so they can have a place to live. Help out people in need get on their feet.

Pricing:

Adult T-shirts $19 or 2 for $30 plus shipping fee depending on weight
Trucker Unisex Caps $20
Kids t-shirts $15 or 2 for $23 plus shipping fee depending on weight
Natural Elixir Glass water bottles with quartz free Koozie $35 plus shipping fee depending on weight
Plain glass water bottles with free Koozie $25 plus shipping fee depending on weight
Organic Microlot Coffee 12 oz whole beans $19 Grinded $23 plus shipping fee depending on weight
Coffee mugs with print on them prices vary on print and size

Contact Info: