Shirt maker has El Chapo to thank for sudden popularity

Following his recapture and an interview in Rolling Stone, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman appears to have set off a new fashion craze. 

According to a Los Angeles-based shirt maker, Barabas, the shirt worn by El Chapo in actor Sean Penn's interview with the Mexican drug lord has sold out entirely, and the company has shared its excitement with the world. 

"EL CHAPO GUZMAN WEARING BARABAS SHIRT !" the company's Facebook page said, accompanied by pictures comparing shirts Guzman has worn with shirts in its clothing line.

A picture from the Rolling Stone magazine article was featured on the company's home page Wednesday afternoon, alongside an image of its model wearing the same shirt, which the company advertised as the "MOST WANTED SHIRT."

Barabas sells the "Fantasy" shirt, which the company has identified as that worn by Guzman in the photo with Penn. The other photo showed Guzman apparently wearing the "Crazy Paisley." 

The company told CBC News that it has sold hundreds of these shirts at $128 US each. Barabas manufactures and designs these shirts, and sells them through 5,000 boutiques.

According to the company, they had already been popular prior to El Chapo's fashion choice.

The notorious figure has evaded police after his escape from a maximum security prison in July, but was finally recaptured Jan. 8. Rolling Stone published its interview conducted by Penn a day later. 

"This is the shirt! It's the sensation of the moment. The phones won't stop ringing," Barabas store manager Sandra Macia said in Spanish to Efe, a Spanish news agency. 

 Barabas' owner, Sam Esteghball, had been at a trade show in Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday. He'd gone to sleep at the hotel and woke up to tens of messages on his phone around 11 p.m. Enot too long after Rolling Stone published the interview. 

"I took one look at my phone and thought 'Oh god! What's going on?'" Esteghball said to CBC News. "We received a lot of messages from our customers saying 'we need this,'" 

The clothing store said in a Facebook post that its website crashed because of the sudden rush of demand. It asked potential buyers to check its Amazon page instead for its "famous El Chapo Shirts."

Esteghball said that the site has now crashed three times.

Barabas's design philosophy is "Good words, good thoughts, good deeds," which doesn't match the ethics of the man wearing the shirt.  

"We're fashion designers. We don't know why or how he got it," he said, adding th company sells to 5,000 boutiques across the world, including in South America. 

But he does have an idea why the shirt has become popular since then.

"He could afford to buy all the big brands but [Guzman] chose to wear ours for the interview," he said. 

Esteghball said that Barabas is still receiving calls for the shirt and their larger collection, and has been since the weekend. 

Both shirts are currently on back order until the end of January, meaning if you want to dress like the drug kingpin, it will be a while until you get your hands on it.

In the meantime, it might be worth looking for old Halloween costumes to match Guzman's style, as the BBC reported that El Chapo Halloween costumes were popular in Mexico last year.