About Juan Carlos Catala

Before the clothes, there was the music. Juan Carlos Catala first stepped into the game as a recording artist under the name Shown Black — a three-time Billboard-charting artist, and one of the first Latin artists to sign with a major label in his era, landing with Wu-Tang in 2004–05. That door changed everything: through it, he got the opportunity to dress all the members of Wu-Tang, discovered what his hands could build, and started taking the brand seriously.

The brand became MON+KEY MONEY — handmade streetwear out of New York, established in 2005, built on one motto: Mind Off Negativity, Keep Expressing Yourself. A master of the vinyl heat press — the self-declared King of Puff Vinyl — Juan designs and presses every piece himself: sneaker-matching sets, puff print, paint splash and heavy embroidery.

His first big break with the brand came when the members of Dipset rocked his trucker hats. From that moment, the doors kept opening — he went on to work with MLB stars José Reyes, Robinson Canó and David "Big Papi" Ortiz, and to dress superstars like 50 Cent, French Montana, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Spike Lee, Don Omar, Arcángel, and Zion y Lennox, among many others. The work never stopped: his pieces have been worn on stage by El Alfa, Lapiz Conciente, Nengo Flow, Chucky 73, Crazy Design and more. He is also the owner of the hit YouTube show Open Mic — because with Juan, the clothes and the culture were never separate.

When he started this urban Latin brand, he stood alone doing what he was doing — breaking the stereotype, proving a Spanish kid's brand could be just as good as any other in the market. Twenty years in, every MON+KEY piece is still made by his hands. No factory. No shortcuts.

Today the Spanish brands are taking over — thanks to a crazy kid from the Bronx that didn't believe in limits.

That crazy guy was me.