Mugzy McFly's Signed by McFly

Mugzy Mcfly is making a name for himself with his line Signed by McFly, a Bronx-based fashion label known for genderless streetwear and athleisure. His journey to becoming a designer and business owner wasn’t a traditional one, though.

Bronx-based Mugzy McFly's clothing line is making a name for himself beyond New York

Growing up, due to his smaller frame, he had trouble finding clothes that fit. He was also interested in having great style, but he didn’t have a ton of money to spend on big designer labels. He found a custom sportswear shop by his house to start getting clothes from, and that planted the seed for his passion for fashion.

Mugzy is mostly self-taught, having only taken one free sewing class at Mood Fabrics. His fashion education began hanging out at the neighborhood custom sportswear shop he got clothes from. He then began ordering things online and trying to recreate the techniques and learning through trial by error. The most important thing for him was learning to make a good stitch so he could spot things for good quality.

Unlike many designers who worked under other designers before launching their own line, Mugzy had very little experience working for anyone else. He had a few friends with brands, and he modeled for one of the campaigns. He describes that as his closest experience working in fashion before launching his own line. The designer attributes his experience growing up in the Bronx as one of the biggest inspirations for his fashion line.

“The Bronx is one of the few boroughs left that’s a real authentic cultural hub left,” Mugzy said to FashionUnited. “Most places in New York have been gentrified or have strayed away from mom-and-pop shops. I can go to the same stores in the Bronx I went to when I was 4-years-old. I’m also Jamaican, and there’s a big Caribbean community in my neighborhood. That’s inspired my style. The Bronx also isn’t the richest area of New York, so you see people creating style without money to spend on big labels. I always remind people, never forget Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein are from the Bronx. If you want to talk about American fashion, the influence is there.”

Although his line has been defined as athleisure, Mugzy says he doesn’t like putting himself in a box. Rather, he’s focused on creating clothes that look good and are comfortable. People have also tried to categorize his brand as streetwear, but he told FashionUnited, “I don’t like the term streetwear. People wear all kinds of things in the street. Streetwear is just what you decide to wear day to day and that can be whatever you choose to wear.”

This August, Mugzy will celebrate 9 years with his line Signed by McFly. Lately, he’s been tailoring his products more toward female body cuts, but overall his line is genderless. “Real fashion is genderless,” Mugzy said to FashionUnited. “There are women’s sneakers the guys love. There’s jeans and pants men want from the women’s line if they are in a big enough size. I try to shoot both guys and girls in my clothes to show how the clothes can be genderless.”

Mugzy came up with the name of his brand, Signed by McFly, from an email signature. Someone emailed him with an actual signature in the body of an e-mail, and he was so fascinated by it. So, he started signing his emails, Signed by McFly. He doesn’t consider anything official until it is signed (his lawyer would agree).

His brand is direct-to-consumer because as he puts it, “He’s a man for the people.” He also says he’s yet to meet a store that he felt would properly represent his brand, so until then he’s treating it like his baby and his baby only. Mugzy is still hoping to expand and get deeper into the footwear market, eventually opening more stores in major cities. His major markets outside of New York include Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Charlotte. He’s poised to continue taking the fashion industry by storm.