This month, I had the pleasure of attending the FRLA Marketing + Operations Summit held at Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa. I was invited by Cintas Corporation to check out the latest fashion in corporate apparel. I will be honest, I didn’t know what to expect at this summit. FRLA or The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association is Florida’s premier non-profit hospitality industry trade association. I went to this summit with an open mind and was absolutely amazed by what Cintas had to present.

Cintas provides employee apparel services to businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and corporate offices. The firm specializes in the latest designs and manufactures corporate identity uniform programs. This year Cintas presented some of the upcoming designs with Miami in mind. I fell in love with all the chic designs by Gustavo Alonso. I also had the pleasure of doing a short interview with him and learned a lot about his process of designing gorgeous and functional corporate apparel.

With Cintas fashion designer Gustavo Alonso.

Q. Can you tell me a little bit about where you get your inspiration from?

Gustavo: I get my inspiration pretty much from everywhere. I get inspired by art, architecture, my culture. But one thing they all have in common in today’s show is color – which comes from Miami.

Q. I noticed a lot of yellow and prints, which took me by surprise. It’s such a fashion-forward trend for employee apparel. Are hotels and restaurants requesting more trendy attire?

Gustavo: Actually yes, we cater to customer’s specific theme they want and we customize around that. A lot of the stuff you’ve seen today like the prints and colors are our fabric and I like to make clothes that just make you smile.

Q. Can you share your background on how you started your design journey?

Gustavo: I started at Cintas about five years ago. Before that, I went to a design school in Miami – The Art Institute. And before that, I was in the Marines for eight years. I always loved shopping and clothes and when I saw the ad for my school I just went for it. And everything just fell into place and now I’m working with Cintas.

Q. The looks we saw today, was it specifically for the Miami market?

Gustavo: The looks were definitely more resort style, but I don’t like to segment the designs only because you will see some of these designs in other markets. We want to create looks based on the hotel or restaurant’s needs. We also want to make apparels that an employee can wear to work and then maybe wear to a nice dinner or at a lounge right after. The new trend is definitely shifting towards garments that employees will wear even after work.

Check out some of the Cintas designs below that caught my eye. Get ready to notice all the fashionable attire the employees wear at your favorite hotels and restaurants. 

Thank you Cintas for the invite and sponsoring this post. It was incredible to see the fashionable side of the hotel and restaurant industry!

xoxo, Afroza