If It Hasn’t Been Done, Rhuigi Villaseñor Wants to Do It
"I want to win a championship,” designer Rhuigi Villaseñor says straightforwardly when describing what’s on his bucket list.
Out of all of the things he's achieved in fashion already, from founding streetwear brand Rhude in 2015 without any formal training, to being named the first creative director of Bally in five years, to creating and helming the R.H.U. athleisure line with Zara, the 31-year-old’s never found himself in a position where he could potentially hoist a world trophy over his head or get a championship ring inscribed with his name.
Until now, that is. The style polymath actually has an ever-so-slight shot at Stanley Cup glory as the first ever creative strategist for the Arizona Coyotes, which is also his first partnership with a professional sports team.
“I try to do everything that hasn’t been done,” he says of this new deal, which is also a first for the entire NHL. “I always want to be the guy who tests things out and there’s a risk to that, but that’s part of the creative challenge.”
To Villaseñor, there are a lot of similarities to how he approaches his craft and how a pro athlete approaches their sport. The only difference is that most athletes get an off-season.
At the time of this interview, he was just a few days removed from debuting his first collection with Bally at Milan Fashion Week. Instead of taking a few beats to savor the moment, which was met with optimistic reviews pointing to a resurgence for the Swiss luxury brand, he went right back to work in the studio.
“When you’re on fire, the more you should be shooting,” Villaseñor explains when asked why he decided to tack on another gig onto a resume that already includes a lot of gigs. “I feel like I have to keep going.”
He says the emotional high of seeing the positive reaction to his first Bally collection—similar to showing his brand Rhude in Paris for the first time in 2020—is the closest he’s ever gotten to that championship-level feeling. And, he’s hungry for more wins on the runway and in the boardroom.
“When it’s all said and done, I want to be able to do things that I’m proud of,” Villaseñor says. “Not just creatively, but through the scope of a business level.”
The designer has evolved a lot since starting his label in 2015. He previously looked at collaborations solely as opportunities to help grow Rhude; now he’s a bit more discerning with who he aligns with, in order to also grow himself as an entrepreneur.
As working with Bally has helped Villaseñor learn more about the inner working of a global luxury house that’s endured over a century, working with the Coyotes is simultaneously teaching him about running a major sports franchise—a new lane in which he's looking to get more experience.
“Part of my interest now is being able to grow my brand and grow the brands that I work with into global companies and see all the parallels that I can learn from,” he says about how he decides what projects to take on. “If our values align and I think it’s unprecedented, new, and refreshing, then why not? That’s the way I approach things.”
But how does one person with at least four high profile jobs keep it all together? Not just in terms of bandwidth, but compartmentalizing projects enough so they each feel unique.
The designer says it all starts with figuring out each separate brand’s identity in order to build the codes, or a system, that will help set it up for future growth. For Rhude, it’s about creating high-end streetwear, and for Bally, it’s sharing his perspective on European luxury.
While all these different enterprises occupy different locations in Villaseñor’s mind, there is a singular intention that unites them all together.
“When you look at things like Bally or Rhude and now the Coyotes, and all the other projects we’re going to work on, it’s about creating an idea that feels classic, but new in a way,” he says. “That’s the only way I can evolve it and it makes my job ten times easier. The key here is making sure I honor what I think is truly the most beautiful part of the brands.”
That attitude was what attracted Arizona Coyotes Chief Brand Officer Alex Meruelo, Jr. to pursue the designer for this partnership. Not only will Villaseñor design a third, yet-to-be-unveiled uniform that the hockey team will wear on the ice and lifestyle fan apparel, but he’ll also serve as a strategist for other brands in the Meruelo Group’s portfolio that includes properties like the Sahara Las Vegas casino and hotel.
“Partnering with Rhuigi was always a dream of mine. I didn’t know how I’d get to him, but I knew that I had to,” Meruelo, Jr. said, whose hockey team is seen as one of the most progressive in the NHL when it comes to player fashion. The Coyotes were the first in the league to implement a relaxed dress code and to allow players to wear custom skates during pre-game.
Growing up in the Philippines before emigrating to the United States, Villaseñor admits that hockey was not a major part of his upbringing. Prior to this deal, his only recollection of the sport was how it was depicted in ‘90s American movies like The Mighty Ducks.
Looking at a subject through fresh eyes and not being a complete expert in a matter is exactly how Villaseñor likes to create, whether it’s a making a new hockey jersey or a reimagining the Bally logo. The curiosity, he says, is what helps keep the process exciting, as well as educational.
“I always design in a place where the cup is half full or even almost empty, so I can learn as much as I can,” he says. “When you know too much, your design decisions are so calculated on knowledge rather than imagination.”
There’s also a bigger mission Villaseñor wants to accomplish that goes beyond creating merch or even possibly winning an NHL championship: the ability to introduce an audience, like him, to discover hockey for the first time.
Unlike the basketball, which is known for the style of its players on and off the court, professional hockey is a long way from having fans and style experts care about what players are wearing to the arena, let alone on the ice.
Despite the challenges ahead, Villaseñor points to a recent project with McLaren F1 racing as an example of how his cultural cachet can help bring in new fans.
“It’s going to be something that I think all the other sports should study,” he says of his upcoming merchandise for the team. “If we stay stagnant in one single sport, it doesn’t progress us as a community or a society. It’s very important to me that we create things that go beyond hockey.”
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