Duo sews up zoot-suit market.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Attitude at Altitude - Suavecito Apparel Co.

COUNSELING THE MENTALLY ILL AND COMFORTING DYING AIDS SUFFERERS ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK is not the usual prelude to launching your own line of zoot suits and Latino fashions, but that's the route Craig Pena took when he and business partner Jay Salas both left careers in social work and launched Suavecito Apparel Co. in Denver in 1997.

The two have achieved a measure of fame by association, if not yet fortune.

Their shop on 725 Santa Fe Drive has outfitted the likes of Snoop Dogg, Garth Brooks, David Bowie, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, boxer Sugar Shane Moseley and promoter Barry Fey.

"If you're interested in zoot suits, you're going to go through us," Pena says. Most of Suavecito's high-profile customers learn about the store and order suits from its Web site, www.suavecito.com, but early this year Bowie himself popped into the showroom and spent an hour shopping.

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Zoot suits date back to the 1940s and are characterized by extra-long, broad-shouldered jackets and ultrabaggy pants tapered at the ankle.

The co-owners tout Suavecito's as the "world's leader in zoot suits and Latino fashion," and they get no argument about the zoot-suit part of their boast. "They make the best zoot suits in America," Bowie proclaims in a testimonial on the Suavecito Web site.

"We're a real big fish in a real tiny pond," Pena says. He laughs. "I mean, come on, zoot suits! Not that many people can make a living in that. And we've managed to eke out a bit of a living."

Pena, 40, and Salas, 33, design their suits with input from fashion-conscious friends and the help of a part-time designer.

The two aren't resting on their zoot-suit laurels. Last August they launched a new company, Chingaso Gear, featuring hip "street" fashions aimed mostly at young Latinos.

Despite an apparent near-monopoly in the zoot-suit market, Pena...