Origin Story
Like most great things, Maceoo has a fascinating story. One that starts in a hotel room in San Diego and continues to the magnificent hotels and shops of Las Vegas. It’s the story of a scrappy owner and a quality product that grew into the powerhouse it is today.
I sat down with its owner and creator to hear the story of Maceoo’s inception.
In 2007 Mehdi was living in the Andaz Hotel in downtown San Diego, which was sandwiched by nightclubs. One in the lobby and one on the roof.
“The clubs were packed every weekend. They used to call itl the Ivy hotel, because after a night of partying there you would need an IV the next day”, Mehdi says reminiscing.
In the hotel Mehdi was famous, he was known as “the guy with the cool designer shirts”.
“Everyone knew me in the hotel, and I knew everybody. I was a matchmaker and a business coach. I talked to everyone who worked or stayed there. It was almost like the hotel hired me to entertain the guests. It was a beautiful thing.”
At the time, he was getting his designer men’s shirts custom made in France.
“People would stop me and ask about my dress shirts and I would bring them down to my room, 642, and I would sell them a shirt. Even the employees helped. If they saw me with someone they would run up and say hello and get whoever I was with excited.”
He laughs thinking back to his guerrilla warfare tactics of selling merchandise. It starts to make sense how a company obsessed with customizing every customer’s experience, started with its owner personally selling shirts to fans of his designs out of a hotel room.
“It got to a point where every bouncer in the city was wearing one of my designer shirts and blazers.”
Mehdi and his designer men’s shirts were starting to garner a reputation, and it wasn’t long before he got the attention of the hotel he called home.
“We opened our first story in the lobby of the Andaz hotel, it was only three hundred square feet. It was so small, I had to use my hotel room as a warehouse.”
This leads us to today. It’s obvious both Mehdi and Maceoo have deep roots in San Diego, a city that gave them the first taste of success. I asked Mehdi if he plans on returning to the city he used to call home.
“Absolutely, we have something exciting planned for San Diego.”
He smiles, but stops before giving me too much information.
