Moesha Cedeno grew up all across Queens. Whether under the J train tracks in Jamaica or in Queensbridge public housing, she noticed the grime. In Queensbridge especially, where her family lived close to the water, she regularly saw litter scattered about by a heavy breeze.
“Where does that trash go?” Cedeno said. “If we live on an island, it basically … goes nowhere but back in the ocean, and we’re not doing anything for ourselves that we live like that.”
This realization ultimately led to a business of thoughtful T-shirts and other casual clothes: Humble Gang Wear. Particularly in the fashion capital of the world, she saw it as a more impactful tool to raise awareness than just social media posts or news.
“I make clothes, but I try to incorporate God into my clothing, and I try to incorporate real-life events that are happening in the world as well,” Cedeno said.
Trash talk on T-shirts
As a teen, Cedeno saw, too, a lack of trash bins in low-income communities in the outer boroughs compared to wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan. Cedeno said she would see four cans in every corner when she would go into the city, while barely any trash cans in many parts of Queens, Brooklyn or the Bronx. Even trekking through Long Island City, she said she wouldn’t spot a bin for three or four blocks.
“Not everybody has the patience to hold a piece of garbage ‘til they find a trash can,” Cedeno said. “It’s our fault, it’s also the city’s fault, but I think it’s our job to make this world better.”
Noticing both this disparity in public services and the environmental issue, Cedeno took one small step to make it better. In 2018, she conceived of a T-shirt that turned the problem into a punchline and might spark action: the words “Pick up your trash” at the top of the shirt, and “Scary Movie” franchise protagonist Cindy Campbell alongside the often-memed tag line “Nyah mean?”
Cedeno, an electrician, credits some of this creative problem-solving to her aspirations in engineering and social justice. She dreams of building houses in the Global South using recycled materials. Cedeno figured she could start drawing out her first designs on a T-shirt and built a business with a message about protecting the planet.
However, it was tough to start with that shirt — she would get laughs but also warnings about the need to argue fair use in case of a lawsuit. So she looked to other, peace-inspired designs.
A global beat
The first physical T-shirt wasn’t made until 2024. It read “Free the World,” and the back featured flags of countries deeply affected by violence and natural disasters, such as Haiti, Yemen and others in poverty. Global politics had pushed Cedeno to finally fashion her ideas into action.
This global theme in her streetwear designs leads back to the world’s borough: “If you grew up in Queens, you go to public school … and in the neighborhood block with a lot of kids from different nationalities,” Cedeno said.
Her favorite design is a sweater featuring a man and woman’s hands grabbing each other, with the message “Free the World from Evil” written in multiple languages. They are Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, French and Spanish, which are among the top spoken languages in NYC.
Be humble
Cedeno chose the name “Humble Gang Streetwear” to reflect humility — something she felt is often lacking in New York. She learned about humility the hard way, when she was first kicked out of her mother’s house.
“When you’re homeless, you realize how many blessings, the small things that you shouldn’t take for granted,” Cedeno said.
Faith also plays an outsized role in Cedeno’s business: “Everything I do, even the shirts before I start doing them, I thank God for the beginning of the process or when I finalize it,” Cedeno said. “In every process that I take with my brand, I thank God and I speak to God.”
Among Cedeno’s popular shirt designs are those with faith-based messages, like variations of “Fear God, Not Man” and “Faithful to God” with a modern twist in Old English font.
Finding a faith-based community has also helped her in concrete ways: She met a collaborator, who owns the print shop that does final production on her designs, through a networking event with fellow Latino Muslims.
The larger community also offers vital feedback, recommending certain shirt colors or syncing clothing with sneaker release calendars. For instance, last winter Cedeno took a suggestion to design a mocha-colored sweater inspired by upcoming brown Air Force sneakers.
Intergenerational entrepreneurship
Much of Cedeno’s business is shaped by her family. Her designs reflect what her Ecuadorian parents taught her about poverty across Latin America.
Her dad’s side of the family is especially supportive of the brand. “They appreciate [that] what I’m doing, it’s something different,” Cedeno said. “When you go to Marshalls and you find the same wacky shirts — they’re saying I’m adding some sauce to the game.”
Her father was himself a small business owner who ran his own cleaning company in Midtown. He’s been a big influence in being both real about the rate of failures among new businesses and showing his daughter what’s possible. Because of him, Cedeno learned the value of networking, even for introverts like herself. She also knows a successful business can often grow through real estate investments.
However, for now, she is keeping her goals simple: find more opportunities to market Humble Gang Streetwear, work with more collaborators and carve a path to eventually get some of her merchandise in mom and pop clothing shops.
Cedeno also sees an ability to give back as a metric. If her business gains more traction, she could give her clothing away on Thanksgiving, a time of the year when so many New Yorkers could use an extra hoodie. And she would like to see her messages of hope and peace resonate when many could also use a little pick-me-up.
“I get seen a lot based on what I wear — and my shirt can promote what I wanted to say, even if I don’t have the words to say [it],” Cedeno said.
–
Humble Gang Wear
Follow on Instagram at @humblegangwear
Follow on Etsy at HumbleGangStreetWear
