A hip hop fashion designer who founded a multi-million dollar company when he was barely out of his teens has been found dead in California home aged 34
Jonas Bevacqua launched the popular street clothing brand LRG in 1999 and presided over its rapid rise as a major fashion force.
Orange County sheriff's officials said his body was found in his Laguna Beach home.
‘There were no obvious signs of the cause of death,’ said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. He added that the county coroner would conduct an autopsy on Wednesday.
Mr Bevacqua and his business partner, Robert Wright, founded Lifted Research Group, known to customers as LRG, with start-up capital raised in part from friends of Mr Bevacqua's adoptive father.
By 2006, LRG had annual sales of $150 million and was named by Entrepreneur magazine as number five on its list of that year's 500 fastest growing companies.Among its popular clothing lines are Luxirie, which targets 18- to 30-year-old women, offering clothing with Western and military themes, and items such as crystal-covered jeans.
Initially a clothing company, LRG has since branched out to include sales of electronic devices and music, releasing compilation CDs with artists such as Kanye West and Raekwon.
It described itself as a ‘creative lifestyle’ company that attempts to reflect its founders' interests, not only in fashion but also environmental causes and other activities.
‘The company is also involved in the promotion of underground recording artists and sponsors a skateboarding team,’ according to its website.
In a 2009 interview with the Orange County Register, Mr Bevacqua described a passionate but casual work ethic that he said drives LRG, whose headquarters includes a basketball court and skateboard half-bowl and ramp.
‘No one is really a suit-and-tie-guy,’ he said of LRG's employees. ‘If anybody wears a suit, it's because he wants to, not because he has to
