Meet Eric Alderete | Barbershop Owner & Barber

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric Alderete and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Balancing your work and life in the barber industry is very key. Being a barber requires work long weird hours, and you can get caught up on adding people to your schedule every night. I had to learn this the hard way. I give a lot of credit to my wife, because at the beginning of my career my hours was crazy. I’m talking 12-14hrs days and some longer. So that came with fights and arguments, and I had to learn to compromise. But over the years I’ve calmed it down, especially when I started my own shop and had my first born. Now I have 3 days off for my family and 4 days I’m at the shop. So to all the new barbers coming in, and ones with families, be sure to make time for your personal life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It all started when I was 15 years old living in a small town with no true barber in it. Not having anyone to cut my hair, I decided to try it myself. Then it led to my friends and family. It wasn’t easy, it took countless hours of cutting trying to perfect my craft. Then moving to a big city of Austin where I had no clientele, I had to work extra to get every walk in I could to build my clientele.

Lessons I’ve learned in this industry is that you control it. You control how much you want to work, how much you want to make and how successful you want to be. I wanted it all personally. That drove me to work countless hours, do over 100 haircuts per week to get where I wanted.

What I want the world to know about Fadebox Barbershop is that its more than a barbershop. Its a brand, a culture and a lifestyle. We do more than just cut hair. We make our own rules and we do everything our own way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Im not much of an outgoing person, but I do love to shop. I. spend most of my times at sneaker and vintage stores. So when you are in the city you need to check out these dope shops.

-Kicking it
-Sneaker Politics
-Stax Austin
-Texas Shoe Exchnge
-Premier Pas
-OutHyped

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Honestly I will like to shoutout all my family and friends. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. To my Family, y’all believed in me from the start. Y’all supported a 15 year old when I was cutting hair in bathrooms and kitchens, and y’all never doubted or thought I was wasting my time. To my childhood friends, thank you. Y’all gave me a chance and trusted me. Even though the haircuts wasn’t that great back then. Y’all kept coming back and continued to let me cut y’alls hair. Without y’all there wouldn’t be an e.fades or Fadebox Barbershop.

Website: www.fadeboxatx.com

Instagram: @e.fades @fadebox

Other: TikTok: @fadebox

Image Credits
Robert Mata