One of the upsides of taste’s democratization is exactly that: More people with more perspectives offering more visions of what’s cool and what’s good. No longer is every whim of fashion dictated by the elites and influencers peacocking at fashion week. It’s the kids on the street, the people buying the stuff they like, the owners of stores and spaces that welcome those who care to seek them out. That’s the good stuff. On the other hand, boy, can it get confusing. Of course, that’s one of the reasons why we advocate for doing your own thing, your own way. And that’s why we like to champion the people and brands making genuinely dope stuff, the things we actually get excited about. Today’s culture is the culture you make. But there was a time, a time not so long ago, where only a few tastemakers were moving and shaking culture. As part of our ongoing 20th-anniversary celebrations — because, yes, we’ve lived through it all — we published our full conversations with several of them as they explain what, from their perspectives, happened to culture. |
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Toby Feltwell is the man. You might not know his name, but you know the brands and the people with whom he intersected: NIGO, Pharrell, Sk8thing, BAPE, Billionaire Boys Club, Cav Empt. Feltwell was behind it all, and then some. His is a true insider’s perspective, one that unpacks the entire culture of streetwear. “Streetwear defines itself in a negative way, as in, ‘it’s not that,’” he tells us. “You can’t just do anything; it has to follow certain rules, and defining the rules is part of the game.”
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If Feltwell was behind some of streetwear’s biggest brands, Chris Gibbs was behind one of streetwear’s biggest retailers. He was working at New York clothing store Union in 1996, almost directly out of college, under a guy named James Jebbia who had just launched a company called Supreme. When Supreme became Jebbia’s primary focus and Union cofounder Eddie Cruz moved out West, Gibbs joined Cruz (who went on to found Undefeated) and eventually took over Union LA. Under Gibbs’ direction, the store became ground zero for the Japanese brands that shaped early-aughts street-fashion: visvim, BAPE, WTAPS, NEIGHBORHOOD. And Gibbs remains its stalwart shepherd. Read more |
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“Nowadays, it’s all the same guy: I’m a DJ, I’m an art historian, I do fine art, I’m a designer, I do all the things,” says Kunle Martins. “But back then those were different people who were brought together by [places like] Alife and Supreme.” As an employee of influential streetwear boutique Alife in the early 2000s, Martins witnessed first-hand streetwear’s insurgent ascension. And as the founder of the street-artist squad known as IRAK, Martins cemented a legacy as a crucial cornerstone of downtown NYC culture. Read more |
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And now, a slight change of pace. Kurt Narmore, founder of Noon Goons, has never done fashion. He has always made clothes. And 925 Originals, his new clothing line, is an even purer distillation of that approach. Real clothes made for real people at a real price point with real quality backing it all up. This is not another “elevated basics” brand: it’s real. Read more |
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