Despite a rumor that was circulating on Twitter a few weeks ago, Angelo Baque has not sold Awake NY. But his brand is growing and evolving.
Baque, who founded Awake NY in 2011, is opening a store in New York’s Lower East Side. It’s a big brand milestone, and one that he wasn’t interested in pursuing until he had a conversation with the late Virgil Abloh.
“I wish I could take credit for the store,” says Baque. “But I'd give 99.9% of the credit for the store to Virgil.”
Baque says that during a Levi’s x Denim Tears dinner Abloh, who was typically the consummate optimist, lamented about the state of downtown New York. “He said, ‘This isn’t the New York I used to come to. You need to open a store.’ And I was like that’s the last thing I want to do. But he was like, ‘Yo, trust me. Open a store, the kids are going to come.’ And here we are.”
Despite a rumor that was circulating on Twitter a few weeks ago, Angelo Baque has not sold Awake NY. But his brand is growing and evolving.
Baque, who founded Awake NY in 2011, is opening a store in New York’s Lower East Side. It’s a big brand milestone, and one that he wasn’t interested in pursuing until he had a conversation with the late Virgil Abloh.
“I wish I could take credit for the store,” says Baque. “But I'd give 99.9% of the credit for the store to Virgil.”
Baque says that during a Levi’s x Denim Tears dinner Abloh, who was typically the consummate optimist, lamented about the state of downtown New York. “He said, ‘This isn’t the New York I used to come to. You need to open a store.’ And I was like that’s the last thing I want to do. But he was like, ‘Yo, trust me. Open a store, the kids are going to come.’ And here we are.”
Baque landed on a location at 62 Orchard Street, nestled between a daycare center and a hair salon and right around the corner from Awake NY’s headquarters. The space was previously operated by two generations of Hasidic Jews who were also in the apparel business—at one point Orchard Street was littered with menswear shops.
“For me, this is also a narrative of passing the torch in the schmatta business,” says Baque, who fondly remembers visiting the Lower East Side as a child with his mother who would haggle with shop owners so Baque could go home with a new suit. That same storytelling extends throughout the store, where Baque worked with architect Rafael de Càrdenas, who is known for designing spaces for the likes of Nike and Cartier.
Baque pulled from retail stores he frequented during his adolescence like Triple Five Soul, Canal Jeans, Bobbito's Footwork, and If Boutique with a couple references from Supreme (the wooden shelves displaying T-shirts for example), where he spent 10 years as a brand director before leaving to focus on Awake.
“With those stores, you could tell they were built on a budget, so they had their imperfections,” says Baque. “And everything is so sterile right now. It’s very clinical. The space needed to have soul.”
The store is considered but inviting with warm fixtures made of raw wood, including an oversized “A” cut in the brand’s logo font, and a floor constructed with wood repurposed from a high school basketball court in Kentucky. Baque accentuated the shop with pieces of his story, like a handmade replica of the Queens Unisphere—Baque grew up in Richmond Hill—graffiti from acclaimed writer JA ONE, and a fitting room mural painted by Puerto Rican artist Larissa De Jesus Negron. Large display windows at the front of the shop feature paintings by Alvin Armstrong, who is based in Brooklyn. The store window also features logos from brands like Prada, Versace, and Hugo Boss, a nod to the mom-and-pop retail stores that used to fill downtown Manhattan. Product will include pieces from Awake NY along with exclusive collaborations with Alvin Armstrong, Denim Tears, Verdy, and Fear of God.
Baque, who anchors most of his brand collaborations with some sort of give back, wants the store to serve as a platform and a gathering space for kids who look like him. He tapped Rocky Xu to set up a Rocky’s Matcha counter in the shop, and created La Sala, an area in the back of the store meant to replicate his grandmother’s living room where customers can chill.
“It’s about accessibility,” says Baque, who remembers his days interning and having a hard time finding any real guidance, which led him to starting Social Studies, a workshop and pop-up series that he held in New York and Miami, and creating a store that also felt like a space for community. “Of course I’d like a line outside of my store when certain things drop, but that’s not the main purpose.”
While Baque didn’t sell his brand, he did take on investment from Light Work last summer, which also invests in Melody Ehsani’s brand. That investment has helped him open this shop and bring on new hires like Hugo Mendoza, who formerly worked at Stüssy, as Awake’s brand director.
“I took on an investor last year because I wanted to grow,” says Bauqe. “I’ve been doing this independently since day one. There’s been no trust fund. No angel investor. I've had multiple offers for investment since day one. And I've always respectfully said no because I don’t want just a name and I don’t just need a check. I needed infrastructure.” With the new infrastructure and support, Baque hopes to open more stores globally.
Baque is opening his store as streetwear enters a weird, murky phase. The category is downtrending on the runways, but luxury brands still value associating with the space—see Pharrell being named men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton. And Baque is still in high demand for brand collaborations, recently working with Tommy Hilfiger on a Formula 1 collection, Carhartt WIP, and Vans. Awake NY is also known for its long standing relationship with Asics—Baque was wearing the Awake NY x Asics Gel Kayano 14s, but he says that partnership is over.
Baque calls the current era “purgatory,” but believes Awake NY has been able to do well because it doesn’t rely on logo-driven staples and offers quality cut-and-sew pieces like flannels and cardigans that sell well. But he adds that the current state of streetwear makes him want to lean into his brand philosophy even more.
“I want to work harder and have more purpose and intention in everything that we do,” says Baque. “Because that's the only thing that's gonna really separate us from everyone else.”