Image via Los Angeles Clippers/Tim Hans
It only took $100. Tobey McIntosh was 9 years old at the time. He headed to the auction table during halftime at the then-Staples Center, something he would do every time he attended a Los Angeles Clippers game with his father. Usually, he would only bid a few dollars and walk away empty-handed. But on this particular day, he decided to use all of his Christmas money to bid on the grand prize, a game-worn pair of sneakers signed by then-Clippers star Caron Butler. Lo and behold, McIntosh finally won. He still has the pair, and they’ve come to symbolize his longtime Clippers fandom.
“Growing up, the only tickets my dad could afford were the Clippers tickets. He always enjoyed taking me to basketball games,” McIntosh tells Complex over a Zoom video call. It didn’t matter that the team wasn’t winning. He viewed the games as a bonding experience with his father that he looked forward to. As he got older, the Clippers team would improve. But the team’s competitive spirit in the down years is what won him over. “At that time, they weren’t the best team. But they still went out there and competed every night. That underdog mentality drew me towards them.”
Today, McIntosh is able to represent his Clippers fandom in a new way with an official clothing collaboration between the team and his brand Crenshaw Skate Club. This is the latest in an impressive string of projects the 18-year-old has been able to release since launching his brand back in 2017 at just 14 years old. Other partners have included heritage labels like Lacoste, along with iconic LA streetwear brands like Carrots and The Hundreds. This partnership is just a bit more special, though. For McIntosh, it’s a full circle moment.
“It feels surreal. If I told my 12, 13-year-old self that I was doing these things, they wouldn’t believe it,” says McIntosh. “I try to think of [collabs] as fulfilling my own dreams because I feel like I don’t really do collabs if there’s no story or meaning behind them.”
The capsule, which is set to release today exclusively via the Clippers Fan Shop at 12 p.m. PT, consists of a variety of graphic T-shirts and hoodies. Some reimagine the Clippers logo in a graffiti-like, hand drawn styling that has become a signature look of Crenshaw Skate Club. Others aim to show the connection between skateboarding and basketball, worlds that may seem far apart but McIntosh says lived in unison when he grew up skating at Norman O. Houston Park in Los Angeles. Skaters would often have to share the space with players on the courts. Another graphic shows kids of color ollie-ing over the Clippers logo. A player dunking at the playground covers other items.
“I wanted to go outside the box. I feel like with a lot of NBA collaborations there’s a lot of guidelines and people play it safe most of the time,” says McIntosh. “I really appreciate the Clippers letting me be myself and giving me no restrictions.”
To help promote the collaboration, McIntosh worked with one of his close friends, photographer Tim Hans. Clippers guard Terance Mann appeared in select photos beside some of McIntosh’s friends who are local skaters. McIntosh even got to step onto the court of the Crypto Arena to capture certain images. “Going there all those years and being high up in the 200 or 300 section and looking down to the court, being able to walk down almost felt like I was doing something wrong like, ‘Whoa. I’m on the court right now.’ That was a surreal moment,” says McIntosh.
The Clippers working with Crenshaw Skate Club is the latest example of the NBA tapping into fashion beyond the pregame tunnel outfits. Teams are trying to connect with streetwear in a more authentic way than ever before. It’s why the Chicago Bulls recently hired Don C to be the team’s creative strategy & design Adviser. And prior to that Daniel Arsham was named the creative director of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s also why the Phoenix Suns have released capsules with Warren Lotas or the Brooklyn Nets have tapped local brands like Tier NYC for limited edition projects.
“I think it’s great and it’s much needed,” says McIntosh. “I think the NBA teams are hiring great people to keep their ears to the ground and work with small, up-and-coming brands and cool brands to elevate their merch. I think it’s a smart strategy.”
McIntosh initially started Crenshaw Skate Club with only a few T-shirts. He made them for his group of friends so they could wear them to the skate park. He had no intentions of it becoming a full-fledged brand. But as more people began asking to buy his T-shirts, he saw the potential. He started off selling T-shirts through Instagram and Lotties, a local skate shop. Eventually, Supreme stocked the brand, which was another full circle moment for the young designer. McIntosh says he initially became interested in streetwear by hanging around the Supreme Fairfax store when he was just 8 or 9 years old after one of his older friends got a job there. Selling a ton of shirts and making a ton of money was never the end goal, though. In fact, on his first online drop he sold a total of zero T-shirts. His patience and persistence has paid off, but at the end of the day McIntosh just wanted to give skaters of color in his community a brand that they could feel represented them.
“When I saw skate magazines and skate videos, I never saw people who looked like me and my friends. I just wanted to create something that represented us in the industry,” says McIntosh. “It’s crazy to see something I just started for me and my friends has turned into this brand that’s been able to collaborate with other streetwear brands I’ve looked up to and my favorite basketball team.”
Crenshaw isn’t just in the name of the brand either. McIntosh has remained committed to giving back to the community he was raised in. He’s held various clothing and shoe drives. This past summer, he partnered with Jordan Brand and Russell Westbrook to build a new basketball court and a computer lab pre-loaded with the Adobe creative suite at the local YMCA. He also taught a class there for the kids discussing entrepreneurship and graphic design.
“The basketball court was cool, but the computer lab is something that was more important to me because I feel like kids can use that to do whatever they want. They can explore and kind of find their path in life. They can find that they don’t need to only be a basketball player or rapper to make it out. The world is at their fingertips on the computer,” says McIntosh. “I love empowering the youth because when I was their age I never had a mentor that was close to my age that was doing something that I wanted to do. I think having that is really important to the neighborhood.”
Perhaps the most impressive part of McIntosh’s journey is that he’s growing the brand all while attending Stanford University. Currently a freshman studying economics, McIntosh says it was always his dream to attend the well-known institution. He admits that balancing both of the endeavors hasn’t always been easy, especially in his first semester, but he has learned to balance his schedule since. While many designers with a bubbling clothing line may have opted out of school altogether, McIntosh says the idea never crossed his mind.
“Dropping out would make me too comfortable. I think you can learn a lot from being uncomfortable. In the real world, I’m going to have to learn how to time manage and balance things. So, I think learning that now will be beneficial in the long run,” says McIntosh. “I think most people look at it like, ‘Oh, you are doing your brand a disservice by focusing on school.’ But I think that school will teach me things to help me with my business once I graduate.”
When it comes to the future of Crenshaw Skate Club, McIntosh has big ideas. He wants to collaborate with streetwear legends like Nigo and do his own Nike or Jordan sneaker collaboration. Eventually, he envisions operating a brick and mortar space in Crenshaw that doubles as a fully fleshed out skate park where locals can skate and hang out for free.
“I wanna continue to build out and help grow the skate community in my own neighborhood. I feel like there’s been a lot of growth that’s been done, but I just want to continue to support that and put the resources in that I can to help that grow,” says McIntosh. “That’s the main message behind the brand, empowering inner-city skaters. If I can keep growing the brand and inspiring kids that grew up similar to me or inspire kids in general, I think that’s my job done. I’ll be satisfied with that.”