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At this point, we all know someone who’s just launched their own brand. From New York to London to Paris to Los Angeles, one needn’t venture far to find young creatives on the come-up, eager for exposure and recognition, and forever on the prowl for that next celebrity plug. The use of Instagram and the ever-expanding digital landscape as a hub and tool for creative and commercial content has flooded a market that has never been more saturated. Appropriation has been re-appropriated twice over, and the day of the original logo is but a glimmer in the hypebeast’s eye. There’s more to sift through than ever before and our standards, consciously or subconsciously, have been raised as a result. So, when we stumble upon brands or designers who, despite it all, still manage to set themselves apart from the masses, it somehow feels like more of a feat.
The five brands highlighted below come from different places with different stories and styles, but they all bring a distinct level of passion and commitment to their craft and process, as well as a unique vision and perspective in a world increasingly dominated by corporate market research and algorithmic advertising. On some level, we know that there is more intrinsic value in a garment or object made by a creative individual or a collaborative group of artists than something churned out of a machine or thrown together in a cheap labor sweatshop for maximum sales potential. When something is created by the hand of the artist, we feel closer to their story, to their humanity, and also to our own; in championing and supporting them, we feel like a small but essential part of their journey. At a time when humanity feels harder and harder to come by amid the volatile social and political landscape, the artist’s hand matters more than ever. Here are five brands to know before they blow up.
Kiko Kostadinov
Though the worlds of high fashion and streetwear continue to intermingle, it’s rare to find a designer whose technical skills and aesthetic sensibilities lend themselves so seamlessly to both. Enter: Kiko Kostadinov. The 28-year-old Bulgarian-born designer made waves back in 2015, when he designed a capsule collection for Stussy’s 35th anniversary as part of the London menswear collections—while still pursuing his MA in fashion design at Central Saint Martins. Later that year, he created another capsule for Stussy, exclusively for Dover Street Market, reworking classic iconic hoodies, tees, and sweats, cutting them up and layering and collaging them back together with haphazard elegance. Kostadinov’s eponymous label—established in 2016 after his graduation and shown at London Fashion Week Men’s—is a more elevated and extensive showcase of the designer’s talent and taste.His thought-provoking combinations of tailoring and sportswear, a contemporary take on the everyday workers’ uniform, invoke the styles of present-day Parisian street painters and German messengers rather than the vintage workwear and military uniforms widely referenced by others. His most recent menswear collection for Fall 2018 marked a move into women’s with a small edit of earthy dresses and sets, accented by sculptural headpieces of flowers and branches by Katsuya Kamo, and a knitted handbag that looked just as dope when worn as a crossbody in the men’s segment. The fact that Kostadinov was appointed creative director of a new line within a historically traditional and more conservative British house like Mackintosh, whilst impressing sneakerheads with sold out collaborations with Asics and Camper, should tell you all you need to know—there’s not much this dude can’t do.
Online Ceramics
To all the ceramicists out there itching to dabble in clothes, take note of Elijah Funk and Alix Ross. Close friends and ongoing collaborators in different mediums through art school, the pair were keen to keep the creative partnership going, and founded Online Ceramics in 2016 in Los Angeles. When a friend asked them to design a T-shirt for a local book fair, they replaced the clay with cotton and set about teaching themselves to tie-dye and screenprint by hand. Last summer, John Mayer asked them to collaborate on a hoodie for Dead & Co.’s fall tour, and they have continued to drop new projects together. Their colorful, trippy designs riff on motifs found on old bootleg concert T-shirts: Smiling skeletons, wreaths of roses, dancing bears, suns, and moons intermingle with playful text in an aesthetic reminiscent of The Grateful Dead. All are vibrant, busy, and meticulously composed. In true millennial fashion, their ideas are typically born via iMessage. “We usually are texting each other horseshit back and forth all day, and then one of us will say something that either inspires us or makes us laugh and we run from there,” says Ross. They’ve run right into stores like Union LA and GR8 Tokyo, and show no signs of slowing down.
HELIOT EMIL
Julius and Victor Juul have been fascinated by fashion and entrepreneurship since they were lads, so starting a label seemed only natural. The Danish brothers founded Heliot Emil in 2017—naming it after their great-grandfather as an homage to their homeland—with Julius as designer/creative director and Victor heading the business operation. Though still in its early days, the Copenhagen-based brand is no rookie project. Fabrics are sourced from around the globe and collections are produced in Italy, France, and Portugal and sold in 20 countries (if you’re stateside, try VFILES or Opening Ceremony). Julius’ designs hold an intense attention to detail with an aesthetic informed by a strong penchant for brutalism, industrial constructions, and the underground techno music scene, evident in their angular line work and rave-y vibe of oversized hoodies with words like KETAMINE printed across the front.Their Spring/Summer 2018 collection referenced military uniforms and workwear, featuring parachute cords and a range of technical fastenings that hung from flight jackets, bulletproof vests, and conceptual outwear, layered atop sharp tailoring and baggy sportswear. Kendrick Lamar rocked a full H.E. look during his performance at NBA All-Star Weekend this past February, and tastemakers like A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$, Future, and Offset have all been seen wearing the brand. Best of all, it hasn’t gone to their heads; the duo says they’re content to look back and marvel at how far they’ve come, eager for what the future may hold.
COME TEES
Sonya Sombreuil bought her four-color press in 2009 and taught herself how to screenprint over the course of a few months, coating the screens at night and, without access to a sink or darkroom, returning at dawn the next morning to expose them and wash them out in the grass with a garden hose. Based in Los Angeles, Come Tees is rooted in the DIY culture of the underground art and music scenes that Sombreuil—a formally trained painter—and her artist friends cohabit. Tanks, tees, and sweats exhibit original designs that invoke a distinctive homespun quality, elevated by abstract symbolism, thought-provoking text, and unique color-blocking, rendered in durable, wearable fabrics. “My knowledge of fashion is pretty limited––I’m just in the past couple years starting to really understand the breadth of streetwear as its own deep culture with a need for constant revision,” Sombreuil told Complex in an e-mail. “To be real, I used to think I was just making pictures and slapping them on T-shirts.” A sharp rise in buzz in the past two years––with endorsements from the likes of Rihanna and Kanye––suggests otherwise. Come Tees is still a single-person operation, with all pieces hand-drawn and hand-printed by Sombreuil. In April, she teamed up with her homies at the genderless L.A. brand, No Sesso, to stage a warehouse runway show that featured vibrant hand-painted riffs on bootleg luxury designer patterns and colorful collages of old photos and illustrations from ‘90s black hair magazines. “I'm sensitive to fact that all culture is a form of communication with the history and with humanity,” she says of her inspiration. “It's always differentiating and evolving, but at the core it's just the human impulse to express.”
Kozaburo
The Japanese have long been lauded as masters of their craft in the realm of fashion, known for their unrivalled hand-sewing techniques and precision, technical detail-oriented constructions, and penchant for the abstract and avant garde. Kozaburo Akasaka, born and raised in Tokyo, is no exception. After receiving his undergraduate degree in fashion design from Central Saint Martin’s in London, Akasaka moved to New York, working for Thom Browne before entering the MFA program for fashion design at Parsons. His gift as a designer quickly became evident when he was included in the VFILES Spring/Summer show in 2016, and presented a thoughtful blend of unique tailored pieces full of unexpected details, hand-stitched, fraying patchwork jeans, and crisp selvedge. After Dover Street Market snagged his graduate collection to sell in New York, Akasaka was off to the races, earning a place on the LVMH Prize shortlist with his Fall 2017 collection and taking home the competition’s Special Prize for his Spring/Summer 2018 collection. For Fall 2018, Akasaka underlined his skill not only as a technician, but as a storyteller, weaving vintage and futuristic references together into a haunting narrative of the American West. He describes his aesthetic as “brutal sensitivity,” heavily inspired by the music scenes and subcultures––namely punk rock––of his Tokyo youth. His pieces have been fittingly repped by the likes of Swae Lee, among others. According to Akasaka, his process is simply, “Keep creating and doing myself.” By all means, please do.