Top 5 Streetwear Brands of the 21st Century in 5-year Blocks

It’s who knows how many days we’re already deep in this odd situation off our lives, but instead of pondering about what’s yet to come and when’s the end, I’ve been concentrating my thoughts more on reminiscing over the “good old days” through music and old prints of streetwear magazines, which gave me an idea to compile a list of five different brands for different time periods that used to be on high demand during their era, but seem to either have fallen from popular demand, discontinued or simply forgotten.

This list is completely subjective to my own thoughts. I’ve been following streetwear scene for a good part of my life and the list reflects on my own perception – what I’ve seen, heard and had over the past years, so please cut me some slack for excluding some of your brands you were into, or if you don’t feel the same at all. But hey, this is my article so fuck off if you disagree. Hate mail can be sent to my inbox oula@hypend.com

I decided to start from the turn of millennium since I’ve been following the crest of the wave actively from these days. Moving on to the actual list:

2000-2005

The Early Days

1. Fubu

Keith Perrin, LL Cool J and Daymond John

In Finland, we have this saying ‘Jonnet ei muista’ – which means ‘young guns don’t remember’. This phrase can be applied to most of these brands quite heavily, but Fubu is by far the most OG brand youngster probably aren’t aware of.

Fubu was launched back in 1992 by our beloved Shark Tank host Daymond John as an independent clothing manufacturer, which turned quickly into a gold mine grossing a turnover of 350 million at its peak.

What I remember from Fubu, was my stonewashed loose fit jeans with reflective straps and “matching” football jerseys. Solid gold, but not anymore.

2. MicMac

This is very special brand for us Finns. If you wanted to be a cool kid, you had to have a pair of MicMac track pants. MicMac was founded by Eila Salovaara and it operated as a storefront in Helsinki, which supplied different brands such as Lee, Levis & Wrangler. Once they started to produce their own clothes, it changed everything. Part of MicMac’s popularity is due to their controversial advertising (courtesy of Herbie Kastemaa, the creative genius behind their marketing) with surreal-erotic graphics.

I never had the track pants myself, but their denim was something I was really keen on. Probably my first interaction with raw denim, which still is a huge point of interest to me.

3. Enyce

The OG brand amongst others. Not many might know/remember this anymore, but Enyce was heavily popular during the first years of the millennium. It was originally founded by Liz Claiborne, but in 2008 Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy/Puff Daddy, acquired the brand for himself for 20 million dollars.

Sidenote: it took me forever to realize the brand is pronounced “NYC” – as an abbreviation of New York City where it originates from. Clever!

4. Akademiks

Another one which had its glory days during the beginning of millennium. It was founded by Donwan and Emmett Harrell back in 1999. Unlike most of the brands on this list, this was not a New York based brand. The humble beginnings originate to Virginia, where Emmett was working for Mecca USA prior to his Akademiks joint venture with his brother. Back in 2006, Akademiks also tried to adapt to current changes of streetwear trends by introducing their new clothing line ‘Stash House’, heavily inspired by the Japanese trends in streetwear field with high-end fabrics and materials used on their clothes.

Akademiks was all about loose fit clothing like every other brand listed on this block. Akademiks was well-known for their multicolored clothes and crazy graphic prints, but also for the co-sign given by Mr. West.

If I had to pick one brand from this block to return on my rotation, it would definitely be Akademiks.

5. Rocawear

When you have a record label ‘Roc-A-Fella Records’, you also need to have a clothing line to support the movement. Apparently.

Rocawear was founded in 1999 by Shawn Carter and Damon Dash, both more commonly known by their alter egos Jay-Z and Dame Dash.

Rocawear was one of the most coveted streetwear brands during its peak solely because Jay-Z was behind the management. Over the years, Rocawear has tried to adapt and pivot to new directions, trying to maintain its relevance in the scene by launching a social media platform under the ‘Rocawear’ name, collaborating with artists such as Chris Brown, Pharrell Williams and Three 6 Mafia, but as for now, it’s safe to say Rocawear has reached its peak already.

2005-2010

The Preppy Era

This was a pivotal point for streetwear. Loose fit was still heavily influencing the style, but cuts started to get slimmer every year onwards. Also, more high-end materials and exclusive releases started to pop up during these days which also reflected on price tags. During this time, household broadband connections started to be essential for every home, which allowed people to interact, network, buy and sell amongst other streetwear enthusiasts.

According to my perception, these were the top-notch brands which sadly aren’t that popular anymore:

1. OriginalFake

Probably the most essential brand of the era, which still has a massive impact on streetwear culture thanks to Brian Donnelly although the main line was discontinued 7 years ago. For those who don’t know, Brian Donnelly is an artist and designer, most notably known by his alter ego KAWS, which he’s been interacting as since the 80s.

OriginalFake was heavily coveted due to its limited supply of produced garments and successful collaborations between different brands and artists. OriginalFake was heavily driven by their graphic prints of KAWS’ well-known figure ‘Companion’. Although we don’t have OriginalFake around anymore, KAWS is still active with his solo endeavours with vinyl Companion sculptures, paintings and huge variety of different collaborations with Nike and UNIQLO.

Long live and prosper, Mr. Donnelly.

2. Alife

It seems like 1999 was a good year to establish a New York-based clothing line - like many others, Alife was launched back then too. Alife was originally founded by four friends, Arnaud Delecolle, Tony Arcabascio, Tammy Brainard and Rob Cristofaro to “fill a void of creativity in New York” - which they definitely did.

Sidenote: there seems to be some sorcery going when placing your company’s name in a red box with a white typeface; consumers go completely nuts. Barbara Krueger, this goes out to you.

3. KidRobot

Kidrobot was better known by their vinyl figures, such as Munnies, Dunnies and Labbits but they did make an impact on clothing industry as well - and took it by the storm. Kidrobot had kind of the same appeal as OriginalFake, but they mainly focused on producing vinyl toys.

Kidrobot was founded in 2002 by Paul Budnitz and sadly, twelve years later the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Fortunately this didn’t happen after holding company NECA Inc. acquired the ownership of Kidrobot and hired Frank Kozik as their Creative Director, who had been involved with Kidrobot prior to the merger.

4. 10.Deep

Founded by Scott Sasso in 1995 in New York (surprise, surprise), 10 Deep was one of my favourite streetwear brands of the era. I’ve seen the overall image of 10 Deep change many times throughout the years; at first it was the white-on-black box logo plastered everywhere - kind of like Supreme and Alife, but unlike them, 10 Deep is completely different when compared to its early days.

As it can be deducted from the image above, they now pay homage to down-to-earth aesthetics with tribal and camo prints. Reminds me a bit of Visvim - in a good way though.

5. aNYthing

Original logo of the brand

How do you know a clothing brand has been established before the Internet era of our lives? By naming the company as ‘anything’ (stylized aNYthing). How do I know it’s been founded before the Internet era just by its name? Well, try typing “anything” to any of the search engines and look up for the results. I’ll guarantee the search results are not regarding the brand itself. Back then it was much easier when you didn’t have to worry about SEO.

Anyways, this brand has a huge sentimental value for me on a personal level. Their designs were appealing and like many other brands, the list of their collaborations is never-ending. The brand was launched back in 2001 in New York (as the brand name might suggest) by Kiernan Costello. Heavily influenced by skateboarding, like most of the other streetwear brands that had their peak between 2005-2010.

2010-2015

Swag Wave

This era is the most cringeworthy yet with its experimental designs and cuts, high-end fashion clashing with streetwear and skateboarding culture, the infamous era of men not getting inside a night club for wearing Pyrex shorts, layering loose tops with tight bottoms, red shoes everywhere and all that other good stuff. I do fall as a guilty party for hopping up on some of these awful trends too, which I’m not proud of. However, there are still some proper brands that have maintained their sentimental value on some level.

1. Black Scale

ASAP Rocky with a Black Scale hoodie and hat

Black Scale dates back to 2007, when Michael “MEGA” Yabut and Alfred De Tagle teamed up for a joint-venture with one another. Black Scale was one of the first brands of this era to be mixed with high-end fashion.

It’s safe to say ASAP Rocky is the main reason for the popularity of the brand. Black Scale (or stylized as BLVCK SCVLE) was known for its controversial monochromatic palette of black and white prints referring to satanism and overall dark themes. Super edgy, but avant-garde at the same time. And it worked. The most known designs from Black Scale was the ‘FUCK SWAG’ print on t-shirts, ASAP Mob collaboration capsule and selection of leather snapbacks with ‘FUNERAL’, ‘SILENCE’ & ‘ILLEGAL’ embroidery. I remember these hats fetching for +300 dollars on eBay after the online release.

2. SSUR

SSUR, founded by Ruslan Karablin in 1992, is (once again) a New York-based clothing line with an OG status. SSUR has also its fair share of collaborations, including Supreme, 40 oz, Been Trill etc., but what really made SSUR famous was their mock up of COMME des GARÇONS logo - a clever play of pronunciation of the Japanese high-end brand’s name included with a hidden message (calm the fuck down). One could argue it being an indicator of opinion towards high-end fashion.

3. The Hundreds

Bobby Kim and Ben Shenassafar, partnered up for The Hundreds back in 2003 as a Los Angeles-based design collective. The Hundreds has been strictly a skateboard brand, but over the years it has gained a lot of hype in streetwear scene. The Adam Bomb logo has made itself really distinguishable among other skateboard brands.

The Hundreds has also had many collaboations with companies like Disney and adidas.

4. Crooks & Castles

Crooks & Castles was founded back in 2002 by Dennis Calvero and Rob Panlilio - both wanting to create a clothing brand reflecting their lifestyle. C&C was also among the first brands to crossbreed high-end fashion aesthetics to streetwear culture.

5. Been Trill

Been Trill was a super group of creative geniuses who are nowadays well known for their own, personal endeavours. The OG Been Trill posse consisted of Virgil Abloh, Heron Preston, Matthew Williams, Justin Saunders and YWP. Been Trill wasn’t just a clothing brand, they truly revolutionized the streetwear scene by blending art, fashion and music altogether. There’s no certain indicator when Been Trill was originally launched, but it’s circa 2012-2013.

Sadly Been Trill “movement” didn’t last for long. They were coming up with collaborations after collaborations, main line was over-supplying the demand and after all, Virgil went solo on Off-White, Matthew launched Alyx Studio, Heron started his own label etc. Many remember Been Trill as a sellout, mallrat brand, but in my own opinion, during 2013 and 2014, Been Trill was the bridge for elevating the streetwear scene to a completely new era.

Curated by:

Oula Valkeinen

EditorialsOula ValkeinenMay 28, 2020Comment