Graffiti News & Blog

Graffiti Canvas Art Exhibition with Community Project walls throughout the city

Does of LoveLetters and Ironlak Team Europe from the Netherlands paints a wall in Belgium – 2009. www.digitaldoes.com www.ironlak.com Music by i-Sa Shot: Luke Shirlaw Cut: Selina Miles : renegade.sel@gmail.com

This is the third installment in the CBS Sunday Morning Series (“Turning a Corner”) on Graffiti artists who’ve made it big. “Though still illegal in some circles, it is attaining a kind of respectability…” David Turecamo introduces us to both the artist known as JonOne and the annual Graffiti Convention held in Paris.

Bradley contacted Pap the Question for his proposal to Caitlin in New York. He wanted to have a cool and unique engagement involving some words from a graffiti artist in Philly. We came up with some great creative ideas and with the help of the Tats Cru had this 10×5 ft canvas made and positioned in Central Park for his Perfect Proposal.

There are a number of little, make that miniscule, streetwear companies that ends up pointing the way forward for the entire fashion industry. It is often the renegades that come up with the best ideas, the best graphics and the freshest designs. If any “designer fashion” label has its finger on the heart beat of today, its sometimes the ones that can truly feel the direction the street is going in, know the people well and what they think. Some massive firms have this feeling but more often than not it will the the littler lesser known ones that truly know what the people want.

These brands can regularly be erected by punks wanting to go in their very own direction and answer to nobody but themselves. These fellows are by no means your everyday business entrepreneurs. They certainly didn’t sit down and investigate the market, hire a couple of graffiti artists off the street, get together with a crack publicist and high flying advertising executive and set out to make some cookie cutter clothing company and call it “streetwear.”

Real streetwear comes from the streets and this is where some of the most highly regarded labels of today come from just like Rebel 8, Diamond Supply Co, Stussy, Famous Stars and Straps and Rogue Status as well as several others like them too. Many of those small companies start on very tight budgets for instance the founders of Rebel eight, Joshie D and Mike Giant got together and with a measly budget of 500 dollars made a batch of shirts that Josh then took to the streets and sold out of a bicycle messenger bag.

We’re sticking with Rebel eight for the time being so you can get a bit of insight into what goes on backstage at an underground brand. Josh is a San Francisco local who made a excellent reputation for himself with his graffiti internet site before teaming with Giant to launch their new venture. Mike Giant dropped out of school a single semester before finishing his architecture degree to work full time as a graphic artist for a big San Francisco skateboard company. His design has gained global recognition and he has had exhibitions in N. Y, Paris, Tokyo and London, just to cite a couple of the major art capitals of the planet that have shown his work. He is particularly known for delightfully detailed drawings of hot girls with tattoos wearing Victorian lace with one or two skulls tossed in for good measure.

The label that these two street punks have created adhered to a tough policy of quality. This isn’t of premium significance to just this company in particular but all underground brands that desire their creations to hit customers hard and make them take note. The graphics are all hand-illustrated, a marked departure from most gigantic company clothing graphics, which digitize original design into a vector format. Mike’s graphic art illustrated apparel features exact reproductions of his original design and so can be truthfully said to be “wearable art.” That could be a refreshing change from the mass produced “streetwear” you see everywhere today.

Brands like Rebel 8, Rogue Status, DTA and Dimaond Supply Corp are merely a couple of a clothing labels, street wear or otherwise, that can make a claim to originality. That is due to the fact that the founders don’t care about beginning a major mass distributed over exported label – they’re fascinated by making stuff that’s cutting edge and absolutely original. Aside from the tees and other stuff that feature overwhelming graphics, they’ve got some great shirts, jackets and crews, too.

If you’re tired of all of the lame large name streetwear brands, then have a look at a rather more underground brand like the ones listed in this piece plus a bunch of others that are out there. They’re all quite straightforward to find online with the right search. These are the sort of streetwear firms which make streetwear for the people of the street and not the shopping center.

Gerry Cramer is a business development manager who writes on small business start ups as well as focusing on larger corporations. His main field is in the surf and skate industries, paying special attention to the mens skate shoes market where he is published countless reports on brands such as DC, DVS, Lakai and Nike 6.0. He has worked closely with Supra shoes UK and their development program.