What is it about hats, specifically 5 panel hats, that draw your intrigue?
Brooks: At the time we started we were interested in building something together that would stand out from the over saturated graphic tee market and we both just always wore a variety of hats in our childhood that influenced our overall style to this day. 5 panels were one of those styles that stood out to us and again when we started not every company had 5 panels in their collections and we believed we could do it well and different.
What was the inspiration behind your Vigilante collection? Why the prominent feature of the Japanese flag, tiger, and dragon?
Matt: The inspiration for the Vigilante collection comes from a combination of things. One of the main influences, which is especially prominent when it comes to the Jacket, was The Guardian Angels. Even though they are still in existence, the influence came more from their earlier incarnations. I remember seeing them on TV as a kid in the 80’s, and patrolling the El in Philly. I guess I see them today in a different light, but as a kid, I just remember how cool they looked. They’d be wearing there Red jacket and Berets, with some camo’s on, and some cool shades or something. In my mind, they are part of this larger image of cities like New York or Philly in the early ’80s, before crack, before the buff.
The other influence on the collection is Martial Arts, Karate in particular. If you are walking around on some “clean up the streets” sh*t, it’s probably a good idea if you know who to fight, so the Guardian Angels would teach their members self-defense techniques. The Tiger, and Dragon are prominent symbols in Karate, and being that Karate comes from Japan, we used the Japanese flag in our design as well. And again, it relates back to youth. When I was a little kid in the ’80s, I was obsessed with Karate/Kung Fu, from movies to toys and whatever else. I feel like most kids that came up during that era went through some kind of Karate phase. It’s a nod to a certain segment of 80’s city life and pop culture.
Did you listen to a lot of Theodore Grams while designing this collection? Why did you choose him to model the line?
http://vimeo.com/65607660
Brooks: Our friend Joe from Quite Hype Records/Cult Classic first introduced us to Grams sometime last year when he played the “Dogtown” video for us. We ended up meeting Grams at a couple events and there was a mutual respect from the start. At his “City Is Ours Now” video release party with Asaad I briefly mentioned doing a shoot sometime and he was into the idea. We didn’t really have a plan in the beginning but knew that for our SS14 collection we were going to do a series of look books to showcase capsule themes within our line. Once the Vigilante pack was designed and in production it just clicked and felt right to use Grams. We showed him the mocks and samples and explained our rough idea of a “Guardian Angel” vibe which he was into and the shoot just worked out naturally from there.
