The Hundreds is pleased to announce the release of the Fall 2012 Skate lookbook, worn by the The Hundreds Skate Team and shot at Brooklyn Projects.
The team wears key pieces and skate favorites from the Fall 2012 collection, such as the Angry woven, the Love woven, the Survival Club tee, the Dodo tee, the Team Two snapback, and the There snapback.
Featuring Mike “Owen” Franklin, Ricky Webb, Billy Roper, Mikey Burton, and CJ Tambornino:
The line is set to release on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at The Hundreds flagship locations and authorized retailers worldwide. Check out the entirety of the Fall 2012 Skate Team lookbook HERE.
I’ve saved the best for last. Bobby Tribal‘s car collection. Let’s start with the shop truck:
This is Anthony’s Caddy:
Lunch break out:
A stone’s throw from historic Chicano Park is Petra & Nati’s Las Cuatro Milpas, not only the best Mexican food in San Diego, but arguably of all Southern California. Since 1933:
Quiet on set:
We drive out of the city and up to Bobby’s house, where he lives with his wife and kids, and where he lives with more awesome cars.
Of course, just as much exceptional art at home as at work.
An original RIME:
Dalek / Ryden / Buff Monster:
Peque:
A DAIM original:
Bigfoot:
An original RETNA. Very rare:
Battle axes from KORN:
P.O.D., Linkin Park:
Jack Johnson:
And onto the bigger works of art. Bobby’s 1949 Chevy Fleetline: La Negrita:
Bobby’s 1963 Impala Convertible : La Mulatta:
and his 1959 Chevy Impala:
Thanks again to Bobby Ruiz and the Tribal Clique for letting us come along for the ride:
As you may recall from earlier this year at SXSW, we’re big fans of Grimes. In turn, we’re pleased that she’s a big fan of our Phoenix shades, as she’s often caught out there wearing ‘em.
Streetwear, as we’ve come to understand it, has a mysterious and murky past. Although I draw it back to Shawn Stussy’s handiwork, mixed in with a little skateboarding, hip-hop, and sneakers, the remarkable thing about Streetwear is that it – in very much a postmodern sense – comes from everything, represents everybody, and is for everyone.
Tribal Streetwear is rounding a quarter-century of life in the marketplace. Bobby Ruiz founded the brand in 1989 here in San Diego and it continues to flourish today by calling all corners of “street” lifestyle – from graffiti to hot rods and beautiful women. About a year ago, Bobby moved the team and inventory here into this downtown warehouse. Hanging above him are thirds of a RISK piece:
The Tribal brand is probably best recognized today by it’s strong logo sets, as you see emblazoned across some of the headpieces. They make everything from button-ups to sneakers and skateboards, and like the vast majority of Streetwear, are centralized around graphic t-shirts. Although domestically, Tribal isn’t the stronghold it once was in the ’90s, internationally Tribal has its hooks in deep from Europe to Asia. In the Philippines alone, there are something like 70 or 80 of Tribal’s own retail locations (And I thought having 4 was cool).
More than anyone else I’ve met in this industry, Bobby’s brand archives run miles deep. He’s made the conscious effort to save and protect these keepsakes, from early catalogs to tradeshow materials, promotional photographs to vintage stickers, and of course, originals of the clothing. Here in an early advertisement. There’s Bobby with a full head of hair (second from left) and I believe he’s pointing to team rider Kien Lieu (The Donger).
Bobby and I have something in common besides the best name ever. We’ve both lived in Mira Mesa, California – he, having grown up there. His high school yearbook has some early illustrations embodying what would later represent the Tribal lifestyle. Hey kids, this drawing is from the mid ’70s!
The most impressive and exhaustive parts of his vault are all the original artwork he’s kept over two decades of business. Dare I say that no other artist, designer, or brand in this industry has amassed such a varied and extensive collection of work from the individuals who would go on to become street culture’s most heralded names. The best part, of course, that all of these original paintings, sketches, and photographs were done exclusively for the Tribal brand (p.s. many, if not most, of Tribal’s history of photographs were shot by Bobby himself).
One of Tribal’s earliest logos that Streetwear veterans may remember. This is the original:
An early Mr. Cartoon for Tribal. Original:
An early DAIM for Tribal. Original:
And one of the most prolific collections of early Mike Giant I have ever seen. 1992. Again, the original:
Interestingly enough, until recently, Tribal has been without a dedicated sales force. Besides the tradeshow circuit, sales have existed solely off of mailorder and online. Anthony is here to change that, as Tribal’s first official sales representative.
Here’s one of Tribal’s first linesheets. While most street apparel brands are catching up to the “Artist Series” projects now, that’s been Tribal’s M.O. since ’89.
Nowadays, mailorder catalogs have evolved into web transactions. Printed linesheets have been replaced by e-mailed PDF attachments. And word-of-mouth marketing and brand awareness are fulfilled by social media and the Internet.
Pre-WWW, Tribal built it’s name and credibility through mixtapes (as in actual cassettes) and these videocassette compilations, showcasing their lifestyle. What teenager in the ’90s didn’t stand around hip-hop boutiques and graffiti shops spending hours watching Tribal tapes? Quick-cut montaged episodes of b-boy competitions, painted murals, and skateboarding. Epitomizing street culture.
There is an actual vault at Tribal that stores past designs and styles. It’s like the ’90s in a box. Geometric patterned-prints, boxy cuts, oversized bottoms.
This is a 1-off t-shirt with a buncha graphics applied in off placements. Really cool, and once again, a very relevant idea.
You’re looking at the actual, physical door of the old, o.g. Tribal shop. Tagged, painted, stickered with ancient streetwear hieroglyphics. There’s a Jam Master Jay tag, Maple sticker, Third Rail (RISK), CRUSH, etc. etc.
Tribal headquarters isn’t actually done quite yet. Outside of the corporate side of things, Bobby is busy building a barbershop, along with a retail store selling Tribal gear, skateboards, and the like.
The walls are currently being processed by graffiti pioneer RISK…
In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, what Bobby has accomplished in his career, beyond fashion and youth culture, is promoting and supporting the arts. More specifically, street art. Before the MOCA was dedicating exhibitions to it, before the President got elected off of it, before it was washed and smeared across car commercials and elite art galleries and celebrities’ home walls. Before street art was an actual thing, Bobby was there right behind it.
Just a fraction of the pantheon of artists Bobby has worked with and endorsed through Tribal, beyond what I’ve shown you already:
Chaz, Shepard Fairey, Maxx 242, Usugrow, Patrick Hoelck, Revok, Fudemae, Munk, Dalek, The Mac, Augor, Franco Vecscovi, Delta, Erni, Zodak, Estevan and Eriberto Oriol, Cope 2, Joker, Saber, Spider, OG Abel, Tempt, Mouse Lopez, Mear, Sever, Augor… I can go on for a while here…
Here’s some early Dave Kinsey:
A Steve Soto original:
Painting by Gustavo, of which I now own the skateboard deck of:
Retna for Tribal:
Bobby believes this to be one of the world’s best black-and-grey artists, currently serving life in prison:
1 of 1, Shepard Fairey:
Another original by Mike Giant:
The collection is without end. Stuffed into drawers, piled away in closets, stacked against each other in the warehouse:
While the wall of decks remains on display:
Right next to the plaques and distinctions Tribal-affiliated music artists have gifted to Bobby over the course of their careers:
If any one brand dominated the fusion of rap and rock in the late ’90s and early ’00s, it was Tribal. I’m sure you remember the gear dressed upon Limp Bizkit, all the way back to the Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill and House of Pain. Wuv from P.O.D. stopped by this afternoon to gather duds before heading out with the band on tour. Tribal has been a longtime P.O.D. supporter and vice versa. All’s in the family:
The Tribal Clique (minus Brisk!):
We’re not done here just yet. The conclusion to come tomorrow:
The Hundreds is pleased to announce the release of the The Hundreds Fall 2012 “Two-Tone” bag collection, which features staple favorites as well as new designs to this season’s line.
Each piece of detailed construction and never-before-seen two-tone colorways, offers impeccable durability and style. The collection includes a re-appropriation of the popular Jon bag, with the addition of brand new items such as the Grasp case, the Shutter camera bag, the Evacuate duffle, and the Ration pencil case. Bags now feature YKK zippers and are protected under the new The Hundreds 2 Year Warranty, guaranteeing quality and customer service.
The “Two-Tone” bag collection will be available on Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at The Hundreds Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Santa Monica, as well as authorized retailers. The collection will also be available through the The Hundreds Online Shop on Monday, August 6th, 2012.
Tonight at Known Gallery on Fairfax, Revok and Saber converge for a dual show, unprecedented and unparalleled. Arguably the two most widely celebrated, recognized, and renowned modern graffiti artists in the world, this is an exhibition arriving with much anticipation and fanfare in street culture and the arts community.
Saber’s contributions are an analysis of Los Angeles’ complicated layers. He stresses the importance of portraying the artist’s perspective. These paintings are his understanding and view of life, history, and the city he loves. The artist has been through so much — his entire crew has — to pursue art amidst a harsh lifestyle and acerbic community. All of that is bottled up and spilled across these works.
Revok makes his offering to Saber’s crowned painting.
In the back room are grids of photographs, documenting the thousands of murals and painted pieces Revok and Saber have fulfilled over the last two decades.
These ephemeral masterpieces were blasted all over the world, immortalized in photographs and stashed away. There are so many, that Revok doesn’t even remember doing some of them.
Revok’s side of the show is dedicated to these wooden installations — amalgamations of broken street signs, pieces of abandoned churches, charred skeletons of severed banks. Now a citizen of the fallen city of Detroit, the artist hunts and gathers around the city for remnants of life and stories past. These components are unique, one-of-a-kind, and impossible to recreate by any medium. But they tell a story, of the lives that are imbued in the wood grain and the people’s history that is warped into the cracked and peeling layers.
So Revok’s show is also about layers and of texture. With intricacy, these stripped excerpts of a human existence are mixed together to create wholly new and beautiful art.
Living legends. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Revok and Saber.
Experience “Gilgamesh” and “Beautification” from now until August 11th, only at Known Gallery.
The Hundreds turns 9 years old today, which is like 376 in Streetwear years. Sometimes it certainly feels that long, but usually it seems like just yesterday Ben and I were sitting in my apartment hashing up t-shirt ideas. What few t-shirts we had, but so many ideas. What lack of resources we had, but so much ambition. What little care we had for the odds stacked against us when all we could see was an adventure.
We’re the same guys but at a different place now. It’s like you just put your blinders on, keep your head down, and move forward. You ignore what’s going on around you, the competition, the praise, the negativity, the media and bloggery. You’re just here to work and have fun. Doing It Yourself. Doing It For Yourself. Until the day you wake up, and it’s been 9 years, look back and see how far you’ve come; it’s immeasurable and astounding. And kinda frightening, to be honest. We have families now, we have a sizable staff now, we have overhead. Streetwear is different, the world has changed, the youth we once sold to are far from it, the Internet… for all it’s good and bad… We are fatter, more stressed, and fatter (We are fatter).
In that time, we’ve done so much that we are proud of. The clothing, the website, the magazine, our shops. We are proudest most of the friendships we’ve established along the way, the colorful personalities in our crew, the creative and dynamic business partners The Hundreds has broken bread with, whether as collaborators or stockists. The relationships mean everything, the most valuable assets we’ve acquired.
That connection with you, our customer, our reader, our supporter, is what has kept us alive for this long. There’s something else when we look back on our journey. We see a legion of followers behind us, around us, by our side.
We’ve been saying it for 9 years now. The Hundreds is Huge. Thank you!
It’s been nine years since the birth of The Hundreds, and in order to celebrate the momentous occasion, we created a limited edition anniversary tee and it’s only available through The Hundreds Online Shop.
Featuring nine Adam Bombs on the front of the tee and a The Hundreds Solid Bomb logo at the back, this tee is a one-of-a-kind creation…
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