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!

photograph by Julian Berman
by bobbyhundreds