If you follow The Hundreds on social, have read The Hundreds Blog religiously, watched The Hundreds TV at all during the pandemmy, or are a member of The Hundreds Discord, you know Young Corey.

Back in the day, he was always around on Fairfax, and even though he’s much busier these days, he can still always be found on the digital block, supporting and engaging. A long-time fan of The Hundreds and streetwear culture in general, Corey is truly a student of the game. He paid his dues and put in his years. He took notes, asked questions, trialed by error, and found his way.

Corey’s brand Circulate was a slow burn, not one of these immediate smash hits that go viral with their first product. And it’s better that way. Many of those brands aren’t sustainable. They grow too big for their britches right away and have to scramble to build infrastructure. They don’t have as rich a backstory or as strong a foundation. That’s not how any of the legendary brands in streetwear were built, and Corey knows that. He’s from the old school where storytelling and community were key, and people really did come before product.

It wasn’t until these last two years that Circulate started to gain real traction and begin amassing a large following. Not coincidentally, it all started happening when Corey really found his voice during the Black Lives Matter protests, discovering a deeper purpose his designs could serve. Corey was delivering a powerful message, and more and more people were listening.

Growing up following in the footsteps of Bobby and Ben Hundreds and Nick Diamond and the other pillars of streetwear, Corey knew that once he had the eyes and ears of the culture on him, he had to hold tight and never let go. He had to nurture that connection and evolve, while still staying true to what brought them there in the first place. It was time for him to put all those years of streetwear schooling to use. And nobody was more ready.

I caught up with Corey fresh off his trip to Paris for Fashion Week, where he served as Complex Style’s lead correspondent on the ground, popping up in every viral photo next to the who’s who of fashion, from Kanye to Nigo and everyone in between. But even though Paris saw Corey shine on the biggest stage in fashion, it was the project he was coming back home to release that really marked the biggest accomplishment of his young career so far.

DUKE LONDON: Corey, what’s good? It’s been a minute.
COREY POPULUS: Chilling, man, what’s the word?

How have you been?
Busy as hell. [Laughs]

Shit’s boomin.
Yeah ever since I got back from Paris, I’ve just been going non-stop and then I was jet-lagged for a couple of days which didn’t help.

You get one Getty photo and everything changes. [Laughs]
Hey mannn, that’s how we living now. [Laughs]

I’m mad I’m not out in LA right now for this collab, so legendary.
I know, and we were supposed to have a big party too but Covid is trash. But it’s cool, I shot the video yesterday so I got to see Bobby, Ben, Nick Diamond, the whole squad. Then Anwar pulled up and a couple of other folks, too, so that was dope.

How does it feel to bridge the gap between these two brands and bring them back together after a really long time? You’re reviving a golden era in Fairfax history and pulling a lot of nostalgic streetwear heartstrings.
Man, it’s honestly really crazy to me because I really started from the ground up, you know what I mean? Started as an intern, did my duties there. I started in the office at Diamond, just being a kid that was around and helping ship stuff. And then after I got off at the office, I would go down to the store and just hang out there. And then next thing you know, I’m in the store being an intern, helping out those guys, pulling orders for customers on the floor. And then, fast forward a couple of years later, I’m working at the store. And then fast forward to now, I’m collabing with these two brands that raised me, in a sense.

I don’t think that Circulate would even exist if it wasn’t for The Hundreds and Diamond. When I was younger, The Hundreds was the blueprint for me. I lived in Sacramento for a short while and Bobby was able to make me want to visit Fairfax so bad, just from all of his pictures and the blog and things like that. And I carried that on to my brand with the way that I conduct my business and experience the lifestyle, from being part of a shop and shop etiquette to just learning all the things that I learned from the office at Diamond, like how to ship packages and fulfill orders and just run an online business. I carried all of that on to Circulate. So it’s, it’s pretty surreal that these guys who pretty much raised me and taught me how to run a brand are now giving me the chance to work with them at this level is insane. And to see these guys collaborate for the first time in like over 10 years or something, and they did it for me, it means so much. So this is probably the most important project I’ve worked on thus far and I’m doing things like a Super Bowl collab and things like that. But this one means way more to me.

It’s all just so crazy to me, man. When I got the samples the other day, that was an insane feeling, dude. I was like, “What the hell? It’s finally real.” I’ve been working on this for the past six months or so but just seeing it finally come to life was the most insane feeling and it just reinforced to me that you can do whatever. Like you can really make your dreams come true. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer but if you just put in the work and stick to it and just keep believing, it’ll come to fruition. I just want people to look at me and see a true testament to hard work.

Everything you’ve learned and picked up along the way has made you successful. Circulate doesn’t feel like one of these flash-in-the-pan brands that blow up instantly. It feels organically cultivated, like you took the time and built the foundation and grew it one supporter at a time.
You know what’s crazy? When this collab drops next Thursday, that exact date is the four-year anniversary of Circulate.

That’s awesome. And interviewing you right now is a little bit full circle for me, too. I don’t know if you remember this but you were the first person I interviewed at The Hundreds. The first story I wrote after taking over the Blog was about young brands using Shopify to scale up and when I was asking for brand owners to speak with, Bobby told me to hit you up.
That’s such a testament to who Bobby is, too. And I think that’s an important part of collaboration is each person should bring something to the table. And I also feel like the older guys should do their best job of passing the torch and putting on for the younger guys. Because we still look up to these guys and they are the reason we’re here. So, I think it’s really cool that people like Bobby and Nick give me these types of opportunities because a person can’t grow without the help of leaders.

When you say you soaked up a lot of knowledge and game from these guys, it shows. Circulate is built so strong and every piece of every collection is so thoughtful. It’s been great to see it grow and more people discover it every day.
When I really started to take off, it was probably during the George Floyd protests. I had dropped a shirt previously and I’m telling you, I couldn’t sell any of them, like I could barely give them away if I wanted to, you know what I mean? It was that type of situation. So I put that out a long time ago, and no one was really paying attention. We didn’t really have a lot of followers and people didn’t care. Maybe I wasn’t on their radar yet. But when the George Floyd thing happened, I was like, “Yo, I have all these like designs that are appropriate for this situation. Let me just reissue a couple. So I did the Circulate ‘All Power to the People’ shirt and told everyone I was gonna donate the funds to different organizations that were helping people on the ground protesting. Dude, I probably sold 1000 of those. So, after I saw the power in that and all the attention I was garnering from reissuing this T-shirt, I was like, “Oh, damn, I have something here. Now I need to keep these people captivated.” I had to keep it going.

I started dropping a T-shirt a week on how I was feeling about all the things going on with that situation. And from there, everything just started to grow and grow and grow. There was a point in time when that shirt was what we were becoming known for and I was just like, damn, I can’t keep running this shirt or else I’m gonna be stuck with this. And I feel like we’re more than that. So I vaulted that shirt and just started to train people to like other things that we’re doing since I have their attention. For the past two years, I’ve just been trying to stay really consistent. And I don’t want to box Circulate into being a brand about just one thing. So I’ve been jumping all over the place. And that’s kind of why I chose the name Circulate because you can Circulate anything. You can circulate music, you can circulate a feeling, you can circulate a theme, whatever it is.

Even with all the momentum you’ve gained over the last two years, it’s amazing to see you still engage with every single supporter on social and really get your hands dirty with your community.
One of my biggest influences is Virgil. I just always thought it was so dope how, me just being this younger kid that looked up to someone in such a high place, was super fortunate I was able to call him a friend. Just the way that he made time for everybody. Whether you were a customer, a friend, a family member, or whoever, no matter what, he was always making time. So I try to practice those same things. When he was hitting me up, it made me feel really good.

There’s a bunch of people out there that hit me up all the time and I try to reply or give advice or things like that because it’s surreal that kids even hit me up. And they’re like, “Yo, you’re such an inspiration to me.” It’s weird as fuck because, I don’t know, I feel like I’m not such a big thing. But I don’t know, a lot of these kids feel that way about me. But I feel like I’m still on their level. So I try to make time for everyone and talk with them. Because if it means that much to them, then what is it to me to reply to you or take time to give advice. We’re all human, I’m no celebrity or anything, I have time for everybody. And I think that’s been a big help growing the brand. There’s enough space for everybody and the more we support each other and help each other, the more everyone can grow together. And it’s better to be allies instead of being in competition.

So, that’s how other people see your brand. But what has it been like for you to watch Circulate pop off? You got your designs into NBA 2K this year, you have an NFL collab coming, you got The Hundreds and Diamond back together. What are you feeling?
Man, it’s honestly crazy. I’m still such a fan of all these other people that I get to share the space with. And the people that came before me, so it’s really weird. But it’s so tight that I get to wake up every day and just be myself. And I don’t take it for granted ever. Even doing all these projects, I feel like I’m always wanting more and feeling like I’m not doing enough, but lately, I’ve been trying to learn how to just live in the moment and be appreciative of these opportunities. Man, it’s just a blessing, it’s unreal. Like, I don’t even know how to explain it.

What’s it like to achieve this success alongside some of your peers who have also been seeing a similarly meteoric rise in the space? You and Kacey from Bricks & Wood just went to Paris together for Fashion Week and that was great to see. Both of you guys are family and your brands are so good, it’s amazing to see them grow like they have.
It’s really dope. Kacey’s my brother, man, real talk. It’s so dope to see everything he’s doing. It was so, so crazy to me to see him get a New Balance shoe, that was probably one of the highlights of my year last year. It’s just so tight, man, like we really came from the ground up. Now, people are paying attention and showing us love and we kind of started at the same place. It’s all a blessing, the fact that we get to travel together and experience different things together. Like, I took Kacey to his first fashion show in Miami, which is really dope. And it’s just love, it’s crazy that we’re in this position, we really come from nothing. We didn’t come from being rich or get a handout or anything like that. And I just want to show people that it’s possible.

So it begs the question, when are we going to get a full Circulate and Bricks & Wood collab?
We did one last year for Circulate Market, but we’re definitely going to do something on our own, we just haven’t had the time to put something together just because both of our schedules have been super gnarly with other opportunities and people hitting us up. But you’ll definitely see something from Kacey and I in the future.

I wanted to talk a little bit about Circulate Market because that seemed like another instance where you got an opportunity, and you used that opportunity and that platform to shine a light on a bunch of other peers in the space. And not only was that commendable but also genius, because it amplified the message so much more.
Man, just like what I was talking about with all the George Floyd protests and those things that were happening, it just really inspired me to use my platform to give back monetarily, which is pretty crazy to me because I’m not the richest guy or anything like that. But I thought it was really cool that I could use my brand to raise money to give to such a good cause. These are Black-owned brands that I love, and I think they deserve more credit than they’re given. So I approached PacSun and was like, “Yo, can I put together a project around Black-owned brands where I curate the space and we can call it Circulate Market? They were super ecstatic about it and all on board and they told me they were down for whatever I wanted to do. I’m super grateful for them letting me do it and it turned out to be really cool, I think we donate somewhere around $30,000 to six different charities and I got to have all my friends be a part of it. We sold out in one day, everyone was supporting each other’s product from the drop. It was super dope and it was all organic, which was the coolest part about it. We’re trying to make it a yearly thing at PacSun and we have another one coming up tomorrow, got some fresh brands that I love. I’m just gonna continue to do it every year.

I’m always on board to do projects but when it comes to this buzzword of community that all these bigger companies like to throw around and want to work with you, I always try to make sure they put their money where their mouth is. Whenever I’m approaching them about Circulate Market, I need to pick the charity and they need to help me reach this goal by matching the donation or whatever it is. They’re always on board and they make it happen. I’ve been working with this charity all last year called Cleanup South Central. This girl named Dime, she runs it, and she started off by literally cleaning up South Central, like cleaning up the neighborhood and picking up trash. But she’s kind of evolved now to clean it up in the sense of making sure the kids from around there aren’t getting into bad things and giving them access to creative outlets and teaching them about starting a business like mine. And with this year’s Circulate Marker, we’re going to donate the funds from the charity shirt and help them rebuild a computer lab at the middle school she works with.

That’s incredible.
Yeah, I’m super hyped on that. I was supposed to do a big event, I wanted to do an event where all the kids would come. And I was going to teach them about running a business like mine and have all the brand owners that are part of Circulate Market speak and have like a screen printing exercise to visually give them a picture of how it all happens. Because when I was coming up, I didn’t get access to see things like that. I remember showing up the first time I was going to print shirts for my brand and having the wrong files and they couldn’t print them, they were the wrong format or whatever. And it’s just like, I wish I had someone like me that was like, “Yo, Corey, you need to use Illustrator and not this other program.” So I just want to spread as much knowledge as I can. My mission this year is to show other kids that want to do what I’m doing how to do it. I just want to give back to younger kids and show them how to get to where I’m at, because I feel like there’s a lot of gatekeeping in this industry and people don’t share that knowledge enough.

I’d love to give you the opportunity to plug some young brands that you’re into. We’ve featured guys like Tobey from Crenshaw Skate Club on the Blog, but I’d love to know what other brands you’re watching and who our fans should look up and support.
Tobey is the man. But yeah let me shout out all the people who are part of Circulate Market. Guys like Royal.2 and LITTLE AFRICA, they’re both really dope, man. Shout out to John. There’s a guy down in San Diego, his name is Leon he does a brand called HERON HUES. The other homie in New York, his name is Kadeem, he does his brand called The Blooming Union which is really sick. And man, just shout out to Dime who does Cleanup South Central, she’s doing great things and using her platform and her resources to help a lot of kids that don’t get these opportunities all the time and I just love that.

As your brand grows and your name gets spoken about in greater and greater circles, what does it mean to you to have access to some of these people you grew up being inspired by, like Joe Freshgoods for example?
Man. I’m in a group chat with Joe and Kacey and he’s really the big brother figure because he’s been through all this stuff that we’re on the journey of experiencing. So that’s big bro. Whenever we need advice or whenever we’re getting into these rooms that we haven’t been in before, he’s the first person I’m hitting up and asking how to navigate. And he’s always got the perfect answer. So big shout out to Joe. And as far as other guys, it’s still so crazy to me that Bobby Hundreds knows my name. I tell him all the time, but that’s my childhood, someone that I really, really looked up to. So it’s crazy that I have his phone number and I can go by the office and crack jokes and all that. Insane. And Ben, too. They’re so supportive, and it’s just love. I love how they’re embracing all these younger brands man, it’s beautiful. That’s what leaders are and I’m gonna carry that tradition on from them. It’s super important to have someone that you look up to, and then when they support you, that’s so tight. It’s the best feeling and it makes you want to keep doing what you’re doing.

How did the conversations for this huge three-way collab start?
It’s crazy. But I was in talks with Nick to do a Diamond collab and then I was also in talks with you guys at The Hundreds to do a collab. So I had different designs for each one ready. And as I was going back and forth with The Hundreds team, going over designs and about to seal the deal on our collab, Bobby was the one to bring it up. He was like, “Why don’t we just do a super collab with Diamond? I’ll call Nick right now.” And he called Nick, who said it sounded like a great idea. I was just like, “Oh, man, this is insane. Like, what?!” Because one of my favorite The Hundreds shirts is the Diamond collab, the Good Ol Days graphic. And just getting these two guys to come back together was insane. When I moved back to LA, I remember going to The Hundreds and Diamond party in San Francisco, and my trip back to LA to start my internship at Diamond was the bus they had that drove everyone from LA to San Francisco for the party. And I remember taking the bus back from that party to go back to LA to live and start work at Diamond. So I don’t know, the stars are aligning man. It’s just crazy. So we did a 2022 Good Ol Days shirt. Like, when I first met with The Hundreds to talk about our collab, I told Bobby and Ben that I wanted this to feel nostalgic and look like the old RSWD designs. And that’s kind of how we stumbled upon redoing the Good Ol Days design. And then with the other design, I wanted to find a way where I could insert Circulate into the story of Fairfax and have it tied back to The Hundreds and Diamond. So I figured that I would use Circulate as like a Neighborhood Watch company, then had an illustrator draw the Diamond store and The Hundreds store with the Neighborhood Watch skating in between.