It’s fitting that streetwear brand H33M is named after its jack-of-all-trades founder Kahim Smith. The brand is a direct reflection of Kahim as a person, and he doesn’t put out anything he wouldn’t wear himself. Supporters of the brand can tap in even further by following along on the H33M Blog, where Kahim adds a layer of storytelling to his projects, giving context to his design ideas and creating a community of fans around the world.

H33M has gained tremendous traction over the past couple of years, finally blossoming into the brand Kahim dreamed of back in 2014 when he started it. The journey began while working in his brother’s clothing shop, PMA. He designed a T-Shirt to sell in the store, put HEEM FOR PMA on the tag, and the rest was history. As Kahim kept coming up with more and more ideas for clothing, accessories, sneakers, home goods, and more, it only made sense to keep putting them under the H33M umbrella.

Now, H33M is thriving, having nailed huge collaborations with established brands like Lakai, as well as further developing the brand’s own signature style, which is a futuristic take on classic utilitarian workwear and pop culture references. Kind of like buying the clothes of today, but in the future as vintage.

H33M is part of a class of young Black-owned brands making waves in streetwear right now, positioning themselves for exponential growth in the coming years. We caught up with Kahim to learn more about him and his brand, check it out below.

How has Black culture influenced streetwear and the booming industry around it?
In my opinion, Black culture specifically has played a part as a huge influence in the streetwear industry. I feel that the industry, in general, was birthed from styles that originated in Black communities, and over time, co-opted it to a much wider audience as it became more palatable for the masses. As acceptance grew, players entered the game from many different angles to profit and create what eventually became what we consider streetwear today. Basically, I don’t think this industry would exist without Black faces.

Do you feel a responsibility to blaze a trail and open doors for the kids from your community that come up after you?
Hell Yes! In high school, I wasn’t wearing any Black-owned brands, and that isn’t because I didn’t want to. I just wasn’t drawn to the designs of my options at the time. I hope that my brand can serve as a signal to any of the youth, who see it or look up to it, that you can do it too… and by doing it too I mean do whatever the fuck you want.

What challenges did you face last year, personally and as a brand? How did you overcome it? Were there any surprising positives that came out of 2020 for you or your brand?
Last year was a weird one! Personally, I would say that I struggled with the lack of spontaneity I felt in my life, and sometimes the negative feelings you can cook up in your head when you’re living a groundhog life. With the brand, I would say my largest struggle came with content creation. While trying to be safe and steer clear of others, it really left me in a position where I didn’t feel responsible trying to set up any larger scale photo or video shoots if I wasn’t 100% I could do so in a safe manner for all parties involved. With those two negatives, I feel that the positive outweighed those by a landslide. Without any social distractions, I found it much easier to focus on self-improvement and work on all the things I wanted to improve on in my personal and home life. Taking a year to self-reflect and try to grow can do a lot for whatever you put your effort into, I’m in the same mode this year.

What’s the biggest thing you learned last year that you’re keeping top-of-mind this year?
TRUST YOURSELF! I can’t stress this enough! With all the noise and unwanted opinions bombarding you on the daily, you really have to remember to trust yourself and do what you know is right in your heart.

How can streetwear lift up, amplify, and support the black creators within our space who make it all possible — not just during Black History Month but consistently?
I think the way we can continue to lift up Black creators is to hire them, support their projects, collaborate with them, and share their work as much as you would their non-Black counterparts. We live in a society based on systemic racism, so you actively have to remember to support Black creators anywhere you can. Think about when you didn’t see many Black people on TV and that was normal, you only started to notice it when it wasn’t considered normal anymore. Support Black creatives until it’s just the norm.