Hi there, welcome to Tshirthelpdesk.com.
My name is Gary. I have been working as a brand graphic designer for 20 years now, and here I am to share my wealth of knowledge with you. I teach people to design, market, and promote their t-shirt business.
I know that if you are here, then you are undoubtedly looking to start a t-shirt brand, or maybe increase your sales, but one thing that’s for sure is that you are interested in this streetwear clothing world.
Longevity is something that we all want when we start a brand, but unfortunately, the average life of a streetwear brand is about five years. Also, if you get five years, then you are lucky! (I will dedicate an entire blog for this as well).
However, today I have some inspirational stories for you, where I have made a list of 6 streetwear brands that stood the test of time.
6 Streetwear Brands That Stood The Test Of Time
6.) Billionaire Boys Club
Billionaire Boys Club is one of the favorite brands and, we all know this because of Pharrell Williams.
We all know him because of his hit records with Jay-Z and many more amazing musicians.
He started this brand with the “A Bathing Ape” creator Nigo, and another artist by the name of Sk8thing.
The line is based on a mashup of hip-hop culture, Japanese streetwear, and skate culture.
All of this together has made a long-lasting line that is still worn by celebrities and regular people.
This says a lot, especially for a brand associated with a rapper.
5.) Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger is the next brand here, and many would be led to believe that Hilfiger is not a streetwear brand, but I’m here to state the contrary, just in case you didn’t know.
The brand name is world-renowned as “Tommy Hilfiger”, which started in 1985.
If you don’t think that’s streetwear, then you need to go back to the 90’s, when seemingly every celebrity was wearing and/or were seen in pictures with Tommy Hilfiger’s clothes.
Most young guys don’t know, but they changed the game.
Also, let me tell you a little-known fact that my first job in the industry was with Tommy Hilfiger. Back then, I was fresh out of school and, I couldn’t find a job for myself.
I had read a book which was titled: “Live Your Dreams”, by Les Brown. In the book, it says that you should contact people that are doing what you want to do. It means that you should not hang out with your loser friends, instead, you should hang out with your winner friends.
So, I hit up my friend Derek, who I had gone to school with, and I knew that he was working at Tommy Hilfiger. I just wanted him to take a look at my portfolio, so I called him up and said, “Hey man, can you just give me some pointers on my portfolio?”.
Let me tell you that I was not trying to get a job at Tommy Hilfiger, but this entire time, I intended to work a part-time job, like a sketching gig for someone.
So, I met my friend Derek, and when we meet up, we greeted each other, and he invited me to the conference room. While Derek was going through my book, in came none other than Tommy Hilfiger in the conference room.
One point to note is that Tommy Hilfiger came to the office for more than 2-3 times a week, and he never enters into the conference room unless there is a meeting scheduled for him.
So, on that day of all days, he comes in, shakes my hand, looks at my portfolio, and says that he likes my book. He then says that his sister is looking for someone to work for her, so he takes my info and gives it to his sister.
His sister Jennie Hilfiger ran the Tommy Jeans division of the company, and she knew someone who was looking for someone for the kids. Therefore, I worked at Tommy Hilfiger from that day until 2 weeks later.
All this happened when I was not even stressing over working at Tommy Hilfiger.
Remember guys, the lesson here is that you do not hang out with your loser friends, hang out with winners, and you will start drifting in that direction too.
A big shout out to Tommy Hilfiger to recognize a player’s talent and, pointing it in the right direction.
4.) Stussy
I want you guys to know this perfectly because this one started in 1980, and they have been in the industry for the last 40 years!
Shawn Stussy started the Stussy brand in Orange County, California. He was into surfboard manufacturing.
This one is a classic example that shows no matter what you are doing right now, you can just flip it, and survive in the t-shirt Industry for 40 years.
My Salute to Stussy!
3.) 10.Deep
This one is a brand that just continues to be consistent year after year, and that brand is “10.Deep” which started back in 1995.
In 1995, Scott Sasso scribbled the name “10.Deep” on a little piece of paper while studying at a university in New York, and he started that line from that very moment.
Since then, they have been out and consistent for the last 20 years, and their main motto is to forget about everybody and listen to yourself.
I applaud that one!
2.) Staple
The next brand that we are going to talk about is Staples and, it started back in 1997.
Now, let’s get into the story:
Staple was founded by Jeff Ng also known as Jeff staple; he took an internship with pioneering streetwear brand PNB Nation.
He initially started working as a graphic designer, and later established himself in 1997 by screen printing his t-shirts in his free time.
So guys, are you familiar with all of the things that I talk about which involve doing things at home like custom heat transfers, laser printing with laser printers, bleaching, and all of that good stuff? Well, this is a great example of how doing so can take your t-shirt business to the next level.
Therefore, keep doing that stuff you’ve been doing, and you too can end up having a t-shirt line that can last for 20 years (or more).
1.) UNDEFEATED
The first brand that stood the test of time is UNDEFEATED which started back in 2001, and it is one of those brands that we can call “hype these brands”.
This brand does a lot of collaborations with other brands like Adidas, Nike, Vans, Converse etc., they and have been around for the last 19 years, which is a very long time to stay in this business.
This brand does a lot of collaborations with other brands like Adidas, Nike, Vans, Converse and, they have been around for the last 19 years, which is a very long time to stay in this business.
To sum things up, I hope that this blog has inspired you guys. You can look at these guys, and just envision yourself attaining the same level of success as they have, and you can last for a long time.
I wish that for you, I hope that you start a brand that lasts for EONS!
Thanks for reading!
