Freshjive has been one of my favorite lines for about 17 years now, ever since I bought the original Tide tee in like ‘91 or something over at LA’s original streetwear spot, Funkeesentials.

I’ve always liked their jackets and hats. Clean and simple, but just funky enough to stand out from the crowd. Founder Rick Klotz (how much of the cut and sew he actually designs, I don’t know), knows what he’s doing.

See what I mean?

Word is this collection is available only at their LA store Reserve, which I am yet to actually go inside. Freshjive used to have a spot, years ago, in Santa Monica on Main Street. That shop closed down right before Freshive seemed disappear for a couple years. They’re back in full effect, though and rockin it hard.

word

Tags: los angeles fashion streetwear freshjive rick klotz

I’m sure you’ve heard of some the websites that sell streetwear: krudmart, karmaloop and others. I just wanted to give a shoutout to my homie with the underground, grassroots, real deal, independent, hot ***, hardcore, old school, new school, dopeness:

El Mercado

Check them out.

Thanks.

The underground teeshirt world has gone the same route as everything else underground. Namely… no longer underground.

I used to be in love with Stussy. It was immortal, untouchable. I thought that no matter what they did, they would still just be the dopest brand out there. Even when they were selling at Macy’s, I loved it.

Over the last year or so, I have slowly been coming to terms with Stussy’s mainstream movement. This last week… I accepted it.

RIP Stussy

Stussy was the originator, the first real teeshirt line, my graduation from Gotcha. They’ve left their irie roots and moved on to a very generic hip-hop/skate thing. The all-over prints, the logos aaaaaallllllll ooooovvvvveeeeerrrrrrrr everything, the NewEra caps. Not that anything is wrong with any one of these things, but you know… if i wanted that stuff, I’d rock LRG or Roca Wear.

I was at Barracuda on Melrose the other day (for those that don’t know, probably the best store in LA) and I was dissapointed at my selection of men’s tees. Normally a sick selection, I was confronted with a wall of Stussy tees and hats (all looking the same in different color-ways), some 2K and some otherhand-drawn looking tees of monsters or girls throwing up or something. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOPE TEES?!?!?! Everyone loves a dope tee. (In Barracuda’s defense they did have a dope selection of denim, kicks and other goods, but we’re talking tees).

Maybe it’s just my oskee-woskee bias, but these new tees are, for lack of a better word, whack! Some lines are still holding it down: FreshJive, Upper Playground, and others, but even some of the more underground ones… they just all look the same. It’s dissapointing really. I’ve only bought 2 new tees in the last year, a FreshJive and an X-Large (the Woody Allen tee, DOPE!). Other than that, I seriously have not found tees that I just had to have.

I used to be able to rely on Stussy and FUCT (another one of my old favorites), but it seems these days there’s only 2 or 3 companies with different tags. I don’t like wearing shirts that seem to scream out, “CHECK OUT HOW DOPE MY TEESHIRT IS!!” I may as well print that on my next shirt. I need a little subtlety in my gear.

I’ll still keep my eye on Stussy. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for them; I’m sure I’ll buy something of there’s again. But for now, i guess I’m, on my own.

So… that being said, check out my line: CHILDREN.

PS - My wife and I found out yesterday that it’s a girl.