RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION IN FAST FASHION

(Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times)

Awhile back I wrote on the importance of fashion sustainability. With fashion being the second largest polluter in the world, it is about time the fashion industry takes charge and begins to take steps in reducing its environmental footprint. One of the largest contributors would be fast fashion. Over the course of the last few years, the growth in fast fashion has been exponential. With every shopping mall you go to or if you walk the streets of any city, the chances of you seeing a fast fashion store front is very high.

Examples of fast fashion include, H&M, Forever21, Zara and Topshop just to name a few.

Aside from the environmental issues fast fashion causes, there is an even deeper and troubling issue that comes with this section of the fashion industry.

The entire point of fast fashion is to provide in season trends at a low rate compared to higher quality brands with a higher price. The environments that these clothing items are produced in have been under fire for years and remain a huge humanitarian problem with fast fashion.

Many of these fast fashion companies have warehouses (sweatshops) located in Asia, where they are staffed with predominantly Asian women. These women often work for very little pay and hardly any rights while making clothes for European and United States brands.

According to the “Labor Behind The Label” campaign, approximately 80% of garment workers are women aged between 18-35. Many of these women are wives with children and this is their main earning. For each clothing item made, the worker makes less than 1% of the earnings of that clothing item. On a monthly basis, women that work in Bangladesh sweatshops bring home around 5,000 takas, which roughly equates to $97.

(Courtesy of Marie Claire Australia)

In countries like Bangladesh, workers sometimes makes less than $1/Hr. The government for these countries purposefully make their minimum wage so low, so that foreign powerhouses can take notice and invest in these countries and situations.

For reference, the owner of Zara is the 4th richest person in the world and the owner of H&M is the 28th richest person in the world. These companies clearly have enough money to not knowingly contribute to inhumane working conditions. They only continue the cycle of poverty, racism and discrimination. It is indeed a humanitarian crisis.

Aside from the ridiculous low pay, the working conditions are not humane at all. Many of these warehouses operate without air conditioning, lack of access to water, exposure to chemicals that could lead to health conditions and excessive hours. Violence and sexual assault often occurs due to the fact that most of the workers are women and most bosses are men.

In 2013, a garment sweatshop in Pakistan was caught on fire and resulted in 1,129 deaths. Of those deaths, 80% were women and children. These western fashion labels target children and women of color when it comes to making their cheap clothes.

Fast fashion goes beyond an environmental issue. It is a race issue. It is a gender issue. It is a workers issue. It is a humanitarian issue. When you give these fast fashion companies your money, you are not only contributing to an environmental crisis, you are also enabling the exploitation of thousands of people of color a day.

Fashion 20/20

Man…I’m back. It’s been about 10 months since I’ve posted on this but I have decided to dip the pen again.

Since the last post my life has changed a lot. I am a recent college graduate and my focus in life has slowly shifted from just fashion but many other things…more on that later. For now I will try to articulate my views on fashion and streetwear in the year 2020.

In December of 2019, Off White founder and creative director of Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh made a heavy statement regarding the future of streetwear in fashion.

““I would definitely say it’s gonna die,” said Abloh in reference to streetwear in 2020.

Now, as mentioned earlier, it is a pretty heavy claim. I mean…how can a whole genre of fashion just die when it is at its peak? Over the course of the last 5 years, streetwear has grown insurmountable heights and it just does not seem possible for something like that that to just vanish within one year.

“Like, its time will be up. In my mind, how many more t-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers?” said Abloh.

Though the initial claim drew criticism and sparked a conversation, he further explained what he meant by streetwear dying this year.

“I think that like we’re gonna hit this like, really awesome state of expressing your knowledge and personal style with vintage,” said Abloh. “There are so many clothes that are cool that are in vintage shops and it’s just about wearing them. I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a box-fresh something; it’ll be like, hey I’m gonna go into my archive.”

After hearing Abloh out and after his explanation, I agree whole heartedly.

I think the traditional sense of streetwear is dead. It has been dead in my opinion. The traditional sense of streetwear this last decade had a particular look. How much hype branding can you flaunt in one fit, how expensive are your shoes and what kind of fanny pack you have draped across your chest.

Though this “sense” of style is still everywhere you look, school, club and the Instagram explore page…the outlook on this style has progressively gotten worse over the years.

Streetwear is more than what I just listed above and it’s more than being worried about social acceptance. Fashion is one of the few things in life that you should not fill restricted by hegemonic ideas but as a way to freely and creatively express yourselves. You can do all of this without wearing Disruptors though.

We live in an age where we tell people to express their creativity yet we still criticize those who choose to do so.

In many areas in life, you are restricted by rules set forth by those in charge but when it comes to fashion…there are no rules. You don’t need the latest designer shoes in order to look cool or feel cool. You don’t need Amiri jeans. You don’t need to wear Supreme (blah) to look good.

Without sounding like a broken record, fashion is world of creativity and you do not need to abide by these social rules in order to dress nice.

There are lanes for everybody in fashion. Those who like vintage wear, the market for that right now is HUGE. Those who like workwear, whether it’s Dickies, Carhartt etc..the market for that is HUGE. Western wear is even getting it’s shine again as of late. The point of this post, is not supposed to dog those who like Jordans, Gucci, Dior, because I like those things. The point of this is supposed to encourage those who feel afraid to dress out of the box to make that leap.

For two years while in college, I felt the need to dress a certain way or I can’t dress or I would not stand out. But I took that leap. I sold 90% of my closet, ranging from shoes, pants, shirts and jackets. I’m not some damn superhero because I chose to find my personal style but I do believe that since I have found my style, I am happier with how I dress.

Now onto what I mentioned earlier. Over the last year, I have began to take up other hobbies outside of fashion. The main one being cooking. Over the last year and a half I have began to adopt a more plant based diet. I have completely cut out red meat from my diet, that being beef, pork etc. I have also eliminated consuming dairy milk as a part of this diet.

I am not perfect when it comes to this diet and may slip up here and there with things aside from what I just mentioned but for the most part I am pretty good with keeping up with it. Within the last few weeks, I have been thinking about making a cookbook (whether that being virtual or physical is tbd) about how to transition to a more plant based diet. The intentions of this book not to persuade anybody to adopting a diet they don’t want to adopt but to help with including more plant based meals in their typical diet.

These meals have all been meals I have made myself and things I deemed a success when making them in the kitchen. It will include, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks as well.

I understand the struggles with maintaining a certain diet. You get cravings, which I still do, you begin to miss certain things you ate your whole life, which I still do and that is the main reason why I want to do this.

It is not an easy transition by any means. It takes discipline and often times somebody else to help you get through it. It is not something you can achieve in one night, it takes some time. The goal of this next venture, is to get you to adopt more plant oriented meals as well as adopting a healthier diet.

I appreciate all the support I have gotten recently, especially on my cooking lol.

You can follow on Instagram @gtperk and Twitter @gregperkinss

Let’s start a dialogue.

 

FASHION SUSTAINABILITY AND WHAT IT MEANS

It’s been a minute…with school, work and other things that comes with life, I’ve put this on the back-burner, but I have decided to ~dip the pen~ yet again.

Since my last post, my style and outlook on fashion and clothing has changed immensely. With the ever-changing trends of fashion and the constant changes of pieces in your wardrobe, it is easy to get lost in the fashion revolving door. Since fashion trends seem to come out of nowhere and die just as quickly, these fashion houses and retailers feel the pressure to keep up. And with that pressure of constantly feeling like they have to be at the forefront or the trendsetter, comes the consequences…that being the fashion industry being the WORLD’S second largest polluter after the oil industry.

This means that if you decide to only use clean energy in your home, eco-friendly cars, consistently recycle and never eat meat, you are still in some form contributing to the fashion industry’s number one problem just by waking up and getting dressed for work/school every day.

FASHION’S AREAS OF CONCERN

 The industry’s environmental impact reaches four major areas, those being: waste, water, toxic chemicals and energy.

According to the documentary True Cost, a film shedding light on the behind the scenes of the fashion industry, states that the average American throws away 82 pounds annually of garments, accessories and shoes. Fulling this is the creation of cheap trendy collections, known as fast fashion.

We are all familiar with fast fashion and we have all contributed to fast fashion. If you are unfamiliar with this term, it is what I alluded to earlier in this post. Many retailer’s that A LOT of us shop at are contributors to this fast fashion pandemic. These retailers such as H&M, Zara, Forever21, ASOS, TOPMAN/TOPSHOP are all worldwide fashion houses whose business model is to keep up with the trends and produce these trends in high production, with often times, low quality, and poor human conditions. Again, according to the documentary, worldwide, humans consume 80 billion pieces of clothing a month, which is more than a 400% increase from 20 years ago.

And this is no way to shame those who shop at these places because I can’t lie and act like I don’t shop here from time to time, but I believe it is important to know how what you’re doing impacts your community, and world. Continuing to shop at these retailer’s is totally your prerogative.

Some statistics of fashion’s contribution to waste (according to Global News):

• The average T-shirt uses 400 to 600 gallons of waterto produce (that’s equivalent to seven to 10 full bathtubs)
• A pair of jeans uses 1,800 gallons of water(that’s about 6,800 one-liter bottles)
• The fashion industry uses 1,600 chemicals in their dyeing processes, where only 1% has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

This industry is a two-way street, so not all the blame can be placed on the producers, but some needs to be put on the consumer as well. As stated earlier, consumers buy 400% more clothing than they did two decades ago, but the average amount that each piece of clothing is worn is only seven (7) times before it gets thrown away. This is a consequence of fast fashion because we feel that our clothes become outdated with a span of 4 months.

Even though thrifting has become more popular over the last decade, people still tend to believe that clothes that are slightly ripped or discolored/stained are worthless and still throw them away where they would eventually end up in a landfill or get incinerated. In actuality, these same clothes could be recycled, where they could be made into different products such as paper, insulation for homes/building, padding for carpets and many other things.

Forms of Sustainability

Now, there are many other forms of sustainable fashion than just shopping at your local goodwill or vintage store, according to Green Strategy, there are seven different ways that you can contribute to sustainable fashion.

1. On Demand & Custom Made

When this is being said, I don’t mean that your friend made you a special piece or that you received a one-of-one. I am referring to that when an order is placed for a piece of clothing, whether it being a shirt, pants or shoes, that is when the product is made. Not before. When companies have 300 of the same shirts already made, the likelihood of that product selling out is very slim and by the time that fashion season is over, either Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter, it is time to get rid of that product.

 

2. Green & Clean

 

This is pretty easy to understand…you want your clothes to be made in clean and an environmentally friendly way. If a clothing item has this stamp, it means that it was made organically (of course) and that it came from a process that holds no pesticides. It also contains no GMOs and abides by the law of standards.

Cotton is a very popular organic, material in fashion right now.

 

3. High Quality & Timeless Design

 

In the age of consumerism and fast fashion, it difficult to find high quality pieces without spending hundreds of dollars. When you can walk into H&M and grab 5 pieces without spending over $100, how could you resist? But after a couple washes you realize why that shirt you bought was only $8. With fast fashion comes low quality, the shape, size eventually gets distorted and has you right back in their store buying the same shirt over and over again. If you are buying a piece that you feel can be worn today, tomorrow, next year and even 5 years from now, it is important to pay attention to the quality of the shirt and what the shirt is made of, so you can get your money’s worth.

 

4. Fair & Ethical

 

This form of shopping sustainably relies on the ethical and the conditions the people who made it were in. Not all factors to sustainable shopping directly deals with the environment but also the conditions of your neighbor. In suit of cheap production, many companies will move their production facilities to developing companies where they can employ anybody to produce their clothing for pennies, this includes child labor. Another ethical issue is health and safety risks. A lot of these companies force their employees to work long hours while being exposed to pesticides and other chemicals which can result in health risks and can suffer from vomiting, respiratory diseases, seizures and even death.

 

 

5. Repair, Redesign & Recycle

 

The three R’s of fashion. This form of sustainability is more geared towards the creative and out of the box thinking “fashion heads”. These can include doing DIY’s to repurpose old clothing and finding new ways to reuse old clothes that you wouldn’t want to wear.

 

6. Rent, Lease & Swap

 

Instead of buying brand new produced clothes, consider trading clothes with a friend or family member.

 

7. Secondhand & Vintage

 

Probably the most common form of shopping sustainably. With thrift stores and vintage stores every couple miles…this is the easiest way to shop sustainably when it comes to access. Even if you don’t want to go to a thrift store, or seem to not have any luck, there are plenty of ways to shop secondhand online. With websites like Grailed, Depop, Poshmark and eBay (which I contribute half my closet to), it has never been easier to secondhand shop.

Supreme S/S 18 Review​

This past Monday, Supreme released their highly anticipated lookbook for their Spring/Summer 2018 collection with a wide collection ranging from 90s inspired items to hip-hop inspired items.  In this S/S collection there are definitely some highs, but with those highs, there are some lows…and boy are they low.

Though I am not as into the brand as I used to be, I still like to search through the lookbook to see what items I will attempt to purchase. If I’m being honest though, the excitement that I usually have while going through the different items was not there for me this time. I found myself constantly looking at what slide I’m on to see if I’m close to being finished. As mentioned before, some of the pieces were good, nothing great or amazing, but some of the pieces were absolutely horrible.

I will be going through some of the pieces that stand out to me the most and will have it divided among several categories: jackets, sweats, and shirts.

Jackets

This season offers a very vast jacket collection. There’s no one theme or mood to the jackets but jackets that carry inspiration from a multitude of different subcultures in America.

One my favorite jackets from this collection is this very punk, edgy, denim jacket covered with patches on the sleeves and over the body of the jacket. Though I wouldn’t wear it personally, I do believe that this was one of the better items in the collection.

Next is the “Supreme Studded Arc Logo Leather Jacket”. This jacket is very 90’s, taking inspiration from popular coat company Pelle Pelle. When seeing this jacket initially when Supreme posted it as their S/S 18 teaser, I immediately thought of vintage New York hip-hop fashion. I could easily picture Jim Jones, Cam’ron or Juelz Santana rocking this jacket during one their video shoots.

This coat seems to be one of the season’s staple pieces and will be next to impossible to buy.

Well besides those two jackets that I previously posted, the rest are pretty mediocre. For example the “Skull Pile Leather Bomber Jacket”. This piece just doesn’t do much for me. A pattern popularized by Juicy J, this is a very retro looking jacket. This isn’t anything groundbreaking or makes you want to say wow. It’s a pattern that’s been around for years and has lately seen a resurgence due to the vintage look coming back into style.

Supreme also used this skull pile graphic on a multitude of other pieces this season. Those include a sweatshirt, shorts, a skate deck and a tote bag.

My God, where do I begin? The “Quilted Patent Vinyl Work Jacket” is by far my least favorite piece out of the collection. There is literally nothing appealing about this jacket. I cannot think of a time you would wear this without looking like a clown. There truly is only one word to describe this jacket…basura.

Hoodies

In past seasons, the hoodies are some of my favorite pieces from the Supreme collections. But, this season…was just meh. Nothing particularly good, nothing bad. While going through the lookbook there weren’t many hoodies that grabbed my attention except for one or two and that’s out of what seemed to be 30 different hoodies releasing in the next 5 months.

Arguably one of the seasons most hyped/anticipated hoodies is the “illegal business controls America” hoodie that’s set to release on their first drop. This hoodie is just blah. It the same phrase and font they used in 2007 on a zip-up and t-shirt, except on the zip up the print was used as an all-over print instead of just a graphic on the back of the hoodie.

The following hoodie I’ll be covering is the Martin Luther King Hoodie. This hoodie reminds me of similar pieces they have used incorporating popular, influential, black figures in our culture. Those being the Malcolm X hoodie they released in 2015 and the Barack Obama Anorak jacket and pants they released last year. I think the message on the hoodie is relevant in today’s time, especially with the current political climate, but with all that being said, it’s still a pretty unwearable hoodie.

As mentioned earlier, there weren’t too many hoodies that stood out to me so I will not be covering any others.

Shirts/T-Shirts 

Before the preview for the collection came out, fans of the brand were speculating one of Supreme’s staple pieces to be included this season. That being the photo tee. Rumors and even images came out that this year’s photo tee would include the iconic Rick Rubin but for reasons not known the preview released without it and what we were left with was pretty boring.

One bright spot in a collection of boring t-shirts is the Prodigy t-shirt that is set to release the first drop I believe. This shirt is, of course, paying to tribute to the rap legend who passed in June of 2017.

Other than the Prodigy shirt the rest of the t-shirts were absolutely horrible. Nothing memorable about any of them. Basura.

Now, the line of shirts, which include, polos. sweaters and jerseys had some of the best pieces out of the entire collection. But that’s just me personally. I don’t think there are any pieces that make you stand out of your seat or anything but for the most part, it’s pretty solid. My only gripe about this one particular section of the collection is this horrible, short sleeve, grandpa-esque sweater(?)…I’ll have a picture of it below along with some my personal favorites.

 

Overall this collection was just blah to me. I’ll definitely try to get some of the pieces I listed above but for the most part, I’ll just be minding my business when 11 o’clock rolls around on Thursdays.

Thank you guys for taking the time out to read my post! I’d love to hear any feedback from you all.

You can reach me at greggperkinss@gmail.com and on Instagram: @gxperk  

Reflecting on Fashion in 2017

Hey guys and welcome to my blog! For my first blog post, I thought it would be most fitting to write about what I would be talking about most on this blog – fashion.

In 2017 we found the world of streetwear reach heights that genre of fashion has never seen. With high-end fashion brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga diving into the streetwear scene, streetwear blew up and reached an audience beyond teenagers you see walking the streets of New York.

Menswear, traditionally slower paced and more focused, left that format in the past and went more in the direction of womenswear – fast paced and very trendy. Over the course of 2017, it seemed that there was a new trend in men’s fashion every month. Some of these trends I personally like, and some that I cannot stand.

Here are some of the biggest trends in fashion in 2017:

Dad Shoes 

Arguably the biggest trend of last year and moving forward is the clunky, ugly dad shoe. With models such as the Balenciaga Triple S, the Yeezy 700 Wave Runner, and the horrendous, Rhyton Gucci Logo Leather Sneaker, clunky shoes were a big hit in 2017. Now, I’m not too sure how this trend came to be but I am honestly a fan of it. It is a getaway from the clean-cut, minimalist, silhouette of sneakers such as the Adidas Stan Smith, Common Projects Low, and Gucci Ace sneakers.

Puffer Jackets 

For the Fall and Winter, it seems that the must-have, essential outerwear piece was the puffer jacket. Now, the traditional denim jacket and sherpa lining coats were still essential but the puffer jacket was definitely the jacket you needed this fall and winter and there’s no question about it.

The puffer jacket has been around for decades and has been staple pieces for brands such as Moncler and The North Face and they still are some of the more popular puffer jackets you will see while walking the streets. What helped these jackets reach “trendy level” would be brands such as Balenciaga (here they are again), Supreme and Stone Island incorporating them into their F/W 2017 collection.

Some notable Puffers that released this past year would be the popular meme fashion company, Vetement, who released a puffer that can also turn into a sleeping bag. Another popular model would be the collaboration between Supreme and The North Face puffer which released a leather incarnation of North Face’s staple Nuptse in Supreme’s F/W collection. Not to be forgotten is Balenciaga’s puffer which has been most notably been seen on A$AP Rocky.

This is an outerwear piece that I do not see going out of fashion but I do see it as being a trend. I personally love this jacket and I hope it outlasts the fall of 2017 and the winter of 2018.

Wide Leg Trousers  

Over the past few seasons, we have seen the wider silhouette getting more and more popular. With workwear being one of the more popular styles out right now it is easy to understand why wide-legged trousers in menswear are becoming so big. This trend is easy to hop on because almost every store that keeps up with today’s trends have their own variation of the wide-legged trouser. These stores include H&M, ASOS, Zara, and Topman.

Me personally I stick to the original Dickies 740 fit. These pants are very firm and stiff when you first wear them but after a few wears, you can almost lounge in them.

Shoulder Bags 

The last trend I will be covering, and certainly the most cringy is the shoulder bag. Unfortunately, this is a trend that I too have dabbled in and I am ashamed to say so. I don’t see it as very fashionable and I don’t think it adds anything to your outfit. If you’re going to wear a fanny pack, please just wear around your waist and not on top of your busy Supreme shirt. BUT, if you have to wear the bag around your chest, I would suggest wearing it on top of a simple piece, such as a basic white tee, or hoodie. The point of this bag is to add that extra pop to your outfit but if you mix it with your already busy outfit you will just end up looking tacky and nobody wants to do that.

Enough of my rant…This trend started picking up steam in late 2016 but it rolled through all of 2017 and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Whenever you scroll down your explore page on Instagram. shoulder bags and side bags, along with Yeezy 350’s (which are extremely played out) are all you see.

A couple places that you can find these bags would be Urban Outfitters, Topman, Supreme, Palace, and Balenciaga.

Thank you guys for taking the time out to read my post! I’d love to hear any feedback from you all.

You can reach me at greggperkinss@gmail.com and on Instagram: @gxperk  

SNEARKCON STOPS IN ATLANTA

VIDEO COVERAGE – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7MbXi8F4bA

Cobb County, GA – This past weekend on Oct. 27 and 28, Cobb Galleria Center hosted their annual “SneakerCon Atlanta” where sneaker fanatics came together to buy, sell and trade their own shoes.

SneakerCon was founded in 2009 by Yu-Ming Wu and the very first event was located in a comedy club outside of Times Square in New York City.

Since the first event that happened in New York, SneakerCon has only gotten more popular and Wu now schedules events all over the world. In 2018, there have been SneakerCon events in Chicago, Los Angeles and now Atlanta.

SneakerCon has grown from an attendance of 600 people showing up to an attendance of 4,000 showing up this past weekend at the Galleria. This includes the casual person attending and the vendors that set up shop to sell their products.

The event began at 12 noon and lasted until 7 p.m. People began showing up for the event around 11 a.m., and the initial line to get into the venue was over an hour long.

Once you enter the convention, you get a sense of community among the people inside. Most came for the same reason and because they had a common interest.

When you get inside, you get a sense of communion among the “sneaker culture”. In the venue, there were games being played, raffles for shoes and a basketball court where people were playing pick-up games of basketball and live DJs supplying music for the event.

Aside from the games and raffles, the biggest reason why the majority of these people came was to buy and sell sneakers.

While walking around at these events, you could find some of the rarest and expensive sneakers in the world. Between the most popular shoe brands in the world, being, Adidas, Nike and Jordan brand, there may be shoes that you find up to thousands of dollars.

Isaiah Wilson, who owns his own sneaker shop came down from Boston explained to me why he travels so far for these events.

“I use these events as a way to promote my store,” said Wilson. “I think coming to these conventions is a great marketing idea and a way to get your brand some exposure.”

Wilson did not come down here empty handed and just passing out business cards. Wilson also brought one of the most expensive sneakers with him.

“My business partner and I thought one of the best ways to promote our company is to bring a crazy sneaker with us,” Wilson said. “We decided to bring the Nike Air Mags, which are inspired by the shoes Marty McFly wore in ‘Back to the Future’ and these are worth over $20,000.”

Even though he brought the shoes with him, his intent was not to sell them. Mr. Wilson brought the shoes with him to raffle off and promote his brand. Wilson explained that if anybody followed his store on “Instagram” and paid $3, they had a chance on winning the Nike sneakers.

Aside from vendors selling shoes, there were also vendors who offered to clean your shoes. If you wanted, owner of Reshoevn8r, Jason Grear would clean any shoe you wanted, inside and out for $15.

“I feel like being here is a good way to showcase our shoe cleaning product,” said Grear. “Who wants to buy a dirty, beat up shoe? This was just the perfect way to show what our cleaner can do.”

Although the main reason people come to SneakerCon is to buy and sell shoes, you are also not just limited to doing that. Vendors and casual goer alike are all across the floor people would bring inventory from their clothing brands as well as original artwork and accessories they made.

Graphic designer and artist Anderson Bluu traveled from New York City to attend Sneakercon Atlanta this year. He explained how he originally went to school for your graphic design but decided to leave once he started making a steady income on his own artwork.  He has been creating his own work for the last three years and travels to multiple SneakerCon events throughout the year, including last year when he went to Australia for the convention.

“Since leaving school, I got tired of the artwork that I was originally creating,” said Bluu. “Around two years ago, I decided to start fusing two things I really love. That being pop culture and street culture.”

Some of Bluu’s work included popular characters from cartoon shows, like Bugs Bunny wearing Nikes and the Tasmanian Devil wearing Adidas sneakers.

Some people that attended the event got to go to as a birthday gift.

“This whole year I’ve been telling my parents that I wanted to go (to SneakerCon),” said Caleb Mathis. “My birthday was just last weekend and my parents surprised me with a plane ticket and a ticket to the event.”

SneakerCon was more than a bunch of people trying to sell their shoes. People were able to talk to each other and make friends all while being around something they love, that being sneakers.

Yu-Ming Wu and his team will continue their SneakerCon tour throughout the remaining months of the year with their next stop being in Hamburg, Germany, Nov. 17.

NEW FASHION AND ART GALLERY MAKES STAMP ON ATLANTA CREATIVE SCENE

Atlanta, GA – In downtown Atlanta on the corner of Luckie and Cone street, is the newest addition to Atlanta’s fashion scene. No Signal has only been open for a month and it already has a huge buzz surrounding it because of the rare and vintage clothing items and art pieces they house.

“No Signal began with three of my friends and we all have been buyers and sellers of vintage clothing around LA and Atlanta for years and it has always been a goal of mine to open my own store,” said owner Emily Blackwell.

As soon as you walk in, you immediately get the sense that this is a fashion and art gallery. The new store combines vintage and new clothing, along with new and old artwork.

All the inventory at No Signal is purchased second-hand. Blackwell travels to different events around the country that specialize in vintage and high fashion clothing to gather the store’s items.

Blackwell wants No Signal to be unique compared to other vintage clothing stores.

“A lot of times if you go to these vintage stores, they don’t let you see them either. I will always make sure everybody in Atlanta can access them if they want to whether it be to purchase or to style with, they would be able to see it,” Blackwell said.

Many of the items in the store are clothes you may have never seen before. Often from Japan. Blackwell wants the store to specialize in rare clothing items that the average customer you may not know about or may have never seen.

“I want our store to be known for the Japanese brands that we have, just because they’re so hard to come by and find. Typically, you can only find these brands in high-end retail stores in New York and Los Angeles, which is why I think this is what Atlanta needs,” Blackwell said.

Though the store has been open for a month, it has quickly garnered attention among the fashion and art scene, even getting visits from popular rappers, Post Malone and Lil Yachty.

“I want to put a stamp on the creative scene,” Blackwell said. “My ultimate goal with No Signal is to become a creative powerhouse for something that is not just music.”