Bigger Than Fashion

The kaleidoscopic story of how an underground American subculture reshaped the global fashion industry.

The world now calls it “streetwear.” This is the story of how this fiercely guarded counterculture launched a lifestyle and fashion movement that has endured for nearly fifty years. It was born out of the undergrounds of American culture—a unique fusion of graffiti, hip-hop, surf, skate, and punk. These designers and brand operators established a creative tradition and cottage industry that they could call their own. It was a provocation of art and fashion, exclusivity and commerce that forever challenged the by-the-book definitions of artist, designer, and entrepreneur.

Since the first recognizable wave of streetwear labels started to form in the 1980s, it was a slow and steady swell over the next three decades until the clothes eventually exploded into mainstream fashion and popular culture. These brands turned T-shirts, hoodies, and sneakers in a covetable totems of status and big business wanted in on the magic. Streetwear’s mindset and motifs soon dominated nearly every corner of the marketplace, from American malls and Tokyo boutiques to the luxury runways in Paris and Milan.