Clothing with a credo.
If the dominant theme in mainstream Hip Hop – and by extension popular street wear styles – is sex, money and substance abuse, it’s the undercurrents are where you find the flipside of the fast life.
And somewhere in these undercurrents are where Rich Kids clothing is slowly building momentum and laying plans for a fashion house built on the idea ‘Rich Is Not What You Have. It’s Who You Have Beside You.’
Citing reality TV mainstays Laguna Beach, the Kardashians, and Paris Hilton as examples, Rich Kids Marketing Director Mikey McClarron explains the brand wants to take the negative connotations associated with being a rich kid and flip that on it head “to where [being a rich kid] is appealing, and also to where it’s not focusing on material things. Richness, not wealth, but richness in the quality of life in general. “
Rich Kids have parlayed a combination of hard work, street smart but elegant design, and some heavyweight celebrity placements into what they say has been a 50% increase in sales, collection to collection over the past year and a half. Their most recent publicity coup was this past New Year’s Eve, when the patron saint of smooth himself, Jay-Z was photographed rocking their Hooligan crewneck sweater, courtside at the Barclays Center as the Brooklyn Nets took on the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s the kind of publicity you can’t buy, and the crew at Rich Kids weren’t going to let it go to waste. The piece Jay was rocking was a one-off gray on black colorway, previous editions had been released in red on gray and white on blue. But the next day, the gray on black was announced for its own limited edition release, tagged with a “Got 99 Crews, So You Better Get One,” a riff on one of the Brooklynite’s bigger hits. The run was gone in hours.
It’s a trend they hope to maintain. Although that does come with its own problems. Their office, nestled in the industrial clutter of Seattle’s SODO district across from Century Link Field Currently, is crammed front to back with desks, production equipment and stock. They print their own shirts, handle their own shipping, and as well as things have been going, they are starting to realize they need more space.
Currently pushing their Fall 2012 Penthouses & Pitfalls collection, McClarron describes the theme as “…the ups and downs of life. In one of these places you find your true family and loyal friends, and in the other you learn how to appreciate the intangibles in life and not focus on material possession.” And while the current collection is still focused on those things – hoodies, t-shirts, and accessories – that got them where they are, the long term plans include moving into cut & sew collections, and establishing themselves as a legitimate fashion house.