INSPIRATION
The idea for the 2nd Childhood brand didn't happen overnight. It culminated from years of following trends and being fans of the brands and collectives that we felt stayed true to the culture. This goes back to when we were impressionable kids in the 80's and 90's and were looking for companies to follow. During these times, we didn't have the ends to go out and just buy everything that we saw and liked. You had to stash that money that grandma gave you for your birthday or pocket a buck or two from your weekly allowance just so you can save up for that prized possession you desired. And what was it that we desired? SO MUCH! A fresh pair of kicks... Some new skate stickers to put on your notebook and skateboard.... A new snapback of your favorite sports team to proudly show your allegiance..... A hoodie with big branding to let your friends know who you rocked with.... These were great times where you were truly forced to make a dollar out of 15 cents. Every dollar was spent strategically and these possessions gave us the means to express who we were or who we wanted to become. This was how we developed our sense of identify as kids and those early building blocks still remain today with us in our lives.
To pay homage to those early days as kids, we wanted to pay homage to the brands from the 80's and 90's that inspired us and our 2nd Childhood brand. Some of these brands are still going strong today while others have faded away into obscurity. Regardless of their current position in today's culture, they hold a valuable place in our hearts so it's only right to pay respect! And without further adieu, these are a few of the brands that inspired us to create the 2nd Childhood brand!
Stüssy
I can't remember when I first saw the Stüssy brand but I believe it was around '91 when I was in elementary school. There was something about the cursive Stüssy logo that caught my eye and I knew I needed it in my life. I begged my mom for a hat with the Stüssy tag and once I saw that black hoodie with the iconic 8 ball logo I knew it would become one of those staples in my childhood wardrobe. I always wore that hoodie! I would find Stüssy at local surf and skate shops here in Southern California and from there it was a race with my homies to see who could rock the gear first. We had a pact as kids that you could never wear the same exact gear as those in your crew. Sure you could rock the same brands but if I had the 8 ball hoodie that was me putting my flag in the ground on that specific style. This helped us shape our personalities and made sure that we never bit each other's styles. 30 years later we all still have this pact and we still race to find the new brands and styles to rep. While coworkers are fine rocking that Kirkland gear, I'm still trying to flex on them whenever I can.
The Stüssy brand is as strong as ever today and can be found globally through their website and retail stores. They're able to demand premium price points and still offer that same iconic branding that helped build the brand back in the 80's.
Starter
If you were into sports or rap music in the 80's and 90's you were well aware of the Starter brand. Your favorite athletes and rappers were often seen with those jackets and pullovers letting the world know who their favorite team(s) were. And this wasn't a subtle way of wearing your favorite team's gear. Wearing your favorite Starter jacket was a way to flex on your friends and catch others' eyes out on the streets. Like the Nike Air Jordans back in the 80's and 90's, kids would get their Starter jackets by any means. Teenagers were running up in sporting goods stores, snatching the outerwear off of the racks and sprinting to the exit for that five finger discount. You could also get knocked out on the streets wearing your favorite gear just because somebody else wanted that gear more than you. This is how big the Starter brand was. Those puffy shiny satin jackets were a status symbol and were always included on childhood Christmas lists. When you took your Starter jacket off the hanger in the morning, you were guaranteed to have some extra swagger that day at school.
Today, the Starter brand has a ton of popularity on secondhand markets where older gear of theirs is highly sought after. You can still find new releases with the official MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and NHL licenses on their website and in select retailers globally.
T&C Surf Designs
Also known as Town & Country Surf Designs, T&C was all the rage in beach towns globally. The brand originated in Hawaii and their styles were the perfect fit for that surfer lifestyle and were a huge hit here in Southern California in the 80's and 90's. Their yin and yang logo and surf inspired cartoon designs made for fresh clothing but their reach expanded far outside of that. T&C had product expansion outside of clothing which was something that was not heard of during these times. T&C took chances with footwear, watches, school supplies and even a Nintendo video game. Today, it's normal to see brands stretch far and wide outside of their core product base but back then you didn't see surf and skate brands doing this. I was lucky enough to grow up close to the beach and family vacations occasionally took us out to Maui where we remained at the beach. Steve Nazar's famous "Da Boys" designs could not only be found on my back with some sick t-shirts but also on my notebook at school where just that imagery took me away from boring days in class.
While T&C doesn't have the wide distribution that it once had, it's brand is still going strong through their retail stores all over Hawaii and on their website. They have also formed some solid collaborations with popular brands like Vans, Hydro Flask, and RVCA.
Powell Peralta / Bones Brigade
Powell Peralta was a skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in the late 70's. They revolutionized both skateboard decks and wheels with new technology that was adopted quickly by the growing sport of skateboarding in the 80's. The Bones Brigade skateboard team formed under the Powell Peralta umbrella and were at the forefront of the emerging skate movement in the 80's and were the most dominant skate team in the industry. Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Tommy Guerrero, and Lance Mountain were all key members on the Bones Brigade team and were seen on early groundbreaking videos while debuting new innovative skate tricks that had never been seen before. These Bones Brigade videos could be seen playing on VCR's at every skate shop with groups of kids huddled around being blown away by new moves that they would try to emulate immediately after. What's lasted longest over time from Bones Brigade are the skull, snake, and dragon designs by graphic designer Vernon Courtlandt Johnson. If you frequented skate stores in the 80's and 90's, you most likely purchased Bones Brigade decks, shirts, and stickers and wore them proudly around your town as you practiced your ollies, kick flips, and curb grinds. It was hard to find an underside of a skateboard or a school notebook back in the day that didn't have a Bones Brigade sticker on it.
Bones Brigade designs are still thriving today through young aspiring skaters and the kids of parents who were once young groms who rocked the gear and practiced skate tricks in their driveways. There is a great documentary about the Bones Brigade crew that is a must watch by all. You can also find a full range of their assortment through the Powell Peralta website.
Triple 5 Soul
While streetwear today is a part of popular fashion, it was once a little known subculture that hip hop heads and skaters adopted as their very own. In the early stages of this rising subculture in the late 80's and early 90's, a young NYC designer named Camella Ehlke started the clothing line brand Triple 5 Soul aka 555 Soul. While successful brands like BAPE, Supreme, The Hundreds, HUF and others carry the streetwear torch today, it was Ehlke who helped pioneer the culture when she started the brand in a 1989 as a 19 year old and sold out of her own retail storefront. The brand also exploded through wholesale as stores across the world wanted to carry Triple 5 Soul gear. Her relationships within the NY hip hop community helped the brand grow organically and made it sought after globally in the 90's. If you were a true east coast hip hop fan in the 90's, chances are you were rockin' some 555 Soul gear and watching your favorite rappers do the same.
Ehlke sold her brand to her business partner Troy Morehouse in 2003 to pursue other endeavors. It was eventually bought out by Ocean Star Apparel in 2009. The brand today is owned by a Canadian company named Triple 5 who owns and handles the marketing and distribution for over 10 brands.
NIKE
Nike has remained in the spotlight of sports fashion for over 30 years. Their market dominance goes back to the 80's when they first signed the North Carolina Tarheels standout basketball player Michael Jordan to an annual contract worth $500K per year for a total of 5 years. They outbid both Adidas and Converse for Jordan's services and this contract helped catapult Nike to prominence in not only the NBA but to the entire world. The marketing campaigns with Jordan and Spike Lee around the Air Jordans made every kid want some J's on their feet. And it wasn't just Jordan that made Nike so popular, their Just Do It and the Bo Knows campaigns in the late 80's were equally important ads that fueled the rise of the brand. Their partnerships with star athletes ensured that you couldn't go anywhere without seeing the famous Nike swoosh. Iconic shoes like the Nike Air Jordan, Nike Air Max, Nike Air Force 1's, and the Nike Cortez are just as popular today as they have been for many years.
These are only a few of the companies that helped inspire us to eventually start the 2nd Childhood brand. These brands started movements that shifted the culture and left great memories in the minds of those that followed their every move. Props to all those mentioned along with brands like Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, Freshjive, XLarge, PNB Nation, and Santa Cruz Skateboards that were also instrumental in our early formidable years. If it wasn't for these brands there would be no way that we would have the drive to start to build a brand from scratch.