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The Revival of Streetwear Brand Damaged Kids

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Confused. Questioning. Hoping for a brand that didn’t pull through. That’s how hundreds of supporters were left when local streetwear clothing brand, Damaged Kids, disappeared back in 2016.  

Fueled by creative mind Oliver Bierman of local pop-punk band Broadside, Damaged Kids gained a large following through its direct link to the Richmond pop-punk scene.

Lauren Versino

The brand took off with an unconventional take on streetwear clothing at the time. “Back in 2015, streetwear, in my opinion, had a really big ego,” co-owner Lauren Versino said. “You had to have money, and wearing it had a certain social class statement. It was hard to enter into because it seemed pretentious at times.”

So instead of playing into the showy, pricey streetwear clothing they were used to, Bierman and Versino made simple streetwear designs that in Versino’s words, embodied the idea, “the clothes didn’t make you cool, you made the clothes cool.” As the brand grew larger, Bierman and Versino worked hard to get t-shirts out, covering all of the production costs out-of-pocket. “We did this all ourselves,” Versino said. “We paid for it all ourselves for a long time.”

But as shirts became popular, they sold out quickly, and the two had to make bigger runs – which got more expensive. To find the upfront money, Bierman and Versino created a Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2015 which rolled into early 2016.

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In addition to production expenses, the Kickstarter played a role in mobilizing Damaged Kids’ move to Los Angeles, where Bierman and Versino hoped the brand would take off. As the manufacturing capital of the country, L.A. was the place to go to make Damaged Kids bigger than just a Richmond streetwear company. So Bierman and Versino attempted to move the brand to L.A. – but they didn’t get the launch they were hoping for.

“Then we moved [to L.A.] and…nothing happened,” Versino said.

Once Damaged Kids flopped in L.A., the brand struggled to find its footing and not long after that founder and co-owner Bierman ended the company, surprising Versino. “When Damaged Kids ended abruptly [in 2016], I read it on Twitter,” Versino said. “I didn’t know before then. I have as much information as everybody else did when that popped up on the Internet. I just knew all of a sudden I didn’t have a job anymore.”

The struggling company’s sudden ending was a surprise to its co-owner, supporters, and GoFundMe donors. To this day, Versino is still not completely sure why Bierman ended Damaged Kids. Her best guess is the move from Virginia to L.A. was a lot, and maybe at times too much, to handle. The two moved in together in L.A. and Versino thinks the strain it caused on their relationship definitely played a part.

“There was a weirdness after we became roommates,” Versino said. “We had always just been friends, nothing more than that. But he kind of grew distant. We stopped talking a lot even though we shared a space and eventually we had to go our separate ways.”

While Versino isn’t curious to find out why Bierman suddenly ended Damaged Kids, she’s decided to offer her side of the story. Two years later, she is relaunching Damaged Kids to give supporters the answers they didn’t get back in 2016. And this time, the brand is all her own. “It’s just me this time around. I’m in control of the information,” Versino said. “I’d like to turn this shitty story into a good one.” The 27-year-old Virginia native is doing things differently the second time around to make sure Damaged Kids supporters and fans get the products they loved in 2015.

“I always felt it was wrong that those people gave to this GoFundMe and had this expectation that they were going to get all these designs,” Versino said. “They were investing in it…and they never got anything back.” For the Damaged Kids temporary re-launch, Versino is offering five different designs in a multitude of cuts, colors, and price ranges; most of which are reprised of the designs people were familiar with before. And instead of attempting to cover all production costs with her own money, Versino is taking the safer route, using a t-shirt company called “Threadless” for help with manufacturing. Local to Chicago where Versino lives now, Threadless enables artists to easily produce apparel designs, handling the manufacturing, shipping, and customer disputes.

“One of the major things that I took away from my experience with Damaged Kids was understanding the responsibility of saying something to a consumer base and having to follow up on what that is,” Versino said. “Because sometimes, your heart’s bigger than what’s possible at the time. I [know] how wrong something can go when you overpromise and underdeliver.”

Even though the brand will be based out of Chicago this time around, Versino hopes to clear the air with fans of the brand who were disappointed two years ago. And in addition to bringing back well-loved designs, Versino is doing what she and Bierman wanted to do the first time around, by donating a portion of each sale to community organizations.

Back in 2015, Bierman wanted to donate to organizations that helped increase access to mental health tools for everyone, especially young people who might not know where to turn. At the time, the passionate pop-punk singer told RVA Mag the concept behind Damaged Kids came from wanting to support those who are suffering. “I just really wanted to take the idea of [how] right now it feels like the end, but it’s not,” Bierman said. “You’re just damaged, not broken.”

Damaged Kids never made enough profit back in 2015 to be able to donate to any mental health organizations. But now in 2018, Versino projects enough profit off the relaunch to donate a portion of each sale to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an anti-sexual assault organization. Versino made sure to set up the relaunch so her profit would allow her to make donations to RAINN, an organization very close to her. “It’s a service that I’ve had to use in my life. I kept their hotline number in my phone for two months before I actually found a resource to go to therapy,” Versino said. “It gives them [victims of sexual assault] a resource to talk to somebody. I would love to give back, and I wanted to keep that spirit alive with this re-release.”

And despite what supporters may think about the temporary relaunch, Versino said she isn’t in it for the money or out of spite for her ex-business partner.  “I just really want [Damaged Kids] to have the ending I think it deserves,” Versino said. “And actually following through with what was promised, even if it’s two years later.”

You can check out Damaged Kids apparel at laurenversino.com/damaged-kids-2018.

Building a Bigger Catwalk: Rudy Lopez Brings His Vision to Richmond’s Fashion Scene

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During his first year as a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, Rudy Lopez helped orchestrate the largest end-of-year showcase the fashion department has ever seen, held at the Main Street Train Shed. This is a dramatic achievement for Lopez, who, even a year ago, thought working as a professor at VCU was far from likely. After years of failed starts and stints in retail to pay the bills, he’s at the forefront of campus fashion, and branching out city-wide.

This article originally appeared in RVA #33 Summer 2018, you can check out the issue here, or pick it up around Richmond now. 

Lopez, originally from the Philippines, grew up in a family of achievers. His father was a doctor, his sister a financial executive; another sister went into the arts and became a sculptor. He came of age during the 1990s East Coast skateboarding scene. Although he loved to draw from his earliest years, he really explored his creative side while playing in bands and traveling to hardcore punk shows in DC. When it came to a career, he wasn’t sure where his many interests and energy would lead.

Lopez took his first shot at college at George Mason University, where he quickly partied his way to academic probation. The summer after his first year, while talking about his future, a friend asked if he could see himself drawing more. Lopez immediately thought, “Yes, of course.” He researched art schools and sent in five drawings to VCU; his journey through art school started that fall, in 1998.

The words of Dean Richard Toscan during orientation shaped him in ways that probably weren’t expected — he still remembers them today: “If you think you are the hot-shot artist in [your] high school, look around; you’re one of 500.”

“I felt way over my head,” Lopez said. “I wasn’t that artist.” Self-fulfilling or not, his prophecy turned out to be right — but something good still came of his struggles through the school’s foundation classes, which he called “art bootcamp.” The summer after that first year, Lopez received an invitation to help out with a fashion show in New York, hosted by Organization for Returning Fashion Interest (ORFI).

“They needed help putting on the fashion show, filling out model sheets, organizing garments, sending invitations; the grunt work,” Lopez said. He hopped a train to New York, where he went 48 hours without any sleep.

“I was surrounded by creatives,” he said. “I felt this overwhelming wave of passion.”

Photo By: @rudyhlopez

When he returned to VCU, he turned to the fashion department to merge his newfound interest with his desire to be creative. He pursued the Fashion Merchandising track, thinking he could study design later if he wanted. Future internships led him to new contacts in New York and revelations about his career path. After graduation, Lopez attended Parsons School of Design, where he studied fashion graphic design.

From Parsons, he worked his way back to Richmond’s Need Supply Co., where he worked as a store manager before opening Henry, a streetwear shop on Broad Street, in 2006. Although the store earned acclaim, and is seen as the foundation for the current streetwear scene in the Broad Street Arts District, it didn’t survive the economic downturn, closing in 2008.

Lopez was discouraged. “It got to a point where I hated the Richmond fashion scene,” he said. He and his wife decided it was time for a break from the city, returning to Lopez’s native Philippines for about five months. However, he came back for a position at VCU, as a manager at the campus technology store.

While there, an assistant professorship opened up at the Fashion Department in VCU. “They asked me to interview,” Lopez said, and he went for it, despite thinking it was a long shot. Fortunately, he got the job, and said he couldn’t be happier with the work, especially mentoring students like himself who struggle to find their passion.

“I love it — teaching, guiding, and mentoring,” Lopez said. “Looking back at my own path, I always liked giving younger, up-and-coming people advice. I loved helping them and giving them whatever I could.”

He described the team as “a great blend of analytical and creative backgrounds,” looking to “create well-rounded people who can think in a variety of ways.”

Enter Lopez. He hopes to encourage an increasing level of collaboration among departments in the school and with businesses in the community. He says the community is ready for it. “Everyone says, ‘I don’t follow fashion,’ but every single person is dressed,” he said. “You’re part of the cycle.”

During the end-of-year fashion showcase, Lopez invited friends to create music, bringing the community to the campus. Joe Davenport, who performs as DJ Bobby La Beat, laid out live beats.

It’s just a first, small step toward his goal of uniting different communities. “Collaboration this year is not as extensive as I would like,” he said. “When you look at the production of a fashion show, there are so many elements: we have music we need to curate, the Department of Theater could create backdrops for the fashion show, there’s opportunity to work more closely with the designers as they create their collections.”

The physical impact of his presence could be seen in the innovative runway design for the 2018 showcase. The venue selection gave students space to create a runway that welcomed three times as many guests compared to previous years. Compared to a typical 70-foot runway, Lopez said, this year’s runway snaked through the train shed for nearly 500 feet.

“People were caught off guard when I said the fashion show could be bigger,” Lopez said, about an event that was already dramatically larger than prior ones. “It could be bigger not even in terms of people, but to be inclusive of people outside of VCUArts and fashion.”

Ultimately, he does this work because he wants the next generation of fashion students to be as proud of Richmond as he is. He said his work is “a reflection of how proud I feel graduating from the school, and the students coming after me.”

Japan’s OhShit!2099 has RVA roots from a name many of you already recognize

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The surname Gray should ring a bell following this past election season. City Councilwoman Kim Gray represents the second district of Richmond, but her son, Zirchi, is also currently making moves – in Japan – with his online urban streetwear brand, OhShit!2099.

Zirchi’s collection, which consists of hoodies, hats, and t-shirts, is versatile with a hip online presence , branded skate videos, and even footage from shows on stages in Richmond. Born from a collaboration between Gray and Japanese artist and designer Kent, the line has accrued some notoriety online. The brand OhShit!2099, much like his mother’s vision for her respective Richmond district, was founded on principles of equality and includes themes of past and future.

“SAME OLD SHIT! in Japanese… can mean delicious. 2099 is part of the title too. It means the future, we are designing for the future,” said Gray and Kent of their clothing line. “We are looking at the past. We see what’s happening.”

Most of the illustrations and design intervals the brand features are hand-drawn by Gray or Kent themselves- they pull from their personal experiences and historical events to make commentary.

They also use “candy and women” as inspiration for their designs which have even attracted Korean and Chinese bootleggers. Legitimate designs from the brand are released several times in a season, unlike other fashion lines that update once per season. Prior to being approached about their brand, they did not truly identify as fashion designers, but just as visual artists.

“[The fashion design world] is just fame and money, good shit doesn’t get out,” said Gray. “We have no interest in fashion. We want to send [traditional fashion designers] to hell. Design is weak now.”

These themes of resentment of what is mainstream or normal show up in the OhShit!2099 collections. The brand features pins in the shapes of burning schools as well as crewneck sweaters that sport stitched images of police paddy wagons in flames, seemingly a response to failing public school systems and police brutality.

“Some of the designs are inspired by people and happenings that occurred before I came into existence,” said Gray. “The history I have inherited from both my mother and father have been a big part of my identity as {an} artist and a human being striving for my god given rights.”

Gray and and Kent were both inspired by their parents’ craft and independence in creating. Gray sites his father and his father’s studio as a catalyst in his creative career.

“My father was the first person to expose me to Japanese art,” he said. “He would build his own larger than life canvas and paint images of Speed Racer and Lupin the 3rd.”

Kent’s family’s history in fabrics was his jumpstart into understanding design. “My partner Kent’s family has a history of producing fabrics for Kimonos and other Japanese clothing,” said Gray. “His mother has always been influenced by the most flagrant of styles.”

While the trend of urban or skatewear is steadily growing, the authenticity of Gray’s collaboration in the Far East help him, Kent and their brand stand out with the website’s big colors and Japanese characters.

There’s other big plans in the works – including a physical location back in his home city, but you’ll have to stay tuned to OhShit!2099 to find out more. But one thing is for sure – Zirchi and Kent plan to keep the business their own.

“We don’t really have such a strong passion for business as much as creation,” said Gray. As designers we are always building and sharing ideas with artist and designers in Tokyo, NY and VA as well.”

Keep up with their line and purchase products here.