Garbege T-shirts & Fashions

Playing off of the words garb, meaning garment and edge, as in cutting edge, garbege redefines fashion for the young, intelligent, and sexy. The brand infuses the personal style of its founders with thought-provoking, incomparable products for early-adopters who possess refined sensibilities for everything from fashion to politics - impacting the way they think, appear, and understand the world.

In 2003, co-founders and close-friends W.”Zak” Hoke and Malcolm Phipps sat in their Hilton Hotel room during the Magic Tradeshow in Las Vegas running through their usual topics of discussion: fashion, music, politics, and women. Friends for years, the two met during their tenure at urban apparel label PNB Nation, where Malcolm specialized in Marketing and Zak in Sales. After their time at PNB Nation, they worked at *ecko unltd. for the next four-years where Zak was Director of Retail Marketing and Malcolm was Marketing Manager.

Having gone to their share of tradeshows domestically and abroad, they found themselves unhappy with the direction fashion was heading in. Zak proceeded to tell Malcolm about his idea to create a line that appealed to early adopters in need of a brand that merges the aesthetics of both streetwear and luxury apparel. It was something that was in the back of his mind for some time and he believed it was now time for it to come into fruition. According to Zak, the line would be “a way for individuals to utilize clothing as their canvas of self expression,” something that had been lost from some of the most popular brands’ latest lines. At that moment the two outlined the brands’ direction and purpose. Fulfilling the needs of early adopters in between the Street-Wear and Luxury markets from New York to London, Japan, LA and back.

Inspired in Japan, incubated in the UK and matured on the streets of New York City, it would embody the aesthetic that is represented by frequent travelers of the world’s major fashion hubs: London, Paris, Berlin, NY, LA and Tokyo. For those who know where the hottest footwear shops are in London, and where to get the best sushi in Paris. Equally at home in Harijuku or Brooklyn, fashion connoisseurs stay draped in the world’s best denim, sneakers and graphic tees. Known by marketers as “tastemakers”, this early adopter class is setting the pace for youth culture. What they like now will be mainstream in years to come. Generally single, with a creative job that pays enough money to spend on Clothes, Toys, Books, etc, this consumer, age 18-34 is most often a young man who has an eye for quality and rarity in the clothes he wears. If it’s a collectible, an import or hard to find, he’ll value it more, and even pay more for it.

While the themes of the line would change per season, the brand’s overall purpose would always stay the same: a street-inspired luxury label that is not about branding, but rather provides a vehicle of self-transformation. Zak then began throwing out various names for the brand, none of which Malcolm was in agreement with. In the brainstorm process, Malcolm jokingly told Zak, “Let’s just call it garbage,” and the name stuck. With the change of one vowel, garbege was born.

Since debuting in 2003, garbege has been featured on BET Style, in fashion & editorial spreads in Sportswear International, VIBE, Stuff, TRACE, Complex, Mass Appeal, Teen People and others. Although garbege transcends the limitations of an urban brand, The Source magazine, featured its founders as “Style Kings” in their 9th Annual Power 30 Issue (Jan./Feb 2005). The worldwide web has also got in on the action: mtv.com, hypebeast.com, highsnobiety.com & whatsreallygood.com all included garbege on there websites which highlight the latest trends. Season after season, garbege continues to raise the bar.

garbege – everything else is trash

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