Win This Is Not A T-Shirt: A Brand, A Culture, A Community--a Life In Streetwear Picturized By Bobby Hundreds Represented In Digital Copy
didnt grow up on streetwear or know much about it or The Hundreds until I was an adult, But I was interested in seeing the journey, The storytelling style is great and drew me in, But I do agree with the critiques that it feels a bit selfcongratulatory overall, Yes, he talks about the downs in the business too but there is a lot of patting themselves on the back when he talks about when business was really good.
It even seems to gloss over the seeming bumps on their way up,
One part that particularly irked me is when he casually mentions having to let go of their entire SF store, they all lost their jobs, then talks about going back to their hotel room to drink scotch while their new collab drops and they make thousands of dollars.
It seemed like an unintentional juxtaposition despite it being an immediate shift and it felt tacky, I know hes trying to focus on the trajectory of the business, but that lack of awareness considering the mantra of people over product had an uncomfortable disconnect.
Was balancing law school and the brand as easy as he made it seem Doing other jobs and working in the brand until it made enough to go full time Its framed as if the brand got popular overnight and they just got lucky break after lucky break but then he mentions how long it took for them to be able to get paid.
I wish there had been more focus on that awkward growing period of not knowing if this would take off and showing more of a backdrop of their lives and struggles at that time.
I also think its interesting that he frames the brand as having been welcoming and for everyone without that exclusionary attitude other streetwear brands had, but seemingly considered a female student at his lecture asking about the brands past misogyny as a tough question.
Instead of saying what more they could do moving forward he talked about how theyve already promoted women into leadership positions in the company.
Okay but how did that change the culture for the better What are you actively doing to make sure that any residual misogyny is called out and stopped immediately
Structurewise it reads a bit like a memoir fever dream.
Im all for things jumping around in time as long as theres a throughline, which I thought was going to be a somewhat linear telling of the brands history peppered with other stories from the years as well as childhood.
But the timeline bounced around a lot, I had a hard time figuring out exactly where in time we were in every chapter which made it hard to follow,
Nonetheless it was an interesting peek into a world and community I wasnt part of and didnt know much about, The title of Bobby Kims book This Is Not a TShirt is an inyourface piece that is not written as a traditional memoir.
This piece subverts the expectations of the conventional memoir as it serves as a brand history or and a howtoturnadollarintoadream narrative, This Is Not a TShirt memoiresque style serves as a blueprint to the youth that are upandcoming creatives and entrepreneurs trying to make their imprint in an industry occupied with saturation.
Fans of The Hundreds, the name of Kims brand, will no doubt enjoy this book for its originstory arc, recounting details both big how the founders met at Loyola Law School and small how the brickandmortar store off of LAs notorious Fairfax Avenue was funded by a particularly popular paisley hoodie.
This Is Not a TShirt also serves readers with underlying themes of community and class struggles,
The idea of race and class shines during the moment in the book where the brand founders recall standing outside their tradeshow booths where journalists and buyers would try to understand their brand.
The journalists would ask, “Are you hiphop or action sports” Basically, the translation of that question, Are you for black kids or white kids This is where Ben and Kim would look at each other with animosity.
Ben, of Iranian Jewish descent, and Kim, a Korean American kid who grew up thinking he was Latino, Neither, Wed respond. ” Streetwear is something that often has close ties to race and class, A brand like The Hundreds, is described as “a ghettorigged, twobit science project, a couple wires short of a potato battery” and the books nonlinear, tensionbuilding structure make it enjoyable even if youre not familiar with the brand.
Kim throughout this book exemplifies the importance of the role of community with The Hundreds and how it's the gears the power of the brand.
This book is perfect for anyone whether youre trying to expand your brand as a streetwear business or even in your own personal life.
This Is Not a TShirt that highlights the important aspects of community and how without it, you truly dont have any leverage in business and life as you may know it.
Kim spends a great deal letting his readers know that “community is the essence of not just streetwear but of any culturebased industry”.
The ideologies behind the name, “The Hundreds”, stems from them being “backed by a global army”, Hence why theyre brand relies so heavy on the name because theyre a brand that relies on their “strength in numbers”, as Kim would mention while defining the brand.
What makes This Is Not a TShirt different than any memoir is its approach to the readers, The book was not written in a straight line, rather its all over the place which is similar to Kim and Ben's success story.
How it makes itself stand out more than another memoir youd find on the shelf is that it feels like this was written for the fans of the coveted streetwear brand.
After reading some of the other reviews said about this piece, I found some of the people say how it feels “too proud” or how it “felt mostly selfcongratulatory”.
But wouldnt you if you came from nothing to achieving global success with a brand that holds weight in the streets Pretty much whats to be expected.
Bobby mentions supreme in almost every chapter and it sounds a lot like him reasoning with himself why he “sold out” or lost their cool factor while supreme became the leader of the pack.
Theres also likechapters of him talking about how much he hates the Adam bomb logo haha
Theres obviously some good info in here if you want to sift through the aforementioned.
Learn from others mistakes and successes, Bobby Hundreds book This is Not a TShirt is a very inspiring book about both his and Bens his business partner process to reaching their goals and ambitions for their brand and streetwear in general.
Starting from their first obstacles from printing the firsttshirts, to making their biggest sales and collaborations, But most importantly he talks about his visions and values for streetwear and his contribution to the streetwear community as we know it today.
Starting with only a few hundred dollars,
I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in starting their own brand, the history of streetwear or getting to know the value of community over money.
The story of The Hundreds and the precepts that made it an iconic streetwear brand by Bobby Hundreds himself
Streetwear occupies that rarefied space where genuine "cool" coexists with big business where a star designer might work concurrently with Nike, a tattoo artist, Louis Vuitton, and a skateboard company.
Its the ubiquitous style of dress comprising hoodies, sneakers, and Tshirts, In the beginning, a few brands defined this style fewer still survived as streetwear went mainstream, They are the OGs, the “heritage brands, ” The Hundreds is one of those persevering companies, and Bobby Hundreds is at the center of it all,
The creative force behind the brand, Bobby Kim, a, k. a. Bobby Hundreds, has emerged as a prominent face and voice in streetwear, In telling the story of his formative years, he reminds us that The Hundreds was started by outsiders and this is truly the story of streetwear culture.
In This Is Not a TShirt, Bobby Hundreds cements his spot as a champion of an industry he helped create and tells the story of The Hundredswith anecdotes ranging from his Southern California, punkDIYtinged youth to the brands explosive success.
Both an inspiring memoir and an expert assessment of the history and future of streetwear, this is the tale of Bobbys commitment to his creative vision and to building a real community.
Felt mostly self congratulatory. This book is everything you want it to be and more, I don't know much about streetwear and the only reason I picked this book up was because, it passed through me before getting to the intended owner my cousin.
I have no idea what I expected going in, but I do know I got way much more than I bargained for, This was my first introduction to The Hundreds and I have to say, I am a tiny bit embarrassed that I didn't know of it's existence.
It was a great story about the brand, the people behind the brand both the community and founders and so much more! I loved it so much After I'm done with this review, I am definitely headed to the hundreds website and digging through their sales section.
I just finished “This is not a Tshirt” by Bobby Kim, a biography about how he and his cofounders started The Hundreds, a streetwear company back in the earlys.
I havent heard of The Hundreds before I read this book and was never into the streetwear culture but just the title alone was enough to catch my attention.
Ref. “This is not a pipe”
Like the title, this book is not just about how he started a tshirt company business, but instead about how he built a streetwear culture and community along the way.
From his words I could feel the passion he had for the people and the culture, sometimes at the expense of risking his business, something no businessman would do.
But it is precisely this that made The Hundreds stand out in the sea of other streetwear companies one that is authentic and for the people.
It is a little longwinded so Id recommend watching the interview Bobby did on YouTube for the Blueprint series to hear about the story of The Hundreds in his own words but if you want the full picture the book does go into details.
Was surprised by this book, initially I picked it up thinking I would learn more about streetwear a realm of fashion that I'm unfamiliar with and found it more so a memoir written by Bobby Hundreds.
Unexpectedly I found Bobby super relatable, his descriptions of Riverside and Los Angeles were so on point that I was able to imagine the exact streets and neighborhoods he was writing about.
His life is pretty badass, and I found it
inspiring how candid he was about the things he didn't know about, but still made risks about.
I moved to L. A. inand bought my first Hundreds shirt from the flagship store on Rosewood not too many years after that, I never really connected with the Hundreds mascot, Adam Bomb, but I still followed them even as I grew older and matured out of the brand.
Or so I thought. Over the past few years Ive bought several of their shirts and joined their excellent book club: Death Sentences Book Club, The anticipation for This Is Not A TShirt has been building for some time now and Im relieved to say that the book is everything I had hoped it would be, and more! Although clearly a memoir theres something to be learned for even the most casual fan of streetwear whos never even heard of The Hundreds or the man who started it all.
Everything about the book resonated with me and had me feeling nostalgic for my time in L, A. Its a great read and I highly recommend it, SURVIVE. THRIVE. SURVIVE.
Bobby Hundreds book is a realworld version of one of those “success story” anecdotes you typically find in business books where the scrappy young upstart busts through challenges with grit, smarts and determination.
However those books typically detail the work amp the process in the topical way blockbuster movie montages show an athlete training, In Bobbys book you get to feel the sweat, you can smell the ink, Its part memoir amp reflection, part love letter to subculture, part small business branding manual, and part personal mission statement, Beautiful amp inspiring read with LOTS of gold nuggets of wisdom nestled in the dirt, .