Dropping Bombs: Bobby Hundreds Talks The Hundreds New York

COMPLEX: The Hundreds is a very California-centric label in terms of its style and lifestyle. Why do you think the brand resonates so strongly with people not only on here the East Coast, but across the country and around the world?

BOBBY: Outside of L.A. and California, everyone hates L.A. and California. But as far as the cultural and subcultural context goes, it's pervasive. Whether people want to admit it or not, it manifests throughout their entire experience. I always try to bring up the allusion to skateboarding—skateboarding is a purely Southern California sport. It started in Southern California; it evolved in San Diego, and matured in L.A. and, in the '90s, up in the Bay. It's a very California thing, but it's practiced worldwide. Everyone kind of re-appropriated skateboarding to fit their personality, their geographical location, and their environment. The same thing with like Tupac's music, or Chicano culture, or Mexican food. All these things, they couldn't be contained within their particular geographical location. Whether people intended to or not, they kind of had to explode outside of that arena.

I feel like it's the same with The Hundreds. The Hundreds is based around this very Cali, relaxed, casual vibe. Like the classic T-shirt—how California is that, you know? But it just couldn't be contained just within the West Coast. People relate to it. The themes of it are Californian, but the idea and the personality of The Hundreds is just a global, personal thing. Anyone can appreciate it.

COMPLEX: L.A. is your hometown, and you love it, but what is it about New York that appeals to or inspires you?

BOBBY: First of all, I think this is the shopping center of the universe. As far as retail and fashion are concerned, and as far as I'm concerned, this is the epicenter. On top of that, just the cultural and subcultural phenomenon that happens here...again it's another epicenter. Trends begin here, and they move west, and they move across Europe and Asia. I feel like "cool" starts from here, and I think New Yorkers have made a culture out of that. New York is a very unique place in that sense. L.A., obviously, has a lot of amazing things that New York will never have. But I think what it comes from is the diversity of the people here. Everyone lives in such tight quarters with each other, and I think that just builds an amazing creative energy in this town.

For me, personally, New York represented a certain genre of skateboarding, and a certain genre of music—of punk and hip-hop—that I grew up on that had a flavor that L.A. didn't have. Most importantly, what's most important and pertinent to The Hundreds is New York's interpretation of streetwear. It was instrumental in how a brand like ours came about, with brands like Supreme, SSUR, and ALIFE. What those guys did in the '90s and early 2000s really shaped what consumers and kids today are delving in with modern streetwear. It started in Southern California, but it really matured here.

COMPLEX: Last week, you released a sneak peek of a few of the exclusive shirts that will be available at the store's opening—all of which feature uniquely New York graphics, from Metrocards to Adam Bomb re-imagined as a "Big Apple". Aside from these New York-exclusive releases, will The Hundreds' newfound presence in NYC affect or provide inspiration for the brand's creative direction in any noticeable or permanent way?

BOBBY: The funny thing is, really New York has always been a part of The Hundreds, even though we're themed and centered on this idea of California culture. I've been coming here since I was a kid, and all the brands I looked up to were New York brands. The artists that I looked up to were New York artists, and a lot of the music that I listened to was from New York. How could I not have that permeate my inspiration for the brand when I'm working on things? I've loved coming here, even before we had the store, even before we started thinking about the store, just to gather inspiration and hang out and talk to the people here and soak up the city. It's always been a part of the brand, and for sure from here on out, just having this store here, just listening to what people have to say here, we're obviously going to be a reflection of that.

COMPLEX: The Hundreds has come a long way since you first started out seven years ago. Back then, could you have ever predicted just how successful this project would become? And how do you think The Hundreds will continue to evolve and develop over the course of the next decade?

BOBBY: Back then, we kind of lived day-to-day, like, "This is what we've got to get done today." But when we first started out, we knew we were going to have stores. I talked about this on the blog, but when we first started the brand, we'd just printed our first T-shirts, and Ben was in New York. He was like, "We're going to have this store in New York. We have to have a store in New York—streetwear exists here." So we always had these goals and these lofty visions. We want to get further into publishing and media and music—these are still goals that have to be really ascertained and materialized, but they're coming around.

But yeah, I mean, I'm just grateful. Ben and I still feel like we're still 23 years old. We're 30 now, but it still feels just like we're working out of the apartment, making T-shirt graphics. It's hard for us to look from the outside and have this objective perspective of what's going on. All these different people are working for us, we have stores now, we have all this stuff. To us, we're still just the same guys.

COMPLEX: A few weeks back, you wrote a fairly provocative post that criticized contemporary "branding strategies," and it ended with you saying that the most important thing is authenticity.

BOBBY: Yeah, I feel like there were ten thousand ways to do this store wrong. A lot of people—a lot of critics—were looking for us to do this the wrong way. I think the way we managed to pull it off makes a lot of sense, and personally resonates with our brand and our back-story. This is a natural expression of what we already do, what we've always represented, and who we are as people—this is just something that we do. We're not trying to say we're something that we're not. We're not a New York brand. We're not New Yorkers. We don't talk like you guys, we're probably not as cool as half the people in the city. But we want to pay tribute to the city, and pay homage to everything it's done to us as far as inspiring us. That's all we're doing here, we're giving back, you know? We're here in your city, please come and enjoy the space, please come and enjoy the brand. If you like it, cool. If not, we just thank you for being here.