Just a few days ago, UNION officially released the latest "Tent & Trail" series with Jordan Brand, which is also an official unveiling of another cooperation project between the two sides, just as people had expected - two new color air Jordan IV finally debuted.
However, unlike in the past, this time the cooperation was mainly born to celebrate the 30th anniversary of union LA. The news was first announced by union LA's official social media account three months ago, and with such an important opportunity, it will also bring heavy planning. Not long after, the entire "UNION30YEAR" series was announced, and more surprises followed, and there were some brands that you are familiar with, and Jordan Brand is just one of them...
Obviously, there is more to see in union LA's 30th anniversary project that deserves your attention, and at the same time, this legendary store that can really be called OG has finally ushered in another milestone in time. It may not be known much about it for many young people, but in fact, in addition to the popular cooperation today, UNION has many histories and stories that you will be interested in, so much so that it is not an exaggeration to call it "the birthplace of American street culture"...
As an OG in the circle, UNION LA has more than just the Air Jordan joint name worth paying attention to
UNION LA x Jordan Brand「Tent & Trail」| Via UNION LA
Although UNION LA has been around for 30 years, many young people have begun to pay attention to it through its partnership with Jordan Brand. From air Jordan I in 2018 to Air Jordan IV in 2020, both series have achieved great success with their unique designs, whether it is the speculation in the secondary market or word of mouth, which has impressed people, which is the main reason why this cooperation is highly anticipated today.
UNION LA x Air Jordan I | Via UNION LA
However, in addition to this cooperation, in fact, UNION LA has always maintained a stable "output", just from the "UNION30YEAR" project, it is enough to see its influence in the circle, so let's first take a look at what brands and units are there:
The lineup is enough to have a row of noodles? | Via UNION LA
As a store, UNION LA has accumulated many partners in the course of this 30-year history, and you can see that from the main functioning ACRONYM® to the street style NOAH, from the elder Stüssy to the new generation of CPFM, from the unpopular Born x Raised to the hot ESSENTIALS, the cooperation object of this project includes many brands with different styles and positioning, and the lineup is enough to have a lineup.
The Awake NY and NOAH joint series | that have been released Via UNION LA
In addition to the different collaboration series, UNION LA also brought the "PHOTO BOOTH EDITORIAL" project, which you can use as a special set of Looks, these models include store staff, relatives, consumers, as well as familiar faces such as Luka Sabbat, Dr.Woo, Salehe Bembury and many others in the circle to celebrate the 30 years of the store.
And that's just part of it... | Via UNION LA
Building communities with stores at its core has always been a principle that UNION LA adheres to, and it is true that the store is largely like the International Stüssy Tribe, connecting many people, brands and circles. To take the simplest example: At the launch of the UNION LA x NOAH co-brand series, Brendon Babenzien, in addition to congratulating on social media, revealed a small story that many people did not know, when in fact Brendon and another brand manager, her wife Estelle Bailey-Babenzien, originally met and fell in love through Union LA owner Chris Gibbs.
Brendon Babenzien congratulated | through the NOAH official website account Via @noahclothing
This connection makes the UNION LA x NOAH series one of our most private collaborations to date, and there is no doubt that UNION and NOAH have a truly family-like relationship.
—Brendon Babenzien
In fact, from its birth to the present, UNION has a lot of history and stories worth knowing, such as its founder is the famous Supreme manager James Jebbia, in addition to the extraordinary relationship with Stüssy...
Why is UNION the birthplace of American streetwear?
Via UNION LA
We need to start with the origin of union. As many people know, union NY, which opened in New York's SOHO district in 1989, was actually the first starting point for the Los Angeles store UNION LA, but unfortunately it was announced as closed in 2010.
At that time, the storefront in New York was | Via UNION LA
As mentioned above, UNION was first founded by Supreme manager James Jebbia and then-partner Mary Ann Fusco. At that time, there was not even such a term as "streetwear", and in the absence of experience and reference objects, the two could only rely on some experience of working in other stores, with Stüssy as the starting point of surfing and some local brands in the United Kingdom and the United States as the core, to create a street style store that was not common at that time.
Old photo of James Jebbia in Stüssy | Via Complex
"There are a lot of cool young brands in the store, it's a very British store, playing hip-hop music every day, young and rebellious." James Jebbia recalls.
But because there are many things in the store that can't be bought in other places, UNION has spread through word of mouth in a short period of time, and in an era when even the Internet was not popular, it became the starting point of American street culture. Arguably, UNION defined street style earlier than anywhere else. In addition to selling early street brands, there are also many characters who symbolize the new York street scene at that time, Eddie Cruz is one of the original core figures of the store and the founder of the UNDEFEATED brand.
Eddie Cruz | Via UNDEFEATED
It was Eddie Cruz that brought UNION from New York to Los Angeles, but before UNION LA was born, the original store was opened in partnership with Stüssy, called "THE STÜSSY UNION", with Stüssy products on one side and other brands originally sold by UNION on the other. The reason for the opening of such a cooperative store came from Shawn Stussy's friendship with James Jebbia, UNION was the first store in the United States to sell Stüssy, and the latter's first flagship store was also opened with the help of James Jebbia.
Later, in 1991, THE STÜSSY UNION was officially split into Stüssy's independent store and UNION LA, and Eddie Cruz was the manager at the time, who also founded UNDEFEATED with James Bond in the same period.
Union LA | that year Via UNION LA
Speaking of chris Gibbs, the manager of UNION LA today, he met James Jebbia through his current wife, Beth Gibbs, who began to work at UNION NY in 1996, originally only responsible for the display and sales of store products, but with his taste and intelligence, he came to the LA store in 2003 as a buyer to help Eddie Cruz run the store, and later completely took over from his hands, and has been operating so far.
Chris Gibbs 与 Beth Gibbs | Via KCRW
"One of the things about this store is that it can change with every new era in fashion and retail, and UNION has been iterated many times." Chris Gibbs said.
It is true that with the renewal and iteration of the store itself, it has also experienced various periods from the budding of street culture to the continuous transformation of the later stages. From the first British street brands to emerge in the 1990s to the Riharajuku culture that became popular during the millennium, UNION was also the first store to bring Japanese brands to the United States.
During 2000, Eddie Cruz established contact with many Japanese brands through its friendly relationship with Hiroshi Fujiwara, and at that time, BAPE®, NEIGHBORHOOD, WTAPS, visvim were the first to be introduced to the store, knocking on the door of the American market for these Japanese brands that later became popular around the world, and still maintaining good relations with them today, introducing and selling more Japanese brands with different styles and positions.
Today, visvim will still choose to set up a showroom | in UNION LA Via UNION LA
It is also worth mentioning that UNION LA is also one of the first stores to be known for its sneaker culture, and the first air Force 1 made of GUCCI and LOUIS VUITTON vintage fabrics found on ebay has attracted much attention, chris Gibbs recalled that this sale is the first time since the opening of the store that there has been a phenomenon of queuing up to buy.
The same is true today | Via SneakerNews
It was also with this incident as an opportunity that UNION LA began to develop more sneaker business, and under the leadership of Chris Gibbs, some Dunk shoes that were not noticed in the United States at that time were brought from Japan to the United States, making this style further popular. In addition, UNION LA is also the world's first Nike SB product line stores, which undoubtedly has a lot of impact on many stores that are now positioned as sneaker selections.
If you look back at the "UNION30YEAR" partner now, will you feel different? It does not represent a simple business joint name, but a "reunion" after decades have passed.
Obviously, UNION has witnessed and accompanied the gradual mainstream of street culture from its inception to the present, in fact, there are far more people, brands and stories associated with it than we mention today, it uses a small store as a starting point, connecting many characters, brands and circles, playing an indispensable role in the development of street culture in the United States and even the world, and also has a key impact on connecting global street communities and cultural promotion.
Today, the store has ushered in its 30th year, in addition to expanding its territory to Japan, it is also being known by a new generation of young people with the joint name of Air Jordan, as Chris Gibbs introduced in the "UNION30YEAR" project, which is both a milestone moment and a new beginning...