The Cross Colours product that was sold in more than 50% of "M-G-R" stores was no more. From there, Cross Colours started showing up less and less on the emcees and young urban kids that helped with its success. And companies like Karl Kani, which was a part of the Threads 4 Life family, took over.
Cross Colours is one of the first companies to make urban gear fashionable. It set out to harness the hip-hop craze with a line of street-inspired fashions for young men. Its products are sold by more than 3,000 retail outlets.
[4] The hype started with affordable brightly colored T-shirts, jackets and caps, each accompanied by messages like "Stop D Violence" and "Educate 2 Elevate." Hip. Founded in 1989, streetwear brand Cross Colours has always used fashion as a form of protest. With its bright dynamic designs, social messaging and hip-hop influence, the brand was created to unite Black and brown communities during a time of national unrest, fighting racial injustice, police brutality and the war on drugs.
Rooted in producing "Clothing Without Prejudice," their mission proves. Fashion company Cross Colours stepped in at a time when Hip Hop was taking off, drawing inspiration from West Coast and New York City style. Loose Threads: Cross Colours was once the clothing label of choice for the hip hop crowd.
But the company's unraveling was as dramatic as its overnight success. Naming the Brand Carl Jones: This all started with a conversation that TJ and I had while working together for a surf brand that I owned called "Surf Fetish". We wanted something for the culture and for people that were into Hip Hop.
Cross Culture- that's how the naming of the brand started. TJ did all the artwork, the logos, we started to register the name. TJ Walker: Yes, but then the.
Intriguingly, Hip-Hop had yet to be tapped into and "used as a clothing look, trend, style anything" according to Jones. This would make Cross Colours one of the first streetwear brands to meaningfully engage with a black art form that is now seen as integral to the movement. The True Business History Of Hip-Hop Fashion Pioneer Cross ColoursThe pair had fashion dreams but were needed a look.
So the West Coast-based budding entrepreneurs took a trip to New York City, home of hip hop at the time to see what was popular in streetwear. They noted the bagginess of the clothes and decided to play up on the style. Installation view.
All images courtesy of CAAM and the Cross Colours Archive In a room towards the back, an early episode of Yo! MTV Raps (the very first hip-hop show on the music network and one that spread American hip-hop culture around the world) boasts bouncy entertainers in head to toe Cross Colours gear, including actress and queen of hip-hop soul herself, Mary J. Blige. Many of the.