Day out to Williamsberg Brooklyn

So if your into the creative world and crave that im not cool enough to be here feeling as i always get in east london you've got to hit Williamsberg in Brooklyn. As it was the weekend i had no formal meetings set up with any stores but i figured i might find a few styleee little independent to peddle the clobber to. I noticed a few things that day. We went by subway, which in itself was always abuzz. Busking was everywhere which straight away gives NY an exciting feel and a sense that people are following there dreams. Orens girly Donna and her homey Elina were my guides.

selling on the streetz


If i ever had to get a brief case it would be a lot like this


my future ride


For life!


Donna, Elina, Subway map, smallkid


As you find in England its not easy to find independent shops they are generally well hidden! But with a lot of asking we found two. As i would come to learn in NY most independents that sell multi brands are often skateboard orientated. It kind of makes sense as skate boarding isn't a fad that comes and go, its greatly routed in NY and has real loyal following. The other thing that is clear is that these independents do alot to keep the hype amongst there stores. KCDC have there own in house ramp and do frequent events and Boundless are connected with local hip hop radio shows and recently MTV went down to the store with rapper chip the ripper.

KCDC in Williamsberg check out there site: http://kcdcskateshop.com/



RIP Harold Hunter (If you've seen the cult film kids he is the pro skater in it)




Free Pizza skate Jam


Chip the Ripper in Boundless

Both stores stocked nice street wear brands such as the Hundreds and Stussy amongst there cores skate brands which was important for Bantum as whilst we sit next to skate brands, Bantum is nt a specific skate brand. Which over time we have realised could be an issue, people want to be able to put a brand into a category, i used to think it was cool that Bantum managed to transcend this but it seems people want the brand to be specifically for one type of people...the saga continues.
I checked if the buyers were in the stores, as expected on a saturday afternoon they weren't /aka didnt' want a sales pitch so i left Bantum promo material and got there details so i could email them the look book later. For buyers to really take you seriously in this game you have to make appointments in advance, something that took me a year or two to master:)

A key thing that did concern me slightly was the low price points on the clothing. Which to be honest is a good thing in general, apart from if your an English brand trying to sell in pounds. The most expensive tees were hitting the $35 retail mark which equals £22. since Bantum products are proudly printed in nottz our products retail is higher between £30 and £35.