Brooklyn Projects' Streetwear Confidential
Brooklyn Projects is a streetwear aficionado’s skate shop. The walls are covered with skateboard decks. Bicycles designed for motocross hang from the ceiling. In the midst of the bikes and the boards are fashion lines that captured the imaginations of streetwear fans.
Co-owner Dominick DeLuca said that the sneaker-obsessed streetwear set will always break out their credit cards for Nike SB sneakers. They are one of the top-selling items at his 6-year-old store, located at 7664 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles.
For clothes, Brooklyn Project’s streetwear customers are buying T-shirts and hoodies from Los Angeles–based label Fuct. The line’s BDU collection is a favorite. Retail price points are $50 for T-shirts, which offer graphics seeping gallows humor. An image of the grim reaper appears on the BDU Tshirt called “Revenge Is Sweet.” Hoodies bearing the same graphics retail for $100. The label might have a charmed life at Brooklyn Projects.
Another big seller is the collection Fuct X Shawn Mortensen. It features graphics portraits of slain rapper Biggie Smalls shot by Los Angeles–based photographer Mortensen.
DeLuca said he hopes the next two years will bring further growth for his business. After Spring 2008, he plans to open a Brooklyn Projects boutique in Pasadena, Calif., and in his native Brooklyn borough of New York. He is considering opening a Brooklyn Projects store in Las Vegas by early 2009. In 2004, he opened a Brooklyn Projects store in Los Angeles’ Echo Park neighborhood. For Japanese streetwear fans, there’s a store in Hiroshima, which opened in 2003. —Andrew Asch
