Bobby Hundreds, left, and Ben Hundreds with 10th anniversary cake in shape of The Hundreds' mascot Atom Bomb. Photo credit Jerry Kasai.
A BOMB OF AN ANNIVERSARY
The Hundreds Celebrates 10 at Agenda Emerge
You’ve seen Atom Bomb.
It’s the mascot of streetwear and fashion label The Hundreds, and this cartoon is no joke.
The bowling ball shaped bomb with a comically anxious face is emblazoned on the caps and T-shirts of kids across the world. The Los Angeles-based founders of The Hundreds celebrated the 10th anniversary of Atom Bomb and their literally booming streetwear business July 26 at Agenda Emerge. It was the speakers’ event following the sprawling trade show, Agenda, at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Bobby Hundreds, one half of The Hundreds founding duo, spoke to a packed house at Long Beach’s Terrace Theater, on how he and Ben Hundreds built a leading streetwear company without connections in the fashion industry or knowing much on how to build a label.
Also taking the Agenda Emerge stage were fashion and lifestyle luminaries Johnny Cupcakes, founder of Johnny Cupcakes clothing shops, Jeff Staple, design guru of Staple Design and Marc Ecko one of the godfathers of the streetwear phenomenon, and founder of Eckō Unltd.
The speakers’ words of wisdom included well-worn adages such as ‘Do what you want to do, and money will follow.” They also told unique and incisive stories on how creative people who were industry outsiders became big successes. But they didn’t tell the crowd one essential step for streetwear success. Change your last name! Bobby Hundreds, Jeff Staple, Johnny Cupcakes and Marc Ecko do not use their birth names for business. Word!
