Who owns hood by air

The cult New York label Hood by Air is back, again. Launched in by the designer Shayne Oliver , Hood by Air quickly became the torchbearer for a new generation of Black, POC and queer creatives emerging out of the melting pot of the Big Apple.

Swallowed up and spit out by the commercial mechanics of American fashion, the progressive label disappeared in Then, after a three year hiatus, Oliver returned with a fresh proposition. Today, Hood by Air have revealed the next chapter.

From the Been Trill x HBA collaboration t-shirts which Shayne Oliver and Virgil Abloh devotees still scour Grailed for, to the street cast, performative runway shows which came way before their time, Hood by Air holds a special place in fashion history; specifically in the dawning of streetwear and hype culture, as SHOWstudio captured in projects such as Hood by Air: Trans and Hood by Air.

While he's been away, Oliver has found a new business partner in Edison Chen, the CLOT streetwear designer who was originally a pop star, and told the BoF that he plans to focus Hood by Air on a direct to consumer approach, which will be more accessible and affordable. I think a lot of times, when people come into brands that have this aesthetic, they completely pivot towards only streetwear and they don't understand there's a nuance to dealing with contemporary clothing and sportswear', Oliver told BoF of his decision to bring Chen in as an investor.

Returning in July with a new plan of action, Hood by Air unveiled a collection raising funds for the trans community, hit hard by the COVID pandemic. Launching the first Museum collection 'H13A' across two drops, featuring re-editions of iconic Hood by Air moments, the fashion world ended wanting more. Unveiled today alongside an in-depth interview with Vanessa Friedman at The New York Times , Prologue teases the first part of a collection which Oliver hopes to present in a show format as early as June.

The designer clearly has plans to return to his showmanship roots, whilst maintaining direct lines of communication with his digital audience, all the whilst bypassing the fashion system which never had his back in the first place. Oliver breaks down the four lines of HBA, Museum, Anonymous Club and Hood by Air as follows; a direct to consumer platform specialising in project based merchandise, archival reiterations, and an independent creative studio, with Hood By Air hosting an event or activation once a year to set the agenda for the collective.

In other words, everything fashion brands now do to seem disruptive, Hood By Air had been doing since its beginning — like casting a diverse community of people, some non-models, to walk in shows; pushing the boundaries of sexuality; and challenging the definition of luxury to include T-shirts.

And Oliver has done it all genuinely, with an ambitious, genre-defying vision that some more traditional members of the industry failed to understand at the time. The team at Telfar also recently expressed a similar desire for independence after its Gap collaboration fell through. After a brief stint as the designer-in-residence for Helmut Lang in and a gig for Diesel in a similar capacity, Oliver is ready to focus on building his own house again.

Anonymous Club will also work to support and cultivate a range of emerging talent, with the goal of having its members one day collaborate with Hood By Air and HBA. To coincide with its relaunch, HBA will reveal a limited-edition T-shirt this Thursday as part of Uprising, its new charity initiative. A club-like atmosphere is where Hood By Air began, and it has worked for years to preserve that same collective energy and space. Already a subscriber?