Bobby Hundreds on A Life in Streetwear

Asanyah Davidson is the Chairperson of the Miami Fashion Institute at Miami Dade College. She holds an M.A. in Design Studies from Central Saint Martins in London, and has previously taught at Miami International University of Art & Design and Broward Community College as well as in West African schools in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.

Bobby Kim, also known as Bobby Hundreds, is an illustrator, documentarian, designer, and writer. In 2003, he co-founded The Hundreds with Ben Shenassafar. The two are also partners in Second Sons, a brand development group that incubates, structures, and facilitates other small businesses. He is author of This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community--a Life in Streetwear (MCD), the story of The Hundreds and the precepts that made it an iconic streetwear brand, by Bobby Hundreds himself. Streetwear occupies that rarefied space where genuine "cool" coexists with big business; where a star designer might work concurrently with Nike, a tattoo artist, Louis Vuitton, and a skateboard company. It’s the ubiquitous style of dress comprising hoodies, sneakers, and T-shirts. In the beginning, a few brands defined this style; fewer still survived as streetwear went mainstream. They are the OGs, the “heritage brands.” The Hundreds is one of those persevering companies, and Bobby Hundreds is at the center of it all. In This Is Not a T-Shirt, Bobby Hundreds cements his spot as a champion of an industry he helped create and tells the story of The Hundreds―with anecdotes ranging from his Southern California, punk-DIY-tinged youth to the brand’s explosive success. Both an inspiring memoir and an expert assessment of the history and future of streetwear, this is the tale of Bobby’s commitment to his creative vision and to building a real community.