That guy name is Iván Jiménez.
Wordwide Living blog changed to Wordwide2007 and later to what now is Skulls Barcelona -an indy brand and blog.
I.J. decided to leave Nike imperium and opened a streetwear boutique @ his hometown Barcelona, SKULLS store was on the ground. The store delivered selected brands and the house-brand Skulls releasing their first collection of tees and 5 panels caps. After +half year in business Iván decided close doors and later re-launched Skulls brand with Collection 2 (strictly 5 panels) from his now Brooklyn Hq.
After five years following this guy's blogs/life I had the honor to meet him @ Brooklyn in a trip to New York last December 2011, and later again last May.
Warop Iván! As far as I can see from your blog entries your recent trip to Japan was really cool (drumming like Tommy Lee and all...) Add some more words about that trip.
• I wanted to visit Japan again to get some inspiration. I have been living in NY for about 8 months now (Although it feels like 90 years now), and wanted a change of visuals. I needed to reset my mindset and fill it up with japanese colors, fabrics, visions and such. I also wanted to have some holidays with my friend Sandra so we met in Tokyo, me coming from NY and she coming from Barcelona. It was a really good trip overall.
(Skulls Japan drum session | image courtesy of Skulls blog)
So you made a Japan exclusive Skulls printed lookbook... How is the current Japanese reception for Skulls?
• It was way better than I expected. Most of the people I met from stores were really surprised by the hats. It is a very colorful country fashion-wise, and I think Skulls fits more than perfectly there. I got new accounts before I left the country, so I assume the reception was more than good!
(Skulls is for the whole family | image courtesy of Skulls blog)
Spotted Sandra in some of the trip's flicks, how is she doing? Respect for that lady.
• She is great, she is just handling her stuff in Spain to be able to come to NY. We are going to launch a women line probably for Spring '13 with all her ideas. She is a talented girl, and she is also a funny and sexy lady, so its a good catch! By the way, she will also appear in another SKULLS tee!!!
Skulls is a costumer oriented brand, I can tell myself from my experience. How does it feel having good feedback via networks and getting emails from fans? I believe you appresh that relationship/conection with your consumers and Skulls fans.
• Well, I think that brands should respect its clients. I have been "on the other side" and I have always felt that the big and even smaller brands take themselves too seriously. I mean, look, you are doing tees and some sweatshirts, why you think you are better than anybody else? I get fan mail nearly everyday, asking things, asking for some kind of guidance. Im completely fine with it, and I answer 99% of the emails I get (The 1% goes for the weird emails asking too deep stuff). To me, customers are not only customers, they are pasionate people who want to own your products, so it just a matter of mutual respect to show my appreciation and be there. In Spain we call it "dar la cara", in English it might be called "Be there". Is just respect, is just this family idea I have with my customers.
Can I call ourselves Skulls fans "Skull-heads"?
• I would say "Skulls Fam", as it sounds less "sneakerheads"!
[Saw that one coming, hahaha]
[Saw that one coming, hahaha]
From "Coleccion 1" to present, wich is your favorite piece done and why?
• Wow, I have done more than 60 hats in a little bit of more than a year... I'd say my favorite hat can be the "Mia" 5 panel, the one with the dogs, and the "Peru" collection. The "Mia" hat because I did it thinking about the little chiuhuahua I had in Barcelona, and the "Peru" because it was the first limited edition collection I put out while being in NY and the reception was amazingly good, selling everything out in less than 24 hours. But again, every hat I make is because I like it, so I bsically wear them all every now and then.
("Peru Capsule" from Collection 3: Tamia, Luania & Milagros)
image courtesy of Skulls blog
image courtesy of Skulls blog
Which piece got the craziest and/or weird story?
(From making-of to release/sales)
• The "Peru" one was crazy. I bought the fabric in the highest city in Peru (Cuzco), saved the fabric for 3 months until I shipped it to the production facility, they were hesitant to make the hats because it was a really weird fabric, and it was really complicated to make hats out of it. Ultimately, got them and they came out amazing. It's not that crazy of a story but it just funny the whole process geographically to make some hats and sell them from NY.
(The "Hustlers Marathon" tee, peep the details)
image courtesy of Worldwide Living blog
image courtesy of Worldwide Living blog
Browsing in my memory I remember pictures of "Hustlers Marathon" tee and 5 panel from Worldwide Living blog, also you tell a bit of that fine-ass piece in your BackseriesTV interview, but as much as I try can't remember if those pieces were released or just ended up as samples. The tee was released right? Tell me the history and what happened.
• Me and Nima from Digital Gravel talked about doing a t-shirt back in 2007. I was doing this brand called Worldwide and I was selling at Supreme NY, Reed Sapce and other retailers worldwide. I'm and have been into Polo and Ralph Lauren in the 90's, and in Spain was really hard to get the good stuff from the brand. That jacket that came out blue and purple and with the marathon frontal number was my fave piece. I took that inspiration and made a t-shirt that turned out to be one of the most celebrated tees I did those years. Still today people tell me it's their fave tshirt. Then, I wanted to make a hat, I was also heavily into hats. So I contacted the same supplier who was doing the tee for me in Los Angeles and they told me they were begining to make hats, so I took the same colorway and inspiration but ended up as a sample as I dropped the brand in mid 2008 because of personal issues. Back in 2012 I'm launching this new brand DOWNTOWN NY and I was like "Shit, I need to make a proper hat with that idea", so here it is. Dreams come true. 5 years later thou!
still-image from BackseriesTV interview
Did you ever considered re-launch that pieces under Skulls, like a retrospective/roots of Skulls pieces capsule?
Will we Skull Fam have the opportunite to get those gems?
(Pray to the Gods)
• I dont think so. Most of the fabrics I have been using are out of stock, and some of the early stuff I did were just one time pieces. Every now and then Im doing some hats, like the "Cosmos" but everytime I drop a reissue will have different details so people can see the difference, like the woven label, or the fabric cut.
In your interview with BackseriesTV you tell a long-to-short history timeline of Skulls, dropped straight real words about your work, and that classic line: "me la pela lo que digan los demás..." ["I can give a fuck what other say..."]
Any love words to annonymus e-haters and "e-streetwear consultors"?
Any love words to annonymus e-haters and "e-streetwear consultors"?
• Thats a good one. Well, all I can say is that a lot of people have been dissing Skulls since day one, just saying out loud how ugly the hats are, or the bad quality and stuff. I couldn't care less, as I'm selling out every season, and the people who love the brand like the products, thats all I care. I know my stuff is not for everybody but I don't usually diss other brands or creatives out there. I'M all about delivering fun, exciting and stylish products, and its all up to you guys to give an answer to that. I would recomend the haters to create brands and work with their ideas, would love to see what they came up with!
I don't know what the Skull Fam think, but I do wanna see some dark skinned/ebony/Middle-Eastern/Muslim NYC-born honey(s) on next Skulls collections lookbooks... Actually that girl you posted, Amaya (respect), fits perfectly for a lookbook (gorgeous and classy), I believe.
• She is a friend of a friend who visited NY for a while! I'm thinking about shooting the next lookbook in Puerto Rico so you better find that type of lady out there!
[That's what's up! Got in mind someone already...]
Drop a tease of following and future plans at Skulls Hq.
• Well, working on staying in the US, create the SKULLS HQ in New York, probably Brooklyn, drop a "Japan Collection" in Winter, the new "Red Bottoms" Collection drops in July, the Collection 7 drops in late August, and the Winter collection will be fun too. What else? Well, if everything works out you will be seeing a lot more from SKULLS out there.
Last but not less, tell us about that thing named "DOWNTOWN NYC", I saw something in mint color (niceness) and other green/brown/red ala boys scout (WANTS)
• Yeah, its a new brand I have been art directing and designing too. It's a complete different take than Skulls. its more for the days you want a classic, nice looking good-material hats with a little bit of color pop. Nothing crazy, but super classy. It launched last week and got an amazing good reaction from people all over the world, I'm blessed. The next collection will drop after Summer along with a really amazing watch I'm working on, and I couldn't be happier on the stuff I'm working on. Hope you guys like it.
Side question: Best national and best international Hardcore band?
• I'd say the best Hardcore bands for me, are long gone. National (Spain Hardcore)..mmm... CARRY OUT from 90's. [International / US] Wide Awake is one of my favorites, Earth Crisis "Firestorm" is one of my fave albums ever, an the whole 80's NYC hardcore.... I'm an old school straight edge kid son!
[Fact: Barcelona's SHORTBREAK and Valencia's OWNFIGHT are on my Spain Hardcore top, this blog names is called after a great OWNFIGHT record, very NYHC-influenced]
[Fact: Barcelona's SHORTBREAK and Valencia's OWNFIGHT are on my Spain Hardcore top, this blog names is called after a great OWNFIGHT record, very NYHC-influenced]
Side question: Breadfast at NYC, lunch at BCN, dinner at LAX. Drop the names of dishes and places.
• Breakfast in NY I say "New York Muffins", in Bedford [Brooklyn]. I turned that place into my morning office and their red bagel is just fire. Lunch in Barcelona, I'd say "La Flauta" for the best tapas, or "La Barca de Salamanca" for the best paella. Dinner in LA is a tricky one, as I haven't been paying attention to food that much there, but "Yukos" in the Miracle Mile is always a good option for Asian food!
Last words, shout-outs, disclaimers, side-notes, disses and curses.
• Thanks to all the friends, fam and followers of SKULLS, DOWNTOWN NY and the customers who support the brands. You all are part of this! Catch me in Puerto Rico in August!
[Big Pun is smiling in The Heaven already...]
[Big Pun is smiling in The Heaven already...]
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Check I.J. / SKULLS / DOWNTOWN NYC networks, get into his work, and of course keep lurking around:
Skulls BCN on Tumblr
Downtown NY on Tumblr
Skulls on Facebook
Skulls on Twitter
Instagram: ivanskulls
Thanks to I.J. for his time, we're waiting for August!
