Started in 2003
REBEL8 is a San Francisco based clothing brand with roots in the skateboarding, tattoos, graffiti cultures. The company is run by Joshy D, and Mike Giant. The two met in the early 90s during the bustling San Francisco Graffiti scene. Josh at the time ran the popular website HiFiArt, while Mike was one of San Francisco's prolific writers.
The company is the definition of grinding and hustling your way to the top. The company was started with a measly $500 USD! After convincing Mike, Josh would pedal the streets to sell the wares while Mike would supply the graphics. A short seven year later
REBEL8 is now an internationally recognized brand which has done collaborations with Vans, and another up and coming San Francisco brand Benny Gold.
One of the more unique aspects of
REBEL8 is that ALL of their graphics are hand drawn by Mike Giant. In this day of Photoshop and Illustrator, that's almost unheard of. So what you ultimately get is a unique reproduction of an original Mike Giant art piece. This was probably one of the more interesting detail about
REBEL8 and its one of the main reasons I have been a fan of their work.
Someone once told me "Your clothes define you." I guess if it really did A kid that grew up listening to metal, dabbled in rap, went to art school, immersed himself in the 77 Punk Rock revival, has a love for Skinhead Reggae would fit perfectly in REBEL8.
When you look at a
REBEL8 design there is a rawness to it that is quite appealing. Their work and designs also crosses genre lines. You can be Hip Hop or Punk Rock and not get second looks from would be "purists" when wearing a tee like the the
Muerte Tee (pictured above) Most of the designs remind me of the old Suicidal Tendencies days with a little bit of Sailor Jerry sprinkled in. Two things that I have always been a fan off growing up in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. So, Yes, I'm a fan of REBEL8 and you should be too!
For more information on REBEL8 visit their site here or follow their Twitter at twitter.com/rebel8
Also visit MikeGiant.com for more information on Mike Giant and a sampling of his work.
These amazing posters are available on http://shop.rebel8.com/
