15 Best American Streetwear Brands Right Now

Gregory Babcock
Updated

Here we go.

No matter who we chose for this list, someone, somewhere is going to be salty that their favorite brand wasn't picked. But as we look at the complicated history that streetwear has had—especially as it continues to evolve and change its relationship with other aspects of the fashion industry at large—we wanted to isolate the biggest, best, and most impactful labels to streetwear's current state (whatever that is).

With new labels cropping up literally every day, you'll find some obvious classics (and few surprises) among the names on this list. But as streetwear becomes even harder to define, we wanted to give shine to those who established the industry, added a unique flavor, and turned it into the influential juggernaut that it is today—all coming from within these 50 states.

Take a deep breath, these are the 15 Best American Streetwear Brands Right Now.


  • Undefeated

    L.A.'s true streetwear OGs, there's little to say about Undefeated that hasn't been said already. While Eddie Cruz's brainchild has produced season after season of streetwear staples for well over a decade, the line predates several of the labels on this list by years—innovating a mentality that focused on the streetwear basics and has risen to include collaborations with adidas, Bape, Nike, Neighborhood, Patta, Supreme, and several other of the industry's biggest and brightest. You can't even argue that the brand doesn't adapt, keeping in mind the label's recently launched “Technical Goods” collection. Putting L.A. streetwear on the map, even if you don't anything from Undefeated's storied catalog, you need to bow down to the power of the “five strikes.”


  • Deer Dana

    As much a sketchbook of pop culture icons as it is an apparel company, Deer Dana comes direct from the minds of Dana Veraldi and Kevin Tekinel. The brand taps it unique art style to place hand drawn likenesses of everyone from Larry David to Michael Jordan on tees, totes and towels (just to name a few). With each shirt hand printed the pair's Brooklyn-based LQQK Studio, there's an personal touch that's embedded in each T-shirt, making their simplified product offering as diverse as the personalities that they've featured. Their incredible roster of cool friends, including Supreme's Angelo Baque, not to mention collabs with everyone from adidas to Uber, and there's no reason Deer Dana shouldn't be on your radar.


  • 10.Deep

    Brooklyn-based 10.Deep has a storied spot in the game. Surviving through the Karmaloop era of streetwear and staying true to its roots even today, the brand—in the words of founder Scott Sasso—produces “good looking, good quality, reasonably priced product.” That doesn't mean it's skimping on the details though, with each collection embodying what is current and what is trending in the ever evolving realm of streetwear. With attractive an on-point collections that are on offer even today—like the brand's Fall 2015 entry into its reoccurring “VCTRY” collection, or the flannels and Malcolm-X graphics from the “Chaos Theory” Fall 2015 collection—10.Deep may have time in the game, but it's far from worn out.


  • Billionaire Boys Club

    Starting in 2005, Billionaire Boys Club benefited from the popularity of Pharrell and Nigo's Bape—bringing the flavor of the Japanese brand to the shores of America. A skate team and a variety of offshoot lines, and BBC has been in business for over a decade. As one of the most iconic brands of the mid-to-late 2000's in terms of hip-hop style, it's a brand that's been flexible over the years. As the brightly graphic style it pioneered faded from popularity, it has transformed and reworked itself into a brand that's created an upscale offering via Bee Line, coveted monochromatic Timbs, and key collaborations that have benefited from Pharrell's pop culture resurgence and the brand's history. Is it the biggest brand on this list? Not necessarily. But we know that, even today, you can recognize the brand's “Moonman” when you see him.


  • Concepts

    Sure, a Freebanz collaboration collection helped reignite wider interest in Concepts, but the Massachusetts-based shop has been churning out well-timed collabs (most notably in the world of sneakers) for years now. Majorly coveted collaborations with Asics, New Balance, and Nike make sure it cements its spot among sneakerheads, but with a conceptual (pun not intended) collaboration with Mitchell & Ness, to sit alongside it's seasonal apparel offerings, it's a reminder that sneakers aren't the only thing it can flourish on. It may not be as big as megabrand Chanel, but you know those interlocking “C"s when you see them.


  • Born x Raised

    If you've ever wanted to dress like you're from the mean streets of Compton in the '90s, this is your brand. Paying homage to L.A. both past and present, Born x Raised utilizes OG "olde English" typefaces to critique gentrifying L.A., while recognizing it's gritty past—earning more credibility when you realize the brand was first conceived while co-founder Spanto was incarcerated. Gaining buzz early buzz after support from Prodigy, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples, the brand has grown to reach the wardrobes of names like Kendrick Lamar, and can be found L.A. menswear shop Union LA. As the name implies, it's a brand that's just about paying homage to the place where you're born and raised—warts and all. Making fire tees, well, that's just an added bonus.


  • Richardson

    To be honest, the streetwear aspect of the Richardson brand is more of a companion to the cult erotic art magazine. That said, that doesn't stop big names like Rihanna from wearing the brand out in public. Supported with installations at stores like Dover Street Market, the collection's line of juvenile-but-witty pieces (which include T-shirts, coaches jackets, towels, a pair of jeans, and a penis-shaped incense burner) have earned a low-key following among NYC's in-the-know. Sure it's not a brand that you could wear around your parents, but its smart collaborations—like one with artist Richard Prince—great store sponsorships, and smartly-concocted apparel make it one of streetwear's best sleeper hits.


  • Anti Social Social Club

    An air of mystery surrounds a number of the brands on this list, but few can match the enigmatic nature of Anti Social Social Club. A home for dad caps as much as graphic T-shirts, Stussy affiliate Neek Lurk's brand is probably the closest thing to seeing a cool teen's Tumblr feed to come to life as an apparel line. The brand's website is a bizarrely abstract (yet intriguing) with most products having unrelated titles and nearly no information about what the product is. Some examples include the “What Do You Mean” and the “Never Gonna Give You Up” coaches jackets.

    Of course, like anything with an insane amount of hype, each piece sells out almost immediately, and every single item on the brand's site is currently sold out—yes, this includes the $20,000 2012 Toyota Prius. Worn on the backs (and heads) of rappers like Travis Scott, you can bet this mysterious brand isn't going anywhere.


  • Brain Dead

    Kyle Ng's lowkey skate-inspired label is one of streetwear's best new brands. A spot on the shelves at Union Los Angeles, and stints at NYC's Nepenthes and Kinfolk in the past year have helped to increase the label's notoriety among skaters and streetwear fans alike. Known for it's post-punk, almost “hand-screened” graphic appearance, the label examines culture at-large with a perspective that's reminiscent of Raf Simons and Supreme—while still remaining uniquely dark and humorous. While “skatewear” brands are becoming the more and more common, thanks in large part to the popularity of brands like Dime, Palace, and Supreme; Brain Dead stands out as a label that's inspired by the culture, without devoting itself wholly to skateboarding.


  • Bianca Chandôn

    Alex Olson's Bianca Chandôn has been one of 2015's fastest rising brands, quickly escalating to levels that puts it in the company of brands like Palace, and Dime. Sure, Olson's history as a skater gives the line a seat among skatewear's biggest and brightest, but it's far more than that. With a collection dedicated to honoring the memory of DJ Larry Levan and the famous Paradise Garage, the brand is as much an homage to underground skating as it is the hazy aesthetic of Tom Bianchi. Olson admits that he keeps stock low to emulate the experience of buying a hard-to-find vinyl record, but while that's rounding out the brand's allure, it's unwittingly putting it in the same “high-demand and highly-coveted” company as early Stussy and Supreme.


  • Stampd

    Stampd is a brand that may have been considered simply “streetwear,” but now, it's hard to isolate it to just that category. As one of the forerunners of the monochromatic streetwear aesthetic, the brand is host to a variety of popular pieces, including its sellout “Strapped Bomber,” biker-style jeans, and longline, baseball-like tailed shirting. It's one of the faces of the L.A. fashion boom that's hosted names like John Elliott, and with a recent shoutout as one of GQ's “Best New Menswear Designers in America” (and the accompanying Gap collaboration collection) Chris Stamp's darker aesthetic is receiving the nationwide attention it deserves. With a rapidly evolving luxury-meets-streetwear style, it wouldn't be shocking to see the brand stretch well beyond its humble L.A. roots in the coming seasons.


  • Supreme

    There's a lot of brands that, if not included here, would cause a public outcry (perhaps there's an omission here that's inspired that vitriol regardless). But not having Supreme on a list of the greatest American streetwear brands? That would be a travesty.

    It's not the originator of the style, but when you're trying to define what a streetwear brand is (and what it could be), NYC's Supreme is the template. The brand makes sellout collections season after season, each with new ideas or reworked concepts that pay homage to everything from politics to high and low art. Outside of Nike and Jordan, it's a brand that's almost single-handedly created and fostered the online reselling culture that's so pervasive today.

    As streetwear has infiltrated more layers of the fashion industry, the box logo is bigger than ever before…and it's only getting bigger. That's not even mentioning the number of lines and labels that have spun off from those who have been apart of the Supreme machine since its start in 1994. Love them or hate them, Supreme's here to stay—get used to it.


  • Kith

    Ronnie Fieg has been cautious with how he's built Kith. Focusing on collaborations tying in then-under-utilized brands like Asics and New Balance, he's crafted a retail empire that's extended beyond (but remained loyal) the sneaker-centric crowds of Kith's earliest adopters. With his revamped SoHo location nearing its first birthday, a brand new Brooklyn shopfront, and a Los Angeles shopfront opening at the top of 2015, Fieg and company are “all systems go” when it comes to expanding the Kith name. He's even brought the brand direct to a global audience vis-a-vis his "Sakura Project" in Japan. Selling coveted labels like Helmut Lang, Off-White, and Norse Projects in his stores, collaborating with the New York Yankees (yes, those Yankees), and running his own Kith-branded line…well, Kith is a lot more than just a few friends and a few pairs of “Mercer” jogger pants.


  • Stussy

    While Supreme has taken the mantle as the biggest and most notorious American streetwear brand, it wouldn't have anything without the innovation and foresight of Shawn Stussy. As '90s contemporaries like Mossimo came and went, Stussy stayed the course, with the brand's earlier days focusing on keeping tight control on product—utilizing a retail mentality that's akin to Supreme's current model. As the brand grew slowly over the decades, it became arguably the definition of what a streetwear brand can become—while still maintaining its roots. Now with smartly positioned collaborations with shops like Très Bien and Dover Street Market, the once cult streetwear brand has broadened its appeal to some of high fashion's biggest retailers. Stussy's been had streetwear, well before it was ever an industry. Don't expect that to change any time soon.


  • Polo Ralph Lauren

    The odd man out. The exception to prove the rule. Is Polo a streetwear label by design? Absolutely not. But has it become one? We'd like to think so.

    Starting with the cult-like devotion to the label in the '90s, Polo and it's Lo Head disciples brought Ralph Lauren's luxury onto the streets, making it not just a signifier of affluence and wealth, but also an early predecessor to the combination of high fashion and streetwear that is impossible not to see today. As Kanye West's infamous “IT AIN'T RALPH THO” rang out across the country via Sway's morning show, it reminded us all that Lauren's signature ability lies in creating—not just a line—but a lifestyle of products. There's no doubt that—at some point—almost all of the brands that are (and aren't) on this list have tried to emulate Lauren's designs at some point throughout their respective histories. Sure, Polo was always meant to be a sporty offshoot of its designer's runway line; but when you have cats like Rack-Lo making a “sport” out of getting their hands on the gear to look incredible in the streets, it's hard not to consider the label as one of streetwear's all time greatest brands.

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