01/29/2026
BACKSTORY: Where do I start? There’s a lot that can be said about a T-Shirt. This particular T-Shirt “Geisha Girl” is part of the story of Streetwear in the golden days of Streetwear. SUBFREAKIE was founded in 1995 and grew organically through sweat and hustle. Eventually this brand found itself sitting alongside all of the venerable brands at the time both US and European as well as Japan (none of the usual suspects like Bape, Supreme, etc were known in the mid 2000’s) on some of the most important shelves like Union NY / LA, Ron Herman, ALife, Colette, VICE, Hideout and online with DG…etc. You had to be there to understand this significance. Fun fact: in 1996 I designed this Tshirt based on a Hanes BVD Purple label for Subfreakie and it was the foundation of the American Apparel 2001 that was in the rotation for many years. I designed the very first AA catalog for Dov while working out of Rick Klotz apartment in Weho, so this is essentially the very first American Apparel Tee to be used in street. The Packaging was made custom for Subfreakie by a SF company called vacu-sac and was a Vacuum sealed pack that kept the tees fresh while on display…since then there have been many copies but there’s never been a duplicate (zoom in) it’s uncanny that that is was the brand tagline almost 28 years ago now.
