Philly Plain Dealer

Fashion on its own is an ongoing revolving door as we know it. It seems like there is never a dull moment when it comes to what people are wearing.   

Philadelphia’s a city with a unique identity and very specific trends that are often overlooked compared to its neighboring cities such as the District of Columbia and New York City. Some of the more common clothing you might see is Dickies pants, New balance shoes, Nike tracksuits and other activewear brands, DC Skate brand apparel, local restaurant apparel, ski masks at any time of year, and a clean Hanes white t-shirt. 

People are stylish in Philadelphia. You can catch people in almost every look you can think of, but, as a city widely known for its sports teams, music and its growing dining scene. In terms of the future of the city, where is Philadelphia heading in terms of fashion and clothing? Will it ever be able to establish itself as a fashion forward city ? It seems as though Philadelphia is a city whose fashion identity is still unknown.  

Challenges

In the city, getting luxury brands can be more difficult. One will most likely have to go to vintage boutiques or go to second hand resale shops . All big name luxury brands are located at King Of Prussia mall, which is about a 45 minute to an hour drive from the city. Secondly, there are not enough bigger brands collaborating with the smaller native brands or the community. Lastly, other small brand owners believe there’s an intimidation factor, that people in Philadelphia need to take the risks in starting a clothing brand.

 “There’s a lot of talented people here , a lot of people are afraid to take risks, people tend to hop on what’s trending. There needs to be a mindset shift. Having that shift will be a game changer for the city,” Said Saeed Ferguson, Founder and Owner of AllCaps Studio

 One thing that is for certain in Philadelphia, is the smaller independent brands are on the come up in terms of what you see in everyday wear amongst the people of this city.  

Adam Netburn, Mario Hietman and Ben Hodge have just opened their new clothing store “Sidewalk Store”, on South Street . All the clothing and garments are handmade in Philadelphia. The goal of the store was to put out clothes that are well made. This means quality construction from sustainable sources, being as transparent as possible about their quality materials and well thought out designs. Additionally, the young trio acquired this space to connect with people as well, and to invite people to come in hangout and create a sense of community. 

“One thing that I’ve learned is that Philly appreciates quality. I’ve noticed this across the board for every demographic, most people want quality, they all want their stuff to feel sturdy, they love colors and they want different stuff. Every single person across the board, whether they just moved here, or  are someone who’s from here, ” Said Netburn  

 On the side, Adam Netburn has his own small brand “Chalk Press” which he has been working on for the last 5 years. He screenprints shirts, cuts and sews fabrics, works with embroidery,  works with dyed clothing, and works with other garments. Mario Hietman specializes in airbrushing with his brand “Hieromarr”. Hietman relayed  how he used to hand paint on canvas and that when he got introduced to airbrushing, that it was the right change for him. “It was super smooth and cut like butter. The feeling of it and speed of it, I could never paint as fast as my brain was thinking,”.

Mario bought a car and airbrushed the whole vehicle. The intention was for the car to be his canvas. It ended up becoming a branding tool, allowing him to be noticed throughout the city and ended up Philly viral. “There’s very few others in the world doing airbrush stuff like this, like Atticus for example. Another well known airbrush artist located in New York City. The others are doing stuff like this, this type of vibe. It’s nice that through the internet I can meet some of the other artists like me doing this and connect the dots,” Said Hietman

Netburn, a Drexel University Graduate, used to work at the Totem shop as a buyer and manager of the shop.Totem is a shop with two sides, one providing outdoor gear and clothing and the other providing mainly japanese denims and other semi streetwear brand garments. He noticed overtime that the people attracted to the store would come in looking for certain fashion items and would leave disappointed because they expected things that weren’t there, and that was the reality of it. 

“People walk around Rittenhouse Square looking for people wearing Rick Owens but they can’t appreciate the old head wearing a Kangol hat and wearing a nice outfit. Half the time I’m walking around in baggy clothes and a newsboy outfit and I’m getting compliments . A lot of  people like different types of fashion out here,” Said Netburn

In short, Netburn described his view on Philadelphia fashion identity as casual and livable. A lot of the time in these stores there may not be upscale or luxury items that people are expecting. Through media and word of mouth Adam and Mario are hoping that people will feel welcome to their store and see their contribution to making Philadelphia a fashion forward city. 

In the same breath, Adam and Mario paid homage to AllCaps Studio, another small clothing brand in Philadelphia run by Philly native Saeed Ferguson. 

“Philly often gets overshadowed by the bigger cities.. There’s a lot of passion and talent in the city, a lot of people often leave the city, because it didn’t meet their expectations,” Said Ferguson 

AllCaps Studio is a clothing brand that is focused on fostering community and positivity through its branding. AllCaps Studio has gained a lot of traction in a small amount of time. Saeed and his team have done this by doing things out of the norm. Ferguson’s AllCaps Studio has collaborated with Nike in a running club series called “Forward Motion”, they have had a small event with New Balance, they’ve been featured in the “Hypebeast” Magazine, have spoken on panels, and with youth at Philadelphia schools, and other collaborations. The brand also frequently collaborates with community businesses on hosting social events.All things that very few of the other small brands in the city have accomplished. 

Interestingly enough, Saeed never studied to be a business entrepreneur or designer either, he just made all of this happen. 

AllCaps Studio came about in 2018, by mistake. Originally the Philadelphia native sought out for the brand to be a fashion photography business, but it became difficult in Philadelphia as the city is very limited in who you can work with in that field. Previously, he worked at Ps & Qs, a local retail store staple for almost 10 years. 

“I had to go through this learning curve, a hard learning curve. I’m technically not a designer. Fashion is fast, but you have to make sure the ideas are good. In my eyes I felt like I was creating the worst things and would always have to go back to the drawing board. I felt like I was having imposter syndrome. From 2020-2022 was a rough time in terms of that. I’ve only recently been comfortable with designing,” Said Ferguson

The AllCaps Studio founder relayed how Philadelphia’s never really had access to things like in  New York City, where everything is at your fingertips. Saeed expressed how truly difficult it is to get your hands on specifically the luxury brands and overseas accessories or garments that people are seeking more than ever today.  

“Even as a kid in highschool there were like these airmaxes you needed to have, eventually that pivoted to streetwear was also really small at the time, there were really like two streetwear stores, Attmos (previously) Ubiq and then Atticus. If you weren’t wearing that stuff you were wearing like Hollister and Abercrombie, a lot of mainstream brands. Then it became the mainstream brands mixed with the streetwear brands. So now in the present day it’s like you have so much fusion you got the streetwear mixed in with the mainstream mixed with the luxury. Like New Balances shoes with Kapital jeans and a Polo shirt,” Said Ferguson

Saeed believes the future of Philly fashion is going to be heavily influenced by sportswear. Brands like NewBalance, Nike and Under Armour will lead the charge along with the independent smaller clothing brands. These two together are going to be heavily influencing a lot of people in the city and are going to be shaping the identity of the fashion here. 

“ With more people moving to the city, there will be more small independent brands. But the bigger mainstream brands will take a risk which will eventually create more jobs and bring more money to the city. As of now I believe the urban outfitters company here is the largest creative platform doing that but it’s limited. This can work but it’s gonna take some time, but the city has a bright future in terms of what can be,” Said Ferguson