![]() “Jerry and Fear of God are an amazing driver of basketball culture and the industry globally,” Wise says. It felt like a takedown of the luxury proposition.” “And if the other pillar is a diffusion, you lose some honesty in that. ![]() “I think it gets hard for us to communicate through just one pillar,” Lorenzo reflects. Lorenzo experimented with a diffusion line, called F.O.G., five years ago but switched to Essentials in 2018. For us was something that was necessary, something that would allow us to authentically communicate with more people.” Affordable luxury doesn’t have to mean diffusion “I just follow the convictions of what I know, what I really feel like we need to do. Marc Jacobs launched Heaven, a new Gen Z-focused DTC brand,in 2020, complete with its own store (his previous lower-priced line Marc by Marc Jacobs closed in 2015).Īre Fear of God and other brands risking brand dilution? “In all honesty, I just don’t worry about what other luxury brands should or shouldn’t do,” Lorenzo says. Christopher Kane’s affordable More Joy label is a strong seller, helping to support the high-end label through Covid-19. Delivering on our own time allows us to do that.” It’s not all do-as-you-please: Essentials follows a more regular drop pattern.Ī growing number of mid-size luxury brands are launching secondary, more affordable labels to boost their bottom line and, sometimes, help out the luxury core business. We want the product and the story to always take priority. “I think as soon as you get caught up in a system, the system takes precedence over the products, over the messaging. “Covid reinforced that how we’re operating is really in line with how the world is - ever-changing,” says Lorenzo. “It’s just about being a company that always has compassion and empathy for the present moment.This approach has worked out just fine. “We wanted to make sure that this collection is never numb or neutral to the times that we’re living in, whether that’s a result of COVID-19 or social injustice,” he concludes. “It’s about creating the best basics-the best hoodie, the best sweatpants, and with the best shape, proportion, and weight.”Īt the same time, the causes Lorenzo believes in will always be the starting point. “In my opinion, Essentials is actually an exercise in sustainability,” Lorenzo explains. In order to continue supporting these important causes, Lorenzo is keen to emphasize the importance of longevity, as opposed to the more fleeting, faddish attitude of streetwear labels looking to make a quick buck. Last year, after rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot outside his store in Los Angeles, the brand produced a T-shirt with 100% of proceeds going to Hussle’s children’s trust fund after the killing of George Floyd just last month, Fear of God launched a collaborative T-shirt with the help of eight other brands to do the same for Floyd’s daughter. Lorenzo’s actions speak as loudly as his words. “A lot of people were put off by the price points without having the education of why the prices were what they were, without understanding the nuances of the construction or the fabrics and materials that go into creating luxury.” “When we first started Essentials five years ago, in all honesty, my heart was in creating a diffusion collection for the kids that couldn’t afford what we were doing at a luxury level,” Lorenzo explains over the phone from his studio in Los Angeles. But for its founder, Jerry Lorenzo, launching the label in 2013 marked the beginning of a far more personal journey-and one that reached a logical conclusion with the launch of Essentials, a more competitively priced sister label to Fear of God’s signature pieces, in 2018. The rapid ascent of Fear of God to become one of streetwear’s most dynamic, agenda-setting labels is often ascribed to its support from the likes of Kanye West and Justin Bieber, as well as its collaborations with everyone from Nike to Ermenegildo Zegna.
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