This brand is built different....
On January 2022 many of us witnessed an swarm of young adults and teenagers all sprinting through the streets of Wormwood West London with the hopes of trading in their expensive designer puffer jackets for a 'Bolo' puffer jacket. This event added an even larger fan base to the steady growing brand Corteiz. This event would be known as the “Da Great Bolo Exchange”, an event which participants were instructed to bring their puffer jacket made by designers such as 'Moncler' 'North Face' and 'Stussy' in order to trade it in for an unreleased 'Bolo Corteiz' Puffer Jacket.
Despite only having 50 jackets available, this garnered the attention of hundreds of young adults and teens, which would put the brand on front street for weeks on end, the overall event was put to good cause as the exchanged jackets were donated to homeless charities across London.
This was all well but this raises the question for some who aren't in the know, who or what is Corteiz?
Well you come to the right place, in this edition of CrepTalk, we break down one of the biggest up coming black owned brands in the UK, Corteiz.
Early Days
Honestly, Corteiz is definitely a brand I'm starting to rate, as its early days were started by a young brother that goes by Clint in 2017, not too much is known by Clint, as he usually isn't the type to talk to the 'press' as he rejected doing an interview by 'Vogue'.
However, Clint previously started a brand in 2015, which was known as 'CADE On The Map, which did pretty well but was unfortunately discontinued.
Corteiz initially started by Clint creating various designs from his bedroom with screen printed crew necks, T-shirts and jumpers which had a limited colour selection as the clothes were primarily dawned in baby blue and green.
The brand would then continue to expand its clothing selection as they would produce cargos, balaclavas, and jackets.
The brand's logo is an illustration of the infamous Alcatraz Prison, which sought to represent the nature of Corteiz itself, which is to go against the grain, against the norm and the establishment, a symbol which holds imagery of a rebellious nature.
To be honest Corteiz was definitely those brands that was in the background as I really started to recognise the brand when my boy would wear there t-shirts before basketball workouts back in 2018. Fast forward to 2022, it's one of the most talked about UK brands right now and they're just getting started.
They've got your favourite UK rapper and artist wearing the clothes and they're just beginning to reach the global stage.
If You Know, You Know....
It may seem that Corteiz just got this success overnight, but in actuality, none of this was just overnight, in fact Corteiz has been steady on reaching its status, as the brand has taken a different approach towards marketing their clothes. Corteiz isn't the usual streetwear brand that undertakes conventional promotion and marketing such as Nike or Stussy.
If anything they're the complete opposite.
Corteiz prides itself on being exclusive and having better quality than a lot of brands. As Corteiz doesn't even have an Instagram page, its mainly through word of mouth and secret public drops which are in limited quantity. This first started as in August 2019, Corteiz propelled itself by holding a public t-shirt giveaway in the streets of Central London Soho.
Then again in September 2021, Corteiz had a crowd sprinting through central London to swap their old school travel cards for a 'Bun The Rest' t-shirt.
The exlusivity and limited supply followed by the lack of social media creates a different type hype, which if you're not in the know then don't worry about it, but "If you know, then you know"
This approach sets itself apart from a lot of brands that have tried or are currently in the streetwear fashion sector, as it brings authenticity and substance by not catering to the mainstream ways of streetwear companies portraying to identify with the young market, but you can tell that its just to gain hype and make as much money as they can.
Corteiz however, rejects reselling and makes it a mission to reject the establisment, its not a gentrified streetwear brand that aims to take advantage of hype and reselling, its a brand that specifically markets itself through word of mouth and those who are for the brand. Its self made.
The thing to take away from Corteiz is that it doesnt matter whether your rich and can afford top streetwear brands, its about being authentic and being apart of a community that actually reps UK streetwear and the CULTURE with it.
Influence..
For a brand that doesn't use too much social media, Corteiz has had a lot of influence on the UK streetwear scene, when you see rappers and artists such as Stormzy, Jorja Smith and Central Cee wearing your stuff, your definitely up there, and for the enigmatic Clint starting out from his bedroom in 2017, this must hit different.
I'm not lying when I said this brand is built different, to get a cosign from the great Virgil Abloh without mainstream advertising says something.
The future is bright for this brand I see a lot of success and growth upcoming with this brand. Its refreshing to see a black owned business come up and gain attention this way.
Plus I like Corteiz's aesthetic, there cargo's go well with black air forces, and with me anything that goes well with black air forces is a W.
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