The Hundreds Clothing & Accessories

Founded in 2003, The Hundreds is a unique combination of online-magazine and clothing range, concentrating on urban and street culture. Preaching an all-inclusive ideal, separating the gap between consumer and company, it is, in essence, a brand built on the concept of blogs, fashion, music and attitude.

Its logo is “Adam Bomb” which pretty well sums up their explosive stance and bold designs.

Inspired by various Californian subcultures, The Hundreds has a sun-drenched urban Pacific coast flavour. Its main inspirations coming from the 1980’s surf culture t-shirts and the independent skateboard fashions of the 1990’s.

The Hundreds has an anarchic attitude, coming across strongly in its organic look, a million miles away from the huge labels which are currently cornering the high street.

This is not to say The Hundreds is a small company, collaborating with the likes of Disney, The DeLorean Motor Company and Casio G-Shock, The Hundreds is fast gaining a reputation for quality. The Hundreds has sold limited amounts in many prestigious boutiques around the world and has gained media interest from both The New York Times and L.A. Times. It also has flagship stores in Santa Monica, San Francisco’s Union Square, Los Angeles and New York’s Soho [source].

Their success is built on a refreshing concept, effective marketing and an uncanny ability to be able to relate to their customers. This, in turn, has made it easy for their customers to relate to them by making every possible customer feel as if they are involved in something more than just fashion. In fact the word customer is misleading. Such is the power of their brand the customer, feels more like a part of a movement, an ideal.

In their early days, an almost political manifesto managed to set the company aside from their contemporaries, The Hundreds felt more like a political movement, than a simple brand. Utilising their blog, they kept their ever-growing followers in touch with developments daily, this added to the feeling that they had a say in its development. Certainly a background in journalism was helpful here.

As the company grew, they were shrewd enough to employ every means at their disposal, You Tube frolics, sponsoring skate teams and even throwing huge block parties. The company was organic, grounded and plugged-in. Suddenly, their slogan “The Hundreds is huge” began to ring true.

Despite the fact they are clearly extremely talented businessmen, money is not their prime motive. This, conversely, has had a huge impact in their success. The larger The Hundreds have become, the more they have preached their much repeated motto, “People over product”.

All this is extremely important for something like street wear and is very much evident in their designs. Credibility in something as ubiquitous as urban fashion is a hard thing to achieve, especially when the company becomes as successful as The Hundreds have. It is a thin line to tread and consumers are far more fickle these days with so much choice and information, literally, at their fingertips. However, The Hundreds brand has definitively proven, you can have your cake and eat it if you treat you customers, or should that be followers, with respect. Ideals and creativity, it seems, can be at the centre of a business model [source].

The quality of clothing is very important. The Hundreds do not use cheap dyes and poor materials meaning they look and feel like quality pieces of clothing. In a world of cheap knock-off goods, this helps them stand out amongst the crowd.

The Hundreds Timeline

2001

Bobby Kim was working as a freelance contributor for various magazines when 9/11 occurred. Being something of a death-nail in the print media’s coffin, he began to look for a more stable career and decided to try law [source].

2003

It was while studying law he met Ben Shenassafar. Looking for a creative outlet, they conceived the idea of The Hundreds, a social merchandising company with two sides to it, fashion, retail and style, alongside an online magazine, all with the ideal of “People over product” at its centre. Cleverly, The Hundreds was one of the first urban brands to use a blog to connect with its customers, something now seen as vital for any street wear brand [source].

2007

Come 2007, they had expanded into retail, opening their first flagship store in Los Angeles. This led to them turning in a profit of millions.

2008

In 2008, they launched a hugely popular take on 1980’s footwear [source].

2009

Eyewear was added to the fast-expanding range.

2011

By 2011, The Hundreds had opened its fourth retail store in Santa Monica, California [source].

2013

By 2013, The Hundreds boasts 400 stores in every major city in the world, while its website generates 1,500,000 visitors per month [source].