XLARGE Est. 1991
XLARGE began in November 1991. The very first XLarge store opened in Los Angeles on Vermont Ave, a street in which a scene had already been developed. It was a combination of skateboarding, hip-hop, art, and cultural changes that were happening in the early 90’s.
There were a few other shops that sold similar products, but XLarge was the only store that had everything from Ben Davis to Carhartt, Adidas to Puma and an original line of clothing with a utilitarian flavor. The line was named XLarge, a combination of Gen X and Living Large, a descriptive term for the oversized baggy jeans they made.
XLarge is the first street label to use the gorilla or monkey as a logo, long before many of the other similar streetlabels that came after XLarge. While merchandising all of these products together, the store began to present a unique style and perspective, a representation of utilitarian-wear as fashion as opposed to everyday wear. Soon the XLarge style became a “look” for many. XLarge had it all, a shop with its own concept and its own line of clothes.
The most popular items created by XLarge were the baseball caps and original T-shirts. You can arguably say that XLarge, along with other earlier brands, were the first to raise the T-shirt as a coveted wardrobe piece. Along side FUCT, Freshjive, and Stussy, XLarge is one of the founding brands of streetwear. Soon celebrities like Ice Cube and Mike D were seen wearing XLarge clothing.
Of course, you can’t talk about the early days of XLarge without talking about Mike D of the Beastie Boys. Mike helped Eli Bonerz and Adam Silverman in creating a unique concept for XLarge. XLarge however was and continues to be the brainchild of Eli Bonerz, from first conception to final execution. Blending skateboarding, hip-hop, and art culture together, XLarge made an original style of fashion out of the mix. After 16 years, XLarge remains an innovator and pioneer in streetwear. XLarge is still bringing worlds together today. XLarge opened a gallery space in their flagship store in L.A. called the “Upstairs Gallery”. The likes of London Police, Dez Einswell, Tim Barber, Logan Hicks, Andy Howell, Angry Woebots, and other artists are all part (or will be a part) of this highly talked about gallery series. In conjunction with the gallery shows, the artists will be doing special limited collaborations with XLarge as well. Stay tuned for more exciting things to come from XLarge.
‘The origination of the design is basically this: as David explained the project to me, it was clear that he wanted me to work with the original logo, so using that as the parameter, I worked with the two elements that I think represent Addict ® most to me: camouflage and graffiti. And although our original logo says ‘clothing’ at the bottom, I decided to switch it to ‘Originators’ because I think its more a fitting term to represent what all the participants - Addict ®, Xlarge, Fuct, Freshjive - have been making since day one.
We are really psyched to be part of this project...and thank you guys for including us.‘
The Originator Series...
Well over ten years ago we were sat around reading a magazine article about the birth of ‘streetwear’ in the USA. The story documented the significance and importance of Sean Stussy and three other Californian based brands who all played their part in defining the genre we live and work in today, namely Freshjive, X-Large and Fuct.
Already dedicated fans, we decided we wanted to do something like that and hatched a plan to create a UK based clothing company that we hoped one day would sit shoulder to shoulder alongside its US counterparts. Over the years, and after many trade shows and regular visits to the US the plan has become a reality and we’ve become good friends with those same brands who first inspired us, helping each other out in whatever way we can.
With so many new clothing companies establishing themselves worldwide under the ‘streetwear’ moniker, we here at Addict wanted to pay our respect to the originators who were around from day one and inspired us to do what we do to this day and helped lay the path for so many other brands to follow over the years!
The ‘Originator series’ is based on the re-use of the early graphic identity of Freshjive, X-Large and Fuct all mixed in with a healthy dose of Addict!
