Established in 2003, REBEL8 is a San Francisco basedclothin company deeply rooted in the skateboard, graffiti, and tattoo cultures. The REBEL8 products is one of the last authentic streetwear brands remaining that incorporate original artistic works within their pieces. Most images inside the REBEL8 product line are hand illustrated, with no computer produced enhancements or manipulations. The man behind this original artwork at REBEL8 is the legendary tattoo and graffiti artist Mike Giant.
Joshy D. and Mike Giant met in the late 1990’s in San Francisco’s then bustling graffiti scene. Josh ran the well-known graffiti website, HiFiArt, and Mike was among the city’s most notorious writers. Years later, and having had some experience with a earlier apparel venture, Josh approached Mike about making a handful of t-shirt graphics. Mike agreed, and with $500 a small batch of tee shirts was made. Josh sold those shirts from a messenger bag around the city, and REBEL8 was born.
Today, Joshy D runs the company and Mike Giant sees to the art as REBEL8 finds itself expanding in many creative directions at once. Now an internationally recognizable brand, REBEL8 is still committed to the communities from which it comes, and tries to reinforce its distinctive way of life with just about every product.
The Spring 2012 line from San Francisco’s finest REBEL8 is ready, and available now at streetcasuals.com. This season, Mike Giant and Joshy D have answered a lot of the public’s pleas, they’ve slimmed down the pricey cut & sew, come out with some reasonably priced fleece options and accompanied them with a succinct series of graphic T-shirts and plenty of snapbacks to chose from.
T-shirt wise, meet ‘Talisa’ which features tattooed model Talisa Monet covered in the Mike Giant tattoo style which we have all come to know and like, chicks and body art what’s not to like, for which REBEL8 is generally recognised. ‘Bare Bones’ is also a highlight piece of Mike Giant illustration featuring snakes, skulls and flowers. While the 8 lives graphic t-shirt looks back at ancient school some would say Russian visual style: seek, strike, ruin by any means necessary!
The snapback cap selection see’s the welcome return of some mesh back variations of classic brand carriers such as the R8 logoand All City cap but normal variations are still included. The Scout snapback is an oustanding new raw denim inclusion to the collection using a clean woven branding mark on the front crown. All the snapbacks feature the signature Rebel8 branding under the peak of the cap.
See the full Spring 2012 Rebe8 collection here on streetcasuals.com