Leroy Jenkins

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  Men Leroy Jenkins Shirts

Bold and graphic - that's what Leroy Jenkins is all about.

Leroy Jenkins Limited is a unique clothing collection which boasts of tees and hoodies – sometimes with polka dots and sometimes with floral prints. This graphic clothing collection, created by Ron Upperman and Upendo Taylor, has become a favorite of artsy fashionistas.

About the collaboration, Upperman said in highsnobiety.com: “(Upendo) and I spoke about doing a line together in the past and we’ve worked together on a bunch of different projects like art shows, painting collaboration and design project. We’ve always had a good working relationship so it just seemed natural.”

The designer duo, who met in 2001 and created Young Yacht Owners of America, an underground artist collective, have been notorious in fusing their creative juices by means of exhibitions and coloring books like Black Nature. In fact, the graffiti artists-cum-designers have their paintings exhibited at renowned art galleries in New York, such as Jack the Pelican. With the success they received as artists, Upperman believed that creating a clothing line was the “next logical step.”

“Art has always been the driving force of my life. Incorporating my visual style onto fabric was an extension of what I was already doing,” Upperman said.

Being former designers for Akademiks and Ecko Unltd., they didn’t find it hard at all to start a revolutionary clothing line in 2005 – which they named Leroy Jenkins Limited. Leroy Jenkins’ trademark look is an “all-over print” which denotes of humorous yet classy appeal. The design’s approach to collard greens, and ability to tastefully combine old-school floral prints with hoodies and caps – truly makes the label unique. Completing the look is the label’s silhouette logo and notorious polka-dot inseams. Whereas other designers can make these psychedelic design a huge wad of mess, Leroy Jenkins had artistically managed to put the “couture” sense in it.

Regarding the start of the label’s “unique” prints, Upperman said: “Our hoodie idea came up before the over saturated market for all over prints started… I was really feeling the whole cotton non-stretch theme of late 80’s tennis sweat shirts, so I wanted to bring it to another level. Of course at the time we couldn’t afford to have 1000’s of yards of screen printed fabric made for us. So, I went out and sourced a few different floral prints that I liked and we made a few samples.”

The trademark Leroy Jenkins logo, set against a smorgasboard of colors and prints.

Although it borderlines fetish obsession, Upperman considers the “everyday woman of the urban streets” as her inspiration. The woman’s mannerism, body, and accessories take center stage in his creations.

Because of Leroy Jenkins’ strong fashion sense, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it has managed to collaborate with a number of bigtime labels, including Burton Snowboards. The label’s romantic story with the skateboarding magnate began when Upperman saw Burton Snowboards’ CEO Jack Burton sporting a colorful Leroy Jenkins jacket. Upperman introduced himself as the designer, and the rest is fashion fusion history.

Seemingly unstoppable, Leroy Jenkins has also forged friendships with Majestic – a Major League Baseball brand, Royal Elastics shoes, Music Skins, and J Dilla watches. The duo has also done some branding and logo redesign for sports drink giant Gatorade.

Leroy Jenkins merchandise can be obtained through the following stores: Union (New York), Bodega (Boston), Lion’s Den (Los Angeles), Wish (Atlanta) and Black Rainbow and Gyoza (Paris).

For more info about this graphic clothing collection, visit www.leroyjenkinslimited.com.