Once Upon A Time In New York

The We Run line's hat collection.

It all started in the blessed year of 2003. A kid, Daniel Silberman, inspired by the “do it yourself” attitude preached with arduous strength by the devoted hip-hopers, made some tees and walked into Union. His move started the streetwear line that is known today as Once Upon A Time in New York.

The founder of the clothing brand speaks of himself with irony. He declares for Format Magazine that he is the company’s janitor: “My role with Once Upon A Time is to fix everything that is not working.” However, the humble beginnings of the brand, which now holds contracts with Conveyor Fred Segal, Brooklyn Projects, Karmaloop and other exclusive boutiques worldwide as retailers, paint a different picture. The small, but creative team leaded by Daniel Silberman started out by screen-printing some shirts for their friends in a small apartment. The reactions were great and the boys took it one step forward. After printing 1000 tees in Los Angeles, the best stores selling streetwear accepted to introduce their work to the public.

A We Run line's tee.

If we take into consideration that Once Upon A Time was created with the ambitious aim to combine the old New York with today’s on the run culture, it is easy to guess the style embraced by the brand’s creative team of designers. The influences and inspiration came from skateboarding, hip-hop, punk and the melancholic stories of the old New York. Silberman is very proud of his hardworking team: “We are blessed to have a great team at Once Upon A Time. Matt is our warehouse manager. Jose, Edgar and Frank are in charge of our shipping. Sarah is in charge of accounting. Alina does our designs along with Luis and Mark James handles the consulting part of our business.”

The name of the streetwear brand is inspired by Silberman’s favorite movie – “Once Upon a Time in America with Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro and James Wood.”  The music played by legend hip hop artists like Jay Z, Biggie or Wu-Tang was yet another great source of inspiration for the label. In fact, tees with the sad but true inscriptions like ”If Notorious BIG was alive, 90% of rappers today would be working at McDonalds” sold like crazy.

“If Notorious BIG was alive, 90% of rappers today would be working at McDonalds” TEE

The We Run streetwear line was yet another smashing success for the guys at Once Upon A Time. Launched in 2005, the line features tees dedicated to various cities across America. The philosophy behind the line is revealed in a short bold statement on the company’s website (shopwerun.com): “Through the We Run design we tell the story of who we are, what we believe in, and where we’re about to go. The We Run brand is carried by the world’s most exclusive boutiques and we continue to have the support of people who want to rep their city worldwide.”

The label has also celebrity support. The Game, ThreeSixMafia, Mark Ronson and Jay-Z are just a few of the artists supporting the line. HipHop Weekly, Source, 411, Scratch, Ozone, Ocean Drive, Complex, Inside Fashion World, Woofin, Trace and 212 are some of the magazines that wrote in laudatory terms of the brand.

The guys at Once Upon A Time have big plans for the future. They want to expand the business and be more than just a streetwear clothing brand. In 2009, they have only cut and sew pieces – anything from denim to jackets and shirts. And their focus is now on their accessory line with jewelry and bags.