The 11 Southern Streetwear Brands I’m Watching for 2012.

For those of you that are new to the website, let me give you a mini-history lesson before we get into the meat of this post:

About six years ago I was introduced to the institution of streetwear by a now defunct store in my hometown called B’ZAR.

My life’s mission after that chance meeting (and subsequent purchase of mint and khaki Creative Recreation sneakers) was to create a Southern version of OBEY and 10.Deep, and as such the Brown Derby Haberdashery was born. Well $5000 and a couple bad experiences later, I found out the hard way that everyone with a lil’ pocket change and a dream doesn’t automatically become the next big thing.

My focus after that was to create a website dedicated to educating the Southern streetwear enthusiast and entrepreneur because Lord knows I didn’t want my people to go through what I when through. Four years after the creation of the H1GHER LEARNING website, I have again shifted my focus from purely writing for and about Southern based things to doing my best to enlightened all of #StreetwearNation. The exclusion of knowledge isn’t good for the kind of business I want to conduct in life.

BUT at the heart, I’m a Southern apologist and I’ll always have a soft spot for streetwear brands based below the Mason-Dixon line. However today I wanted to highlight a couple (well, eleven) Southern brands I’m looking to see make positive moves in this, the year of 2012.

22 comments

Pam says:

Jan 16, 2012

Nameus clothing should be on the list hands down. Nameusclothing.com

KJ says:

Sam is a pretty cool dude, no doubt, but why should Nameus be a brand I’m on the lookout for?

Mike says:

Jan 17, 2012

no matrimoney..they got like 15k followers on twitter

Much love to Matriomoney because it is an awesome brand (Texas stand up!). I have written about them on H1GHER before. But please don’t think that because they aren’t on this list I wish them harm. These are just the 11 brands that I’m most interested in seeing what happens to them over the next year. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to cover anyone else. Make sense?

Kunivaa says:

What about Barely Broke Intellects repbbi.com

Can’t be on the lockout for someone I’ve never heard of, ya know? Besides, from what I just read–they are not based in the Southeast so unfortunately they wouldn’t qualify for this post.

kunivaa says:

I enjoy your ethics in blogging, but they’re a pretty solid upcoming brand, they use to advertise on AshleyOutrageous and I’ve seen it on Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab Soul and Oktane from Audio Push. Any who, I visit regularly and would say the brands you featured are good as well.

I didn’t say they WEREN’T a good brand, they just didn’t meet the criteria of this post (being based in the South). And by the way, if you really want to make an impression on me concerning where you advertise: send some money my way and promote your brand on H1GHER LEARNING–so I know it’s real.

I just put them in your search box You wrote a post about them being in niche? I think you did a great job but I’ve been following your site but it just seems like you keep writing about the same boring brands they don’t really have anything exciting. But it’s just my opinion I’m sure you know more than me about these things

You make a very valid point Pam, I do have a handful of brands that I write about on a consistant basis. But that’s only because they are always doing something interesting or releasing new product. I will have add in my defense though, that I do my best to keep abreast of new brands and I am one of the few creditable sources that prides itself on continually showcase up-and-coming companies (hence, how I got in touch with Sam at Nameus). But at the end of the day content is king, and if a brand doesn’t send me anything (of quality) I can’t post it. #KanyeShrug

And they have a great lookbook on their blog!

Grant says:

So happy to be a part of this list. Thank you.

Thanks for doing dope work!

VIDEO: Introducing “Barely Broke Intelletcs”. | H1GHER LEARNING says:

[...] brand Barely Broke Intellects. I came across this brand because someone commented on my post about BRANDS BASED IN THE SOUTH why BBI wasn’t added to this list. After the completion of my Vince Young struggle face that [...]

Courtney Jefferson says:

Jan 18, 2012

My man, I can’t thank you enough for including Avant Garde in this awesome list, we are so humbled and thankful to even be mentioned amongst such respected company… Salute KJ and thanks again for your constant support, Much Appreciated!

You’re welcome but you’re on this list because I want to see you take a positive step in the right direction! If anything it means I’m going to be harder on you in 2012 HAHA

JohnnyDumplings says:

Any honorable mentions?

Jan 19, 2012

Honorable mentions, hmmmm? Naw. HAHA

ha ha,damn famlay! This list is pretty solid though. I would like to see Citrus, Grape, and Smirkin expand their brands and be on this list next year. When can we expect some H1gher apparel, maybe? #BAWSE

Terence says:

SC shit rocks!!!!!!

seo says:

Jan 31, 2012

Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Kudos