Union L.A.’s Chris Gibbs Continues To Have The Best Eye In Streetwear

In 1989, Mary Ann Fusco and James Jebbia, who would go on to found Supreme six years later, opened Union NYC. The 300-square-foot shop—on Spring Street near West Broadway—carried American streetwear brands, workwear, utility pieces, and more. At the time, “there was nothing with this kind of feel,” Fusco said in an interview with the New York Times. Three years later, Union opened a brick and mortar in Los Angeles, right off the corner of W. 1st Street and S. La Brea Avenue. (The New York location was closed in 2009.) Over the years, Union provided an establishment for those who were into different youth sub-genres in New York. It’s introduced generations of customers to new, sometimes rare, brands. Union carried Adidas Originals in 2001, when the brand had just launched, as well as hard-to-find Japanese brands—Bape, Neighborhood, WTaps and, most recently, visvim—and up-and-coming local brands. Many have even credited Union as the place where they learned about streetwear. “Union was a mecca of a location for me,” Jeff Staple, designer of Staple, said during a panel at ComplexCon last year. “It was probably the birthplace for the [streetwear] mentality.” Not much has changed since then. Thanks to current owner Chris Gibbs, the retailer is still always ahead of the curve. Often carrying rare brands, Union LA, who will be returning to ComplexCon this fall, is a shopping destination for designers like John Elliott, whose brand is sold there, and a breeding ground for great up-and-coming labels. See more at Complex.