A few weeks back it was reported that American Apparel had purchased contemporary surf wear brand, Warriors of Radness. Warriors' will be moving into the American Apparel factory, but remain it’s own brand and still be designed by Rick Klotz, who founded the label. Klotz also happens to be the man behind street wear brand Freshjive. Using his expertise, Klotz will now be creating a line of graphic tee’s for American Apparel.

Klotz started Freshjive in 1989. It was a street wear/skate brand that is known for it’s graphic tee shirts that showcase artwork focusing on controversial topics.

In 2010, Klotz went on to found Warriors of Radness, which has become culty high-end surf brand that draws inspiration from the eighties, California surf culture and the LA lifestyle. The brand has done collaborations with Opening Ceremony and Klotz was named GQ’s best new designer of the year when the brand was first introduced. One of my first rooster posts was about their “WOR”collection. 

Warriors of Radness "WOR" Collection

Warrior of Radness x Opening Ceremony

In a video released earlier this month, American Apparel CEO, Dov Charney, announced that the company had acquired Warriors of Radness, “It’s about collaborating to make clothes for real…sweating it out in the American Apparel sweatshop and making Rick’s clothes.” In other words, Warriors' will remain it’s own brand, but will now use American Apparel’s factories to produce their clothes.

It was also announced that Klotz would be designing graphic t-shirts for American Apparel. In a separate video Klotz debuted the new space at the company factory and talked about how he got his start with Freshjive, the new t-shirt line, as well as the reason for the American Apparel take over, “’Oh everything’s great I just decided I need a change’ Nah I’ll tell you the truth: It got difficult…The clothing business is tough.” The line just hit stores. There are two styles available in the Saskatoon right now. The rest are online here.

Available in Saskatoon

Also forging ahead with a line of their own, Warriors released a video preview of it’s fall 2012 collection. Take a glimpse at line titled, “Limousines, Bikini Queens, and Swelling Dreams” below:

Fun Fact: Tyler, the Creator and the rest of the Odd Future crew interned at Reserve the shop/online retailer where Freshjive and Warriors of Radness are sold. Here’s what Rick Klotz had to say about them:

“They were little runts. Tyler never seemed to have anything to do. I remember once being like, "Hey, intern kid. Get out of here. You're bothering me." I liked him, but he was a weirdo.” (GQ)

- Zach :0