Don't Miss Out on This Ultra-Limited, Incredibly Cool Tie-Dye Collab
There was, in all likelihood, a much easier way to make the clothes in the Lapstone & Hammer x JSP collaboration. One that didn't involve putting the items together in Los Angeles, shipping them to Philadelphia to receive the L&H tie-dye treatment, and then sending them back to California to be pressed and packaged for shipment to customers. Surely, there was a workaround to be found.
But, says skater and JSP designer Jimmy Gorecki, the time- and cost-intensive process of creating the goods was "the right way to achieve all characteristics of both teams' contributions to the garments." See, Gorecki knows a thing or two about tie-dye. His JSP label was launched in 2013, and a psychedelic sweatsuit is a signature of the brand, which is now operating as a sort of standalone offshoot of Standard Issue (an in-h0use favorite of Esquire's), using the latter's pieces as a canvas for colorful experimentation.
Though he now lives in L.A., Gorecki's a Philly boy at heart—it was his home when he went pro as a skater—as is his Standard Issue partner Jarod Lee, who still lives in the City of Brotherly Love. Both admired hometown retailer Lapstone & Hammer's out-there approach to the process, pioneered by founder Brian Nadav. Even though it was a bi-coastal affair, the collaboration was all but inevitable.
"We at JSP saw someone in Philadelphia doing tie-dyes that were light years better than anything we created, and up until that point I thought ours were the best," Gorecki explains in a heartfelt writeup about the project. "Brian, seeing garments that Jarod Lee, myself, and people at Standard Issue and JSP were making in our facility, thought they provided the best canvas for the L&H dye process. That mutual respect and admiration is crystal clear in these garments."
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About those garments: They're incredibly cool. On a sweatshirt, sweat shorts, a tee, and a pair of pants, the traditional spirals and whorls of tie-dying are replaced by blooms of color that look like something might see under a microscope or through a telescope. They're at once organic and cosmic, a tripped-out look at what happens when you let dye, water, and fabric do their thing without too much intervention.
In addition to that treatment, the pieces feature a special version of the L&H crest with the letters "JSP" worked into the design. And there's one more, very notable, thing about this collection: It's the last tie-dye offering from JSP. Gorecki's toying with the idea of moving on from the process. If that is indeed the case, he's going out on a very high note.
SHOP THE COLLECTION AT LAPSTONE & HAMMER
To commemorate the occasion, L&H and JSP brought in a couple of skaters who can channel all the energy of Philly and heyday-era Love Park, Kevin Taylor and Kris Brown, and decked them out in the collaboration. The idea: Take the feeling of being the best-dressed group of guys on skateboards in the whole industry, and put it into pictures.
"All in all, this is just something that means the world to me to do," Gorecki says. "This city has built and given me everything I know, and I've spent last ten years since I moved hoping to convey that love, and continue to shine light on those same people, places, and things."
The Lapstone & Hammer x JSP collection goes live at 12 p.m. EDT online at Standard Issue and Lapstone & Hammer. The tee retails for $60, the french terry shorts are $120, the french terry sweatshirt is $160, and the cotton poplin slacker pants are $140.
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