Inside the Lower East Side Block Parties Where J Balvin, Omar Apollo and More Perform
When Abhi Janamanchi and Ryan Wright were looking to open a physical store for their two-year-old brand Le Père, it was about much more than a storefront to house their clothes.
“When we opened the store, my hope in both the location and also just the way that we’d set it up is that it would really be a hub and a hub for our community,” Janamanchi, who is the brand’s director, says of the Orchard Street space on the Lower East Side.
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Last week, J Balvin held a release party for his new album “Rayo” at the shop; in July, Denzel Curry debuted his album, “King of the Mischievous Soul: Volume 2,” there; rapper Cash Cobain performed new single “Rump Punch” from the building’s fire escape in June, and in April, Omar Apollo did a surprise pop-up concert to celebrate the video for his song “Spite,” climbing onto a car roof as the video played in the store.
Janamanchi and Wright are “not fashion people traditionally,” coming into the industry from the indie record label Awal where they worked with artists like Steve Lacy, Apollo, Rex Orange County, Girl in Red and more.
The events started organically: Janamanchi, who is 30, is close with Apollo and his team, and when he learned Apollo had new music coming out earlier this year they started talking about doing something at the store.
“When we were starting the brand, I think music was really the connective tissue for us, and we knew from the beginning when we started thinking about this brand and fashion in general, we just were like, ‘yeah, music has to be the way that people connect,’” Janamanchi says. “We wanted that to be central to how we started to think about events and how we could incorporate that element to it.”
He wants the events to be reminiscent of the Pigeons & Planes shows he went to when he was younger, where music discovery was the focus.
“What was so incredible about them is they would be these new artist showcases. Folks that we know of now that are massive, back then it’d be like, ‘yeah, you can go see this guy named Khalid,’” he says. “Those shows were so crucial for me both as a fan and then later as a music professional where it’s like, OK, I’m not only discovering people, but I get to be in this extremely intimate environment where I feel like this is a well-kept secret between me and the 200 people that are in this room about this person’s music.”
Janamanchi reached out to Pigeons & Planes about partnering on events at the store and they were more than game.
“What’s also made these so fun and powerful for me is it’s not like we’re not just going for the biggest names possible. You have folks at different stages of their careers, who have genuinely dedicated and diehard fan bases, but it’s also given us a chance to really connect with and help contextualize what we’re doing within the context of this larger music tapestry,” he says.
Hosting massive block parties with music’s coolest up-and-comers has, it turns out, also been good for business.
“The sheer number of people that [the events] have brought to the store and are now not only aware of the brand, but came and purchased clothes at the event, which from the jump I wasn’t expecting,” Janamanchi says. He mentions Pharrell and Billionaire Boys Club and Kanye and Yeezy as points of reference.
“I feel like music, for a lot of people, is this prism through which they get to experience other parts of culture, fashion being one of them,” Janamanchi says. “And so it’s been super critical for us to position ourselves in that way where it’s like, yeah, we get to work with and be associated with impactful, interesting artists who we really are passionate about and feel like they are doing their own thing in a way that isn’t just cookie cutter.”
When Curry performed at the store, the mesh jersey from the brand he wore sold out within a week after photos and videos of the concert went viral online.
“I know what I’m saying might not sound like rocket science, but for us we were like, ‘oh my God, this makes sense to see correlation between when you connect with the right people and also they see your clothes on artists and other creatives that they’re passionate about,’” Janamanchi says. “I think that kind of association is invaluable. And to be frank, a lot of places pay hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for it. I think for us to be able to do that organically is a blessing.”
In addition to music, Janamanchi has dreams of hosting comedy shows, table reads and workshops.
“I want it to be this place that exists outside of the traditional retail norm. Especially when we first launched it two years ago here, the events were a huge part of how we got to meet people and get the brand out there,” Janamanchi says. “It introduced us to a whole new audience in addition to the artists themselves.”
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