From Underground to Icon: Palace's Journey to Streetwear Royalty
Song of the week: Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby
This song has been dominating TikTok for at least the past month, and it’s well on its way to becoming the #1 song in the country.
If you’ve never heard of it or Tommy Richman before, give it a listen. You won’t be disappointed.
Now for today’s post…
Every once in a while, a streetwear brand has a series of standout years where their work experiences a resurgence in the culture.
What follows is a myriad of praise, limited edition merch collabs, and celebrity co-signs.
Recently, brands like Moncler, BAPE, and Denim Tears have had runs like that. As for this year, the streetwear brand having a growth moment like this is:
Palace.
Palace has been in the apparel space for some time now, and was widely popular in the mid 2010s. They’ve been subtly sneaking up on the competition and have gotten their second wind.
Some call them the British version of Supreme — a comparison they receive because of their skater background, and commitment to doing weekly drops on a specific day of the week.
However, once you look beneath the surface, you can see that they are a really distinct brand visually and stylistically.
If you don’t know Palace, consider this an introduction to them.
If the rest of the year is anything like the first half, some of pop culture’s biggest stars are gonna be name-dropping them in their lyrics soon.
Let’s talk about it.
I. BACKGROUND
Palace Skateboards, commonly known as Palace, was founded in 2009 by Lev Tanju.
Lev was always into skateboard culture, but after graduating college he also really deep into design. He was so interested that he wanted to start his own skate brand, and together with Gareth Skewis (friend and co-founder who Lev met while they worked at Slam City Skates), they decided to come up with Palace.
As for the brand’s name, Palace is a callback to an area that Lev, Gareth, and their other friends used to live.
It was a run-down London apartment on a not so great part of Waterloo’s Lower Marsh Street that they affectionately called a “Palace.”
Fun fact: Lev and crew even gave themselves the nickname “The Palace Wayward Boys Choir.”
Their motivation for Palace was making sure that their fellow skaters had quality gear to rock that represented where they were from.
Initially, Palace started with limited runs of bootleg tees that eventually were seen on stars.
More specifically, their Chanel & Versace bootleg tees began to catch fire culturally which increased chatter about them in the fashion community:
However, the real catalyst is their bold logo, a never-ending triangle they call the Tri-ferg (named after its designer Ferguson Purcell) which became a focal point of their brand.
After the popularity of their brand set in, Palace could be seen on everyone from A$AP Rocky to Jay-Z.
II. THE RISE
Over time, Palace became known in London for its distinctive design.
Their t-shirts started appearing in some of the signature skate shops around town and eventually made their way into Supreme stores (the brand they’re often compared to).
Between the tri-ferg, their love of skateboard culture, and the brand's penchant for design, Palace quickly rise to prominence within the streetwear community and has since come become a mainstay culturally.
By 2015, Palace opened their first flagship store in the UK. The store proved to be a success and within a few years they even made their foray into New York by opening a flagship store there.
III. THEY TAP INTO 90s NOSTALGIA
If it hasn’t been said enough, Gen Z loves the 90s, and brands have been wise to take advantage of that. Palace is no exception.
Part of their popularity stems from aesthetic that supporters have come to know in the short form films that they create around each collection.
Each piece has a lofi VHS-like feel to it hearkening back to the days when Lev was likely growing up.
In fact, the very first promo video for Palace shows their commitment to this aesthetic as a brand (seen below).
The nostalgia motif even carries over to the work that they’re doing today.
With brands like Gap, their recent collection included a vignette with the feel of a class coming to age tale set in the 90s. Big box tvs, adventure, and a faded film texture.
IV. THE COLLABS
Palace’s success has seen them working with a ton of different brands over the years.
Umbro and Reebok were two of the first, but in recent years that list has grown to include some other monumental brands in the streetwear space.
Below are just a few of the standouts:
A. Palace by Adidas
Palace and Adidas have had a longstanding partnership that dates back a few years now.
The partnership has included multiple collections — the first centered around skateboarding and eventually Golf.
Lke their partnership with Gap, each Palace by Adidas drop is supported by short films which explain the intention behind each collection.
In interviews, Lev says that he and his crew were attracted to the Adidas partnership because they were give the creative freedom to not stay within prescribed brand guidelines and do something unique.
The result has been capsule collections between the two the routinely sell out instantly.
B. Palace Gucci
Just last year, Palace dipped their toe into the high-low culture pool with a collaboration with Gucci.
Like their partnership with Adidas, the team created a short film chronicling the collection.
The genius of this collab was that many of the pieces were only available via the Gucci Vault - Gucci’s Web3 endeavor that they’ve used to build a presence in the metaverse and cultivate community online.
C. Palace New Balance
New Balance is another brand that been having a breakout year in culture because of their deep dive into the world of streetwear.
On top of their collaborations with Joe Freshgoods and Salehe Bembury, they’ve also done a collection with Palace. Naturally, it’s sold out, and only available on secondary sites like Stockx.
V. 2024 & BEYOND
Palace is keeping the collections going, and their expansion is continuing. As of Q1 this year, they’ve teased that they have a flagship store opening in Seoul, South Korea, this year.
The clothes are high quality — the weight of the cotton is premium and it’s priced reasonably.
As of Q2, they’ve logged a collection with Gap, but I’m willing to bet that there will be more capsule collections coming from them this year.
If you haven’t copped anything from them, at least check out the brand. Between the nostalgia marketing and the quality of the actual clothing you won’t be disappointed.
In the meantime, enjoy the work they’ve already put out.
One.