Oaklandish

Oaklandish is a fashion line and retail store located in Oakland, California, in the United States. The brand promotes civic pride through a series of T-shirts, hoodies and accessories showcasing symbols of Oakland. The company logo is a modified version of the city logo, an Oak tree with wide outspread roots. Ten percent of proceeds from the sales of Oaklandish items goes to local non-profit community groups through the "Oakland Innovators Award" grant program.[2] Everything sold in the store is screen-printed in Oakland and 10% of all sales benefit local nonprofits.[2][3] In 2016, the store was named the 38th fastest growing inner city business in the United States by Fortune.[1]

Oaklandish
Industry
  • fashion
  • retail store
FoundedOakland, California 2000 (2000)
Headquarters
Oakland
,
United States
Area served
San Francisco Bay Area
Revenue$3.26 million (2015)[1]
Websiteoaklandish.com

Background

The Oaklandish company began in 2000 as a street art and viral marketing campaign designed to raise awareness about local history and culture.[4][5] Original projects included a wheat-paste poster series, the "Oakland-Love Retrospective" slide show (projected onto downtown architectural landmarks), the Liberation Drive-In[6] parking lot movie series, and the Oakslander Lakeside Gazette zine.[7][8] These projects aimed to infuse cultural content into negative urban spaces during a time of rapid development in the city.[9]

From 2003 to 2005 they operated an art gallery in Jack London Square. When the space closed, Oaklandish began selling their wares from a modified camper van at street festivals and farmers markets.[9] Owner Angela Tsay credits the reopening of the Fox Oakland Theatre in 2009 as the catalyst for reinvigorating a deteriorating downtown Oakland, which led to the eventual opening of Oaklandish's flagship store in Downtown Oakland in 2011.[5] That year, they also introduced a new clothing brand representing cities across the country, called There There.[9] In 2012 they partnered with Town Park, a skate park in Oakland, to create skateboards.[10] In 2013, they opened a store in the Dimond neighborhood, followed by the Oakland Supply Co. store in Jack London Square in 2014.[11][12]

Every year, the flagship store gives away t-shirts to Oakland Unified School District students who earn a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.[13] Oaklandish also produces "Dubs Gear," a label of Golden State Warriors clothing that is independent of the franchise.[14] In 2015, Oaklandish partnered with Adidas and basketball player Damian Lillard to design and sell a limited edition basketball shoe.[15] A second clothing line, There There, features designs for other major cities, including Philadelphia and Baltimore.[16]

In 2016, Fortune named Oaklandish the 38th fastest growing inner city business in the United States. They described Oaklandish's business model as "pioneering" and recognized the business as the first American company to operate a mobile retail component, by using campers to sell products throughout the city. In 2015, the business made $3.26 million in revenue.[1] Krazy George Henderson and Jean Quan are customers of the store.[17]

References
  1. "Oaklandish". Fortune. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  2. Vice, Zoe. "The Local Love & Civic Charm Known as Oaklandish". Fashion/Design. KQED. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  3. "Oakland Is More Than "San Francisco's Brooklyn"". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  4. Marech (23 August 2002). "Oakland artists celebrate ignored beauty". SF Chronicle.
  5. "On sellouts, guerrilla spirit and Oakland as hella cool". Chat & Selfie. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  6. Shuman, Aaron. "Working the Graim Sublime".
  7. St.Clair, Katy. "There There There". East Bay Express.
  8. Zillman, Claire. "Is this city the next Brooklyn? It'd rather not be". Fortune. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  9. Tian, Ye. "Oaklandish to open downtown retail shop on Wednesday". Oakland North. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  10. Arnold, Erik. "Town Park partners with Oaklandish for new line of skateboards, clothing". Oakland Local. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  11. Veale, Liz. "Oaklandish opens new store in the Dimond". Oakland Local. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  12. Mernit, Susan. "Oaklandish opening new retail store in Jack London Square". Oakland Local. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  13. LaVenture, Louis. "Oaklandish rewards good grades". The Piorneer. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  14. "Knockoff Warriors gear: For 'Dub Nation,' no T-shirt is out of bounds". Sports. Mercury News. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  15. Verry, Peter. "Adidas' D Lillard 1 Oaklandish Hits Stores Today". Footwear News. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  16. Haber, Matt. "Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay". New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  17. Kuruvilla, Matthai (8 August 2011). "Oaklandish opens T-shirt shop to rebrand city". News. SFGate. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
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