10 Indian Streetwear Labels & Their Explorations With Identity And Culture

(L-do;be : R-Delhiwear)

On March 21, 2020, we are back again with our one of its kind streetwear and lifestyle festival, HG Street and this time, we promise you that it’s going to be even bigger than our previous edition. Street culture will be at the nexus of this event and a series of events and experiences will be curated around it. One of the culmination points of this experience with that of the streetwear industry is innovation and authenticity.
HGStreet is an event filled with individuals, ideas, and visuals that are bold and fresh, and we have picked out a series of brands that we believe will put India on the global map of street culture. The young Indian is expressive and yearns to make a statement with his clothing and our brands have slowly tried to represent diverse experiences and cultures within streetwear. HG Street, just like today’s Indian, refuses to be put into a box. We are a curation like none other and we aspire to create something that goes beyond the realm of fashion or lifestyle. We want to motivate you to create and express as you engage with HGStreet.

Here’s a personally curated list of 10 brands that reflect a new-age sentiment and add identity and individuality to the streetwear game.

I. SIX5SIX STREET

SIX5SIX STREET is the true amalgamation of culture with everyday life. Raw expression and authenticity are at the core of this brand’s ideology. Started by two siblings, Avni Aneja and Ambar Aneja, expression is what matters to the duo and fashion is their medium of choice.

To Avni Aneja and Ambar Aneja, the founder sibling-duo, expression is key and fashion is their medium of choice to express themselves and create culture, thoughts, and music.

Collections like ‘Trap Money 2’ and ‘Boring Humans Wear This’, amongst others, are fresh takes on the hip-hop and street culture.

II. BISKIT

BISKIT is a multidisciplinary art & design concept label that aims at breaking the duality of men and women’s clothing. They believe that this duality has existed for too long and they want to break through it. Their intent is to create one fit that fits all. BISKIT has collaborated with Gents to create a statement tonal collection. The campaign is filled with strikingly unique visuals and the designs are for the modern Indian that prefers not to be confined by gender and identity norms.

BISKIT x Gents Collection

III. Delhiwear

Delhiwear is a beautiful integration of street culture with India’s cultural fabric. They toy with the term ‘Moh-Maya’. A phrase that is undeniably a part of many conversations in Delhi, it refers to the illusion that money is everything. Delhiwear believes that money and the concept of currency exchange is a man-made construct. ‘Moh-Problems’ refers to the myriads of problems that people face in their quest for more. Delhiwear juxtaposes popular culture with larger, more intricate questions of existentialism. The t-shirt and the entire concept of Moh-Maya-Moh- Problems are inclusive and not an over-embellished, clichéd quote. The phrase also takes inspiration from the West in the form of Biggie’s quote ‘More Money, More Problems’ and combines it with the Indian dictum. This brand recognizes the dichotomy of urban existence and creates bold pieces that reflects this dilemma.

Delhiwear's 'Moh-Maya' collection.

IV. Valkyre Clothing

Valkyre has a vision. They are centred around the idea of ‘Streetwear with a Cause’. They specialize in hand-painted denim jackets carefully curated by the supremely talented yet less fortunate artists of Mumbai. Each denim jacket is painted from scratch using fabric acrylic colours and with the utmost precision. With the aim of reviving art amongst the underprivileged, Valkyre provides a platform for these artists to express themselves.

Valkyre makes bespoke hand-painted pieces of denim that merge popular culture with detailed and personal illustrations. Valkyre Clothing is not afraid to stand out in a room full of people. The designs are unavoidable and they roar boldness. The attention to detail and high level of individuality in the brand’s ideology separates it from other brands of its kind. From hand-painted denim to hoodies to T-shirts, there is a wide range of clothes available at Valkyre.

Their collection is fresh and relevant in the scape of popular culture.

V. Huemn

HUEMN is all about drawing outside the lines.

With an ethos that is enriched with individual voices in our communities, crosscurrents in culture, alternative art and a collaborative effort and love for all things handmade, Huemn aims to encourage dialogue in fashion where the why and the how become more pressing than the what. Their campaigns are stark and vivid and the clothing and visuals are not afraid to head into uncharted territory.

VI. Jaywalking

Jaywalking’s brilliance lies in his rawness. His illustrations manage to be loud while being crisp. His craftsmanship is unique and his visuals are one of a kind. It has not even been a complete year since its conception and Jaywalking has taken the fashion world by storm. Jay Jalal personally hand-draws his illustrations and translates them into statement pieces.

Jaywalking's designs are unique and his abstraction is brilliant and has a voice of its own.

VII. do;be

do;be was formed in early 2018, although the conceptualisation of it started a few years prior to that. With childhood days spent in between West Africa and India.

Their work is rife with Western African and Indian influences, where the designers spent most of their childhood.

The concept of do;be is rooted in streetwear where they draw influences from history and popular culture primarily to deliver unique, limited supply merchandise to people. They blend experiences and narratives from powerful historical empires and blend them with comic themes.

do;be's primary message is to inspire their customers to dare to be.

VIII. Toffle

Toffle believes that streetwear is all about self-expression and it can be whatever it is that you want it to be. Life is an opportunity of self-expression and Toffle was a way to share some of their experiences through that journey. Ideas, social behaviour, art surrounds us in a lot of what they engage in. Their reasoning and conclusions are influenced by our life experiences. Toffle is a non-traditional streetwear label. They do not like to be defined by a genre and they are always exploring new designs and ideas.

IX. A Lot Studio

A Lot Studio is a fresh take on streetwear that combines minimal and maximalist styles to cater to a wider range of people. A Lot Studio clothing represents an alternative lifestyle to that of mindless consumerism: a lifestyle that centers originality, emotional experience and thoughtful personal expression. From minimal and lighter hues to bold graphics and statement pieces, the Studio has something to offer to every customer and it provides with a diversity in cost and design that is hard to find in a space filled with more niche collections and studios.

The studio offers unique patterns and cheeky graphics.

X. Ozo Apparel

Ozo is an instagram based Streetwear label that combines bold graphics with an urban context. Besides having a range of utility products to t-shirts that fuse different cultural contexts to create striking visuals, Ozo also picks up from street culture from Korea. Ozo identifies as a B-Boy & B-Girl brand based in Mumbai and their graphics comment on the hip-hop culture with an Indian context.