The guy behind “Kanye West For President” and “Divided States of America” now presents “We Don’t Run From Adversity” for your summer outerwear needs.
Here’s what we know:
So far the collection features a variety of outerwear, including two jackets and an unstructured cap. Reminiscent of old military-inspired camping trips, the gear seems hardy enough for a long day (or night) out. Coupled with the WDRFA messaging, standing for “we don’t run from adversity,” it’s clear that Mike intended for each article of clothing to be both meaningful and functional.
But are we surprised? Boston Jung’s previous releases were notorious for sparking an emotional connection amongst fellow Midwestern streetwear lovers. For consistency’s sake, the new collection is inspired by the theory that life happens. No matter which cards we’re dealt, we don’t run from adversity; we tackle it head on.
In an effort to better understand the inspiration for the WDRFA collection, I spoke with the man behind the operation, Mike G.
Hear about it from the man himself:
I love the new collection and the message behind it! How did WDRFA come about? Is there a background story?
Whenever we make clothes, we want it to have a meaning. We don’t just design to make money. Going through personal everyday life myself and hearing from friends facing similar situations inspired the theme. Everyone goes through something, whether it be struggling to find a job or graduate on time or pay off debts. Regular life happens and if you don’t keep your head up through the adversity it’ll all crumble. We just wanted to make it a point to tell people not to run from it. Life goes on.
Regular life happens and if you don’t keep your head up through the adversity it’ll all crumble. We just wanted to make it a point to tell people not to run from it. Life goes on.
We dedicated the jackets to three people in our family who also faced adversity but didn’t run from it.
Where’d you get the ideas for the wildcat and rose patches?
The wildcat head and 1991 comes from my dad – he went to Hammond High and graduated in ’91. At the same time, my brother was born in ’91 so that jacket is for both of them.
Cool! How’d you pick the olive and maroon?
We chose the olive because we thought it was a good color for the spring. Then we wanted to think of a color that’d complement it for the neck, so we chose navy. We just tried different things that we’d like. Whenever we design, we think, “would we wear this shit?”
It seems military-inspired – reminds me of the overall theme of “we don’t run from adversity.” Very rugged.
Yeah, we wanted to have that military effect.
How’d you decide on timing for this release?
The timing was honestly all off! We wanted to release the jackets in early May but manufacturing didn’t work out how it should. We thought about waiting for a fall release where outerwear is more common, but we live in the Midwest. Weather changes all the time – that wouldn’t make too much of a difference. You can’t let the time of year dictate anything. We thought we had some dope shit so we wanted to get it off our hands.
Where does the name Boston Jung even come from?
I used to have a blog under the same exact website. It comes from one of my favorite movies, Blow. There’s a guy on there named George Jung, but he was from Boston so they called him Boston George. I just blended the names together. It’s a great story, and it’s true!
That’s really cool. I love how all of your releases mean something – you don’t just push out branded items for the cash. It’s also interesting because I don’t even know how to describe your brand – each collection has a meaning and it’s all created by Mike G.
Originally I made the Kanye West for President hats and it really struck people emotionally. I wanted to be sure that I could always relate to people on that emotional level opposed to just making something. There’s a ton of shit that you can go out there and buy, but when you strike someone emotionally is where you build a loyalty.
It reminds me of what Fat Tiger and JoeFreshGoods are doing here in the city. They have regular clothes that they sell, but a lot of collections have that emotional connection.
Yeah, they’re definitely an inspiration for what I do. I always shopped on Milwaukee Avenue – from Leaders to Fat Tiger to Saint Alfred and RSVP. Those shops have always been inspirations. I finally got into the same field, but I never thought I’d get into it how I did.
In the fall we’re launching an entirely new brand – it wont’ be under Boston Jung, something totally new.
Check out more of the collection below and shop the WDRFA collection now at Boston Jung online. Stay tuned for more heat in the fall.
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