Interview and Words by: Sonsira Espinal

For our first ever Core Logo Hoodie, we are honored to work with Not Just Lace,

the New York City based dye house that helped us make the perfect shade of brown.

Not Just Lace is a dye & wash house in Long Island City, Queens. They’ve been family owned since 1976 and work with some of the biggest brands based out of NY.

At Brigade, we strive to center a focus point on the garment process and on the people who actually get the work done behind the scenes (we began doing this with our Woven Blankets last release). With our garment district fizzling by day, we strive to disrupt the "gatekeeping" the fashion industry is known for by shedding light on the companies we have the privilege of working with.

Christian at Not Just Lace has been dyeing professionally for 12 years, while his grandfather started 30 years prior. Working the family business as a child during the summer, Christian grew up learning the dye business from his grandfather. However, he stated finance & business were more his thing. Christian told Brigade he went to school for finance and spent some time trading stocks full time before inheriting the dye business from his grandfather.

"I was never much of a creative growing up but it's cool because I get to experiment and have some fun with the dyes now"

he reflects when asked how he feels about making the switch to the fashion industry.

Not Just Lace works with companies who seek to dye locally. They produce sample and large production runs, dye fabrication, and have detailed washing techniques like enzyme and potassium wash services. They are one of the last dye houses in all of the New York City boroughs.

We are honored to work with another small business based out of New York to produce a color that was made specifically for us. As per usual, our hoodies are made from 450GSM cross-grain fleece, and will now be periodically released in unique color ways.

A new staple product for us, the "Beef & Broccoli" Core Logo Hoodie

will be releasing alongside a capsule collection

March 4th, 2022 @ 12pm EST.

Retail: $128

Sonsira Espinal is a new addition to our blog team,

we're excited to work with her in bringing more

behind the scenes content to the site. and will now be periodically released in unique color ways.