Black Scale is a fairly new company to the street wear business. The brand was established in November 2007 and has expanded immensely. Michael ‘Mega’ Yabut and Alfred De Tagle are the co- founders who originated from the Bay Area in San Francisco. They started out working at the HUF store together and wanted to create a darker street wear line. There are many aspiring street wear artists out there; it is hard to find individuality and be very unique. Some street wear designs are just the logo name on t- shirts, and boom they have a brand. The two founders of Black Scale knew they needed to stand out and made street wear by creating clothing with inspirations of religion, government, identity, and death. Their clothing actually has meaning behind it and a great message. Their goal is to create emotions and topics of discussions within their clothing.

Black Scale’s summer 2014 collection features more color and patterns rather than their typical black and white tees. This collection features screen print graphic tees, ready to wear cut and sew items, head wear, accessories, and footwear. Their designs are very impressive and they have put a lot of thought into each item. The creativity these guys have is endless and it shows in their designs.

The “perception” and “windows to your soul” designs were both created in inspiration of Leonardo da Vinci quotes. I particularly like the design of the perception tee because they incorporated Leo into the shirt along with the cool line design.

The “cathedral” design captures the customers’ eyes by the surreal stained glass look. I believe this t- shirt design is exceptional with the colors and almost architectural design. It is very geometric and they also were able to include their Black Scale logo into the shirt very subtly. This is one of their more unique shirts and the design is very well laid out. The pattern of the cathedral is also very intricate.

The “death crescent” t-shirt is inspired by the prayer of the dead. I found this design nicely structured because of the descending crescent shape. I liked how it got smaller and how each crescent was disconnected. This made the image inside more abstract.

The “Rebel red flag” design is actually the first official nation flag of the Confederacy, called Stars and Bars. Many of their designs are based on religious views and include a rebellious nature to it.

Even their basic logo t- shirt has meaning behind it. It writes “B L V C K” in an arch shape, called the “arch base” t-shirt. Arches are structures with deep resonance that symbolize strength, support, lightness, and openness with destiny. Arches are also fundamentally masculine, which is how they came up with this design. This is what separates Black Scale from other street wear brands.

It is very important for Black Scale to inform the customers about what they are buying since most people just buy clothing because it “looks cool.” Little do they know that Black Scale puts a great deal of effort into their clothing and should be shared among each other or maybe even teach a lesson or two. The meaning of their designs is critical for their brand. Nothing can stop these guys and their imagination goes beyond belief.

Lula 101 is very proud to be part of the Black Scale sales team as their Asia distributor. I love their clothing and think it is very inspiring that they put so much effort and creativity into one design. Their uniqueness will take them very far and I love how they want to spread a message behind each piece of clothing. They are definitely different than most street wear brands and their clothing is high quality. I consider them to be the “haute couture” of street wear clothing. They take risks to make their clothing different, but it always turns out well. Black Scale is growing more and more along with their originality. They are up to date with the highest trends and add their own unique twist on their high end street wear clothing.

Check out Black Scale summer 2014 collection lookbook here

Find Black Scale summer 2014 collection in Asia:

Thailand: I-Screamz, VAC

Singapore: Alley, Da’Cave

Indonesia: Maris, Arena Experience,

Malaysia: Juice KL, Showroom

For Black Scale Asia distribution info, email: sales@lulaapparel.com