JNCO has collaborated with the Los Angeles streetwear brand Rose in Good Faith on a six-piece capsule collection, marking the ’90s brand’s first real splash in the fashion world since its soft relaunch in 2015.
Rose in Good Faith designers David Teitelbaum and Akiva Alpert first reached out to the brand — the rights of which are owned exclusively by Guotai USA, which facilitates overseas manufacturing — with a design concept last year, soon after launching their company, and quickly hit it off with the team. Guotai wound up giving the duo an undisclosed budget to work with, leaving the design details and production process up to them.
The Rose in Good Faith x JNCO lookbook
“Like us, the Rose in Good Faith designers love to push limits and drop jaws of the consumer,” said Joe Peters, creative director at Guotai USA and JNCO’s men’s designer. “They came to us with a really cool vision of how to play off nostalgia and the influx of the ’90s themes we are seeing everywhere.”
Indeed, JNCO is one of many ’90s brands that have recently had a rebirth. Others include Champion, who has collaborated with Vetements and Urban Outfitters; Esprit, who works with Opening Ceremony on recurring capsule collections; and Z Cavaricci, who announced this week they’d be releasing a limited-edition line of their cult-favorite denim.
“We thought it was the right time and the right brand to team up with, to leave a mark in an upscale industry where we normally wouldn’t be seen,” said Peters.
JNCO, which stands for “Judge None, Choose One,” is known for its super-wide-leg jeans with elaborate pocket logos, inspired by street art. It was historically a discount brand that first became popular in rural cities and eventually “blew up everywhere,” per Teitelbaum, spreading into urban centers. “We wanted to evolve the brand today to be small-batch and exclusive,” he said.
As such, the made-to-order unisex collection — which includes a cropped French-terry hoodie and a pair of Japanese cotton-twill pants with leg openings that are 29 inches wide — retails for much more than the average $50 price of a JNCO product, ranging from $330 to $1,200.
The Rose in Good Faith x JNCO lookbook
It’s being sold only through a five-day virtual pop-up that debuted today on a dedicated website — rigfxjnco.com — though both friends of the brand and Rose in Good Faith shoppers that signed up in advance were granted early access to the sale yesterday.
Of the decision to remain online-only, Teitelbaum argued that in-real-life pop-up shops can become too localized, reaching only a small community — not to mention pricey. “We wanted to reach the world,” he said, noting that he expected the tight timeline of availability to ramp up interest with shoppers used to tracking the similarly fleeting launches of brands like Supreme and Palace. It’s that streetwear-savvy audience that both JNCO and Rose in Good Faith most wanted to target — “the early adopters, not the ones waiting until Kendrick Lamar wears it,” as Teitelbaum put it.
The Rose in Good Faith x JNCO lookbook
The two brands are already in talks to work together down the line, if this collection is successful — and Peters hinted at the potential for other collabs. “JNCO has always been the brand to push boundaries, and collaborations are a great way to bridge the gaps between our fan base and the customers of another brand,” he said.
