Company Policy Apparel
Fashion > Forward
Philly's a city that gets all damp in the pants over anything that's made with local love — from clothes to music to art. Christos Karabelas, founding father of Company Policy Apparel, knows this. He's also privy to the fact that clothes, music and art can bleed into each other within a community, creating a site-specific urban underground culture.
Karabelas formed Company Policy in 2008 and hocks its tees and lightweight hoodies at Jinxed (Piazza at Schmidts, 1050 N. Hancock St., jinxedphiladelphia.com) and online (companypolicyapparel.com). Many of Company Policy's clothes feature bold colors — vibrant blues, greens and oranges — emblazoned with parrots, castles, handlebar moustaches and typewriters, all reflections of the diverse kids and scenes that make up our city's fashion sense. "There's all these different flavors," says Karabelas, "but I see how people can relate in the skate culture, or the music scene, art scene, graffiti. ... There's a lot of spill-over. It's this whole form of self-expression."
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To get the locals involved, Karabelas recruited his graphic-designer buddies to help with aesthetics. Currently there are six major players at the drawing boards: John Fitzpatrick, Robert Rezin, Dewey Saunders, Matthew Gribbon, newbie Juan Arguello and NOSE, who is kind of a big deal these days, what with his solo gallery show and his creations that Converse laid down on some Chucks.
Showing support for the company and the community, musicians and DJs don the duds at shows, while photographers snap shots of the performers, which are ogled by the kids in all the scenes. Around and around it goes, with the coolest of the cool kids playing a role in the evolution of a self-perpetuating company.
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