"Follow your dreams" A homage to the work of Asspizza: The 730 Experience

WRITTEN by July Flowers

     In the fashion world there are many brands that saturate the market with clothes that rarely push the envelope regardless of the immense resources that they have at their disposal. Many novice designers in the clothing space know the struggle of producing collections when many don't have the resources to build their brand. Having been one of those individuals, I know the expectation most designers have when it comes to creating a brand, and a lot of time it takes rounds of trial and error to finally crack the formula of how things get done. The ability to perform this task while also maintaining value and meaning to your art, is a skill many designers look to those in the higher echelons of the fashion world to draw their inspirations from. In my time studying various creatives and brands related to them, Austin Babbitt has been a creative that has shown incredible growth from his early beginnings as a graffiti artist, N.Y street wear icon, and designer. Austin’s style and perspective on clothing is what drew me to his work, many of his collections being customized garments such as Levi jeans &  jackets, shirts, beanies, and masks. Stylized with graphics that bear resemblance to Austin's graffiti style. 

     Austin’s process in the way he creates clothes is one that many have never seen before, with many of his collections having a type of shock value that I still have yet to find from any other designer/ brand. Collections containing garments such as reworked denim pant tote bags, fire branded timberland shoes, patch work pants made from fabric panels cut and sourced from various thrift stores, very complex garments. Even though the methods that Austin may use in his process may seem unorthodox and complicated, I believe it’s this unorthodox nature of creating his garments that drives those to support and value his clothing. An example of this can be found in the most recent Denim Therapy meet-ups held in the spring of 2021. These meet-ups were held at various locations that Austin would post on his instagram for his followers to pull up too. At the location there would be rolls of white denim laid throughout the area for fans to spray paint and design on, which would then be used to create a collection of denim jackets and pants. The idea of this was to encourage Asspizza supporters to pack up their paint pens and spray cans, come together as a community to do something positive , and make their mark in the next collection that Austin would be curating.

     Another notable meet-up that I feel many wish they had the chance to be around for was the Asspizza & Matty Boy pop-up held in Manhattan at the Chrome Hearts store Sept. 2021 . This apparent collaboration consisted of Asspizza’s signature ski-mask made from an “I <3 N.Y” shirt from the Matty Boy line by Chrome Hearts. The masks were designed with stitched eye holes , and a puff print of Austin’s signature jack-o-lantern teeth. Shouts out to @tianbeware who is featured in this article wearing this specific mask from this release. 

     When it comes to collaborations though, one that I believe that sticks out the most currently would have to be the recent Asspizza & Robin’s Jeans collaboration released on Oct-15-2021. To see this collection rollout was definitely one for the books in my opinion. Seeing the photos of Kodak Black modeling for this collection was something I'd say many of us were not expecting, but were happy to see it.  This collection consisted of a denim jacket and jean set coming in two colorways( black and orange). Both the jackets and the jeans were accented with black and orange rhinestones which were placed on the front jacket pockets, and the pant’s back pockets. The jacket also has an embroidered collaboration logo placed in between the shoulder blades of the jacket. As well as the jeans having this embroidered design on the posterior side of the jeans. The buttons on the jacket were also customized to be small Carl's Jr. stars, which were colored black and orange to match the scheme of the jackets. The collection also consisted of 2 trucker hats. One hat was designed to be available in an orange and black colorway which had an embroidery of the collaboration logo between Asspizza and Robin’s Jeans on the front panel of the trucker hat, and also included rhinestones placed on the bill of the  hat. The second trucker hat was no different than the first hats I just mentioned. Only this trucker hat came in one colorway (black) and included no rhinestones, only the embroidery of the collaboration logo on the front panel of the hat. Shouts out to @turntrie for being a part of my small product shoot for this specific collection. 

     I have high hopes for the upcoming months as 7/30 rolls around once again and we get to see another hefty collection from Austin through Asspizza. I understand that my words have been short in regards to Austin’s work, yet I'm currently on my way to LA to meet up with the Crisis Team for the release of the 730 Baller Pros. This release is a big milestone in Asspizza’s track record of creating clothing products, and knowing this will be the first of many shoes he will be releasing, I had to get over there and experience the release myself. Here’s my recollection of the 730 Baller Pro release.

 I was in the middle of my shift, answering phone calls, while browsing the various apps on my phone. At some point during my shift, I saw an Instagram story posted by Asspizza, letting everyone know the details about his upcoming Los Angeles Pop-up on Fairfax. It was a simple flier, but the main eye catcher was the photograph of his anticipated shoe, The 730 Baller Pro. I remembered seeing the shoe silhouette briefly in an old ILL Roots Youtube interview. It had been a few years since these shoes had been teased to the world, now they have finally come into existence.

After a few hours of planning logistics with the Crisis Team, I made the decision to drive down to Los Angeles after work and camp out the night before for the legendary release. I packed my bags into my truck, made a quick stop at Walmart for some spray paint and oil markers, then began my three and a half hour drive down south. The journey was like any other, long and stressful, but not as irritating from what I expected. Eventually though we made it into town sometime around 11:30 pm. After stopping by a liquor store to grab some snacks for the night ahead, I began my drive down the road to the gallery hosting the pop-up. It was definitely a sight to see the building in all its glory. Vinyl Posters of product shots done with Yung Lean were wrapped around the whole front half of the building. On the top half of the building were the words “730 Footwear“, blasted across the building in Asspizza’s signature font.  With two large graphics of the 730 Baller Pros beside the wording. After parking along the sidewalk in front of the event space, a big sigh of relief and breath of energy hit me. Turns out Austin and the 730 Team were still in the process of setting up the building which to me was a great time to talk to the team and get some gear signed. After settling in, I see the man Tate and his homie Captain Boyoe posted up at the front of the line to the event, with lawn chairs and a 4 person tent  in hand. We caught up and cracked some cold ones and began setting up the tent for the night and bussin’ down on a few s’mores. Austin came out from the gallery with his friend Jonah and an assistant carrying large rolls of what seemed to be posters on steroids. It was definitely a moment to have Austin give us props for setting up a tent and literally camping out for the morning release. It was even more of a moment getting to see the whole process of the building being dressed for the event which was somewhat worrying since Austin’s assistant was scaling the building like Spider Man with the ladder as his only lifeline. Shout out and bless the homie who was up on that ladder doing god's work.

 After some time talking with Austin about his future plans. We got to know a bit about his next round of therapy denim pop-ups, the upcoming opening of 730 Printing, and His future releases under his affordable Babbitt line. To see the 730 printing business make moves in creating an avenue for designers and brand owners to get their quality made products under the 730 umbrella is impressive. It’s great to see this new chapter open for Austin, in how the print shop will improve the quality of his collections under Asspizza, where we can expect more manufactured goods and improved made-to-order curations. As well as the business being an avenue that his supporters and other brands can go to if they may be in need of a quality manufacturer of their products . I digress , eventually I asked Austin if he'd be down to sign a few garments, and he definitely hooked it up. He went off on a Carhartt  hoodie and shirt, as well as a pair of  jeans that I had packed for this exact purpose, and sure enough everyone around that night had their T-shirts, hoodies, and jeans laid out on the sidewalk for him to sign. It was quite literally everything I'd hoped to experience. After some time, and a little bit of prayer,  the vinyl decals were secured to the building and the 730 team moved on to do more gallery prep. Yet after a few more hours of shooting the shit, The 730 team made their departure with Austin telling us to be safe and that we were the honorary security for the night. Big Wibe. But soon I think we collectively realized that we were wide awake, smashing beers, joints, and dabs at 3:00 A.M on Fairfax avenue, waiting for a release that wouldn't be opening for another 9/10 hours. I eventually made my way to my car and decided to get whatever sleep I could. Tate and Boyoe braved the night by sleeping in the tent on the sidewalk which I commend them for. Mainly because the chance of some stranger pulling up to ruin the night was pretty high, but it did look like they got the best night's sleep ironically. The morning though was definitely a struggle, at this point it was roughly 8:00am, and slowly but surely people began to pull up for the early morning wait. Luckily I had packed a few chairs and a decent sized canopy to help shield us from the incoming sun that'd surely be cooking the hell out of us for the hours to come. We had shade, chairs, doinks, water, and UNO, what more could you ask for. It was a great time chopping it up with the various people that were with us under the canopy that morning, many of the people there were young creatives doing their thing, similar to Tate and I. After a few doinks and rounds of UNO, the time for the doors to open was edging closer and closer. The energy at this point felt as if anything could happen, and oh it did. Like a heavy weight champion walking to the ring, came Kerwin Frost strutting down the street in some big stepper boots, with his iconic bison hat with horns. He greeted us, and made his way down the line seeing how people were feeling. As time went on, Austin came around to check in on the line and get a few photos in front of the building.  At some point while in line amongst the continuous rotation of blunts and joints , I checked my watch and realized we had 15 mins remaining till the doors opened . I pretty much hustled to my truck, loaded up my bag with markers and canvas and packed my canopy back into my vehicle. The time was near, and eventually the security team began letting us in one person at a time. After about 10 mins of waiting, the security guard let me into the shop and I will say never has AC felt so good. The whole interior of the store was cloud white with several wall posters/vinyls of the 730 baller pros. Commemorative 730 Footwear shirts hung on a rack alongside the table where the shoes were displayed for purchase. I took a hard look at the shoe to see how the construction looked and felt. The shoe itself had a similar silhouette to a Nike Uptempo, just better. It was all black except for the stitched “730” numbers placed on the side panels of the shoe. I was surprised to see that the main material used for the upper of the shoe was a smooth, tight ,black suede. Not the kind of suede you see on Vans that tend to shred and pill over a short period of wear. The body of the 730 numbers were made out of a black colored pebbled leather while being backed with a white leather. The outer sole of the shoe was designed intricately with “jack o'lantern” like teeth running along the sides of the shoe, along with a “730” clock logo embossed into the foam by the heel. Along the back heel tab in stitched white leather is Asspizza’s Jack O'Lantern logo. The entire bottom of the sole was constructed to show one half of the signature Jack O’Lantern design,  with  both halves of the shoe making up the entire design. The shoe also includes a sturdy air bubble that runs along the heel. After some time browsing through the items I went and made my purchase of the Baller Pros and a T-shirt. As I made my way around the gallery Austin was posted up with Tate taking photos and offering to sign our shoeboxes.

We chopped it up for a while with Austin, got a few more things signed and after a while we migrated towards the back lot where they were serving food courtesy of Jesse the Chef.. Rest in peace.. After some time, some memorable faces began to show up to the event. The first person I noticed right away was Yuriy from No Jumper riding his board around  livestreaming the event ,and luckily I got the chance to speak to him about camping out the release, and other little tidbits from the night. Other notable figures I remember seeing that day were Matt DiGiacomo (C.D of Chrome Hearts) , Zack Clark (F.T.P), Kreayshawn (musician), Everret A.K.A Heavy Mellow (bassist), Kehllie (Model), just to name a few. It was a bit surreal to see the amount of fans and Icons that made their appearance that day. The energy of new friends being made and old ones reconnecting filled the lot that day,  every interaction I had at the event was wholesome and memorable. I would say for being my first real Asspizza pop-up experience everything was insane to see. From getting the chance to meet Austin, seeing the gallery being prepped by the team, and getting to experience  the strong presence and welcoming energy that the Asspizza community brought that  day was a blessing. Shouts out to Austin and the 730 Team for curating a legendary and memorable release.