LRG IS DEAD SERIOUS: An Interview with Kevin Delaney of LRG

Q: “To start off, can you introduce yourself and your position at LRG?”

Kevin: “So my name is Kevin Delaney and I am the Vice President of marketing at LRG. This is actually my third different time working for LR. I was here from 2000-2009, 2013-2015, and then I recently came back in 2021, so it has been a long journey through three kind of different phases of the brand, or you know, iterations of it. It’s been fun and I’m glad to be back.”

Q: “The timeframes you spoke about are 3 very different phases of LRG, so to rewind a tiny bit, at the early starts of LRG when you came in and the hoodie, were you involved when the skull hoodies first hit the shelves in 2006?

Kevin: “Yeah, definitely. I started in 2000 as a street team guy putting up stickers, you know the old school hand-to-hand kind of promo. Then when I finished college they were like, “Yeah! You will be the head of marketing!”, and I didn’t even know what that meant so I was like “cool!”. Started invoicing, packing boxes, answering phones, literally anything just to get on and they said, “You know, once we have enough money you can go full time marketing”. Then the “Dead Serious” hoodie came around in about 2006, obviously as you know. It almost got dropped from the line because our sales staff was like, “what is this?” and “people don’t like skeletons”, I forget what the exact push back was but Jonas, the founder, the guy who designed it, he was like, “No this is it!” and low and behold Kanye (Ye) came into our office one time and he’s like, “I need that!” and you know what happens next? He goes to fashion week, or Paris fashion week, sits next to Paul McCartney and the hoodie goes viral before viral was a term. Immediately it sold out, and a bunch of knock offs, and you know I’m glad we're still here to talk about it today and it still affects the culture. 

Q: “That truly is a huge moment in the history of the brand. Going back to getting it in front of big celebrities like Kanye (Ye) early on, what can you speak about as far as getting those connections early on? As well as for people who have a brand of their own, how to establish those connections?”

Kevin: “So to rewind a bit, there were actually two marketing directors, me and a guy named Woody White. Woody White was from Chicago and you know, grew up in the same area and had known Kanye since the early, early, early days. So he brought Kanye (Ye) to the fold, this is pre “College Dropout”, like he didn’t have like a legit album out yet just mixtapes. So Woody brought Kanye (Ye) to the fold and then the relationship between LRG and Kanye (Ye) fostered after that. Like I said he had been in the office and saw the hoodie, the “Dead Serious”, and was like, “I need that!” and you know there was nothing planned about it he was just like “All right here you go!” and then he wore it to fashion week and the press loved it and here we are.”

Q: “You spoke about pre “College Dropout”, with Kanye (Ye) and just being who he was at that time. It was a lot of the new age of what is backpack rap, and what is like wearing pink polos, v necks, all this stuff where that wasn’t what streetwear was, and you guys were really at the forefront of changing what hip-hop and what streetwear really was back then. What can you detest on what that change was for you guys and how you made that move and put that first foot forward before any other brands?”

Kevin: “Well at that point every design was designed by Jonas and Robert, the co-founders, and that was their vision, aesthetic , look, so they saw what Kanye (Ye) was as an artist and that is us as a brand. You can’t really put us in one little box. We would work with big time rappers like, Jim Jones, and then more obscure, back then, artists like Madlib. But then we also have a fully functioning, legit skateboard team. So you couldn’t point to one thing and say what we were and I think that reigned true for Kanye (Ye) as well.”

Q: “So you guys are bringing back the hoodie at Complexcon 2024 this year, can we speak about the new collection and what is going on bringing back the most iconic piece you guys have?”

Kevin: “Yeah, so we are bringing back the exact replica of the iconic black “Dead Serious” hoodie. The only difference is the heart is going to be green for our 25 year anniversary and the installation which we are going to be showcasing is like a mini museum. We will be having 10 different designers do their iteration or rendition of the hoodies. We got Alex James, Bobby Hundreds, Nick Diamond, Han Cao, Desto Dubb, HALF EVIL, Lost Hills, Fred Saint Foster, Shane Gonzalez and Sean Wotherspoon (Round Two). So it is a little mix of like the old guard the OG’s, which we obviously have to pay homage to, and then younger designers who are you know some of these guys were like 12, 13, 14 years old when they first saw the hoodie so this is like a full circle moment. We are trying to make a full circle moment with everybody.”

Q: “I like how you guys are tapping into new artists and new different forms of media where each person really has their own form of art and craft that they have within each of the hoodies where I feel like in the beginning when you guys started this there was those websites like, I forget the Nike one..”

Kevin: “NikeTalk?”

Q: “Yeah, NikeTalk, and like LoopNet and all that stuff where it was like Instagram before Instagram.”

Kevin: “Correct.”

Q: “So people would talk about this stuff and try and get all these pieces back then and that was like the community front, back then, where you were able to talk about the piece, get the piece, where now you guys are bringing it back this time around and it is with all of these artists and that is the forefront, cause that is the niche. It is how you found, Desto Dubb, or how you found Sean Wotherspoon and Round Two, it’s all these different connections where it’s bringing all those niche audiences that are now on Instagram in a broad form, still together in that small way from back then where you had to seek it out almost.”

Kevin: “Yeah.”

Q: “I feel like you are still seeking that out almost.”

Kevin: “Yup, and that is a testament to #1 LRG, and #2 the “Dead Serious” the different spectrum of people that it appeals to. Like you know, you got a Desto Dubb and a Shane Gonzalez and those are probably two polar opposites but the hoodie affected them and inspired them and you know, whatever you want to say. I think that definitely speaks to how diverse LRG was and how it meant something different to each different person. You could have 15 people in a room and LRG means something different to each of them.”

Q: “What exclusive items or experiences should readers of this magazine look for at the LRG booth during ComplexCon?”

Kevin: “We got obviously the hoodie, the hoodies on display, and then we are dropping these Marucci batting gloves with the skulls on them. Marucci is like legit MLB, in-game, batting gloves. We are also dropping a skate deck.” 

Q: “Anything else about the hoodie that you would like to add to wrap things up?”

Kevin: “I am super thankful that LRG is still here and we can still carry on the legacy of Jonas and Robert and you know I have got to do something that I love for the past 20+ years and speak to how strong of a brand LRG is. I mean Jonas has been gone for, it’s crazy, 12 years.. 13 years now and the brand is as strong as ever.”