#test screenings. in my entirely amateur opinion

[mudzdale]

i don't know if it's strictly a result of overcorrecting after critical test screenings, but one of my favorite things to notice in lilo and stitch is the model they use for jumba when they want him to appear extra friendly or comical. the jump to from the small eyes and threatening silhouette to enormous eyes and big-headed body plan is so funny to me.

one of the best parts is when they transition him from friendly-model to villain-model in one shot! it's very cleverly executed, and i love to watch for it

[rkmb]

                        ROYAL +  SPHERE  ▸  SU  &  KSOO  &  HEEJIN  &   ERIC                       —   (  ALL NIGHT  0:30 – 4:10  )    &    (  LINE  :  OUTFIT  )   —                                      LUV  0:00 -- 3:58  ,  LINE  :  SOFT YELLOW

        "we won,"  he says, sliding a black stone across the board.

        his father responds by placing a white stone down right next to his -- an attack.

        "unfortunately, one of us was still eliminated."  his eyes skim the wooden board before making his next move -- a counterattack.  "he struggled a lot, but he worked hard.  that's what matters, right?"

        for the first time since the commencement of their game, his father speaks:  "true talent is impossible to imitate."  and though suwoong wishes to argue, he keeps his mouth shut.  instead, he watches his father's white stone skim his carefully orchestrated trap before settling down exactly where suwoong wants it.

        he's quick to respond:  he lays down his own stone before reaching over and collecting three of his father's.

        "too eager,"  the elder comments, sliding yet another white stone into place without much consideration.  "small victories are worthless if you do not win the entire game."

        "but they should still be celebrated."

        his brow furrows as he places down one of his black stones, only to be quickly countered by his father's own.  and when he takes a few seconds too long to make his next move, his father peers up at him.  "suwoong, are you playing seriously?"

        he flinches.

        the words are a slap in the face as he vividly recalls himself asking kyungsoo a similar question last week.

        "of course,"  he says, meeting his father's unfaltering gaze.  "why wouldn't i be?"

        "this is an amateur's strategy."

        his eyes drop to the formation between them.  a trail of white stones dot the board.  some of them appear to be dead stones, but upon closer inspection, he sees that they're very much alive.  oh.  so that's what his father's aiming for.

        "resign."

        the command echoes in his head as he fiddles with the black stone in-between his middle and forefinger.  the most honorable move would be to fold, as his father suggests.  that way, he can choose defeat instead of having it forced upon him.  no risks, no sacrifices, just safe.  that's what his father taught him.

        but he doesn't like safe.  he likes the risks, the sacrifices.  he likes celebrating those small victories, no matter how foolish he may appear if he doesn't win in the end.

        he places a stone down.

        "you will lose if you continue."

        "it's better to try than to give in."  he tilts his head.  "that's just something we'll never see eye-to-eye on."

        there's no verbal response -- just a kook sound to indicate his father setting down a stone to counterattack.  several moves later, the elder wins by a relatively slim margin---a result that leaves them wordless as they shuffle the stones back into their respective bowls.

        it's only when they seal the bowls off and pushes them toward the center of the go board that his father speaks once more:  "win."

        suwoong knows what he wants to say:  that depends on how well we perform.  it's not my decision.  this isn't a game of strategy;  it's a test of skill.

        but he bites his tongue and cracks a small smile instead.

        "don't worry,"  he tells him,  "i intend to."

        we intend to.

        🌸

        the mood in the royal practice room friday morning has visibly shifted away from last week's thunderstorm.  during their first run, tension between several group members left the air bitter for several days until hyojin brought them back together with a heart-to-heart conversation.  while it took time to rebuild the relationships with one another, it paid off in the end when baek jiyoung declared team youth over flowers as the semi-finalist winners.  since then, the practice room buzzes with activity.  suwoong, himself, is nearly bouncing off the walls as he speaks animatedly to the others -- most of which is pure nonsense, but honestly, what's new.

        as they're tossing around song ideas, the door creaks open and cheri walks in first with a sizable cake in her hands.  suwoong's the first on his feet, ushering over to greet his newfound luxe bias  ( sorry, ella! )  with the biggest grin---

        that quickly morphs into the ugliest expression when the cake in cheri's hands tips over and plops on the ground.  someone makes a strangled noise akin to an animal wailing in agony.  and surely, it doesn't come from the super cool and handsome lee suwoong, who dramatically sinks to his knees in front of the fallen cake.  what a loss!  to think cheri went all this way to get them a beautiful cake, only for it to succumb to the dreaded thing that is gravity -- !

        he's about to publicly declare war on gravity itself when something happens . . . something that's completely and utterly unexpected from gentle won and uptight ella  ( coach ella, the devilish ella in his head dutifully supplies, damn her ).

        the pair walk in . . . with a second cake.

        his mouth drops open.

        how dare they!

        "that's super evil!"  he exclaims with a small pout.

        but the coaches are quickly forgiven when they're seated around with a slice each  (  all after helping cheri clean up the sticky mess, of course ).  as they're eating, eric pipes up with a suggestion to call hyojin -- something suwoong happily urges him to do.

        "hyooo ~"  he greets as the other's familiar face pops up on the screen.  "we got cake!  are you jealous?  you shouldn't be!  no, really.  you're lucky you weren't here 'cause . . ."  he spends the next few minutes detailing the coaches' prank before shoving a spoonful of cake in the phone's direction.  it's a rather pitiful attempt to feed the younger, and is an attempt that is later thwarted by eric pulling his phone away once the sticky spoon gets a little too close.

        once they've said their goodbyes to hyojin, they return to the topic of song selection.  after a few back and forth, the group settles on  < all night >  for the royal performance.  their selection for sphere is harder, with the group split between two boy group options.  they turn to the coaches for a secondary opinion, and amidst their chatter of pros and cons of each selection, the coaches begin to reminisce on their favorite performances from their respective seasons -- all of which include several girl groups.  it's cheri who eventually slides them the idea of considering a girl group song -- something suwoong isn't particularly opposed to, but is a bit skeptical when it comes to matching vibes.  several viewings later, they settle on she'z's  < luv >,  a rather cutesy, nostalgic song with sad lyrics that's sure to test their expressions.

        despite their day starting off beautifully with the most wondrous ice cream cake in the world, thank you baskin robbins, they spend the rest of the time working on their core muscles -- something ella absolutely insists that they do for their  < all night >  choreography.  thus, they start doing squats.  suwoong is positively hurting all over, and is surely making constipated faces  ( sorry to fans who are here for looks only! )  when the ever-so brilliant but evil cheri suggests that they work on harmonization . . . while they're doing squats.

        suwoong nearly dies, encore.

        prior to the mgas, he used to frequent the gym once a week on average to work on his still nonexistent abs.  and during those times, the only squats he'd done were those when he's squatting down to pick up his backpack.

        "sadists!"  he exclaims as he sprawls himself all over the floor during one of their well-deserved breaks.  "coach ella just wants to see us suffer, doesn't she?!"

        he feels light as a feather as he tumbles into bed later that night.  all is well until he's rudely awoken several hours later by kyungsoo's obnoxious call to get him out of his apartment.  honestly, does his cousin ever sleep?  it's no wonder he's always grumpy.

        they're the first to arrive, but this time around, since it's not five in the morning, suwoong stays awake to practice his vocals.  cheri had given him tips during their harmonization-squatting sessions  ( he still hurts from that ).  and while he's standing there, trying to breathe from his diaphragm, whatever that means, his ears perk to the sound of approaching footsteps.

        ah yes, the coaches.

        "quick, hide!"

        he drags kyungsoo behind the door.  the coaches got them good yesterday, so it's only fair if they return the favor, right?  right.  "i think that's cheri's footsteps . . . shh!"

        turns out, it's just heejin, who opens the door right as suwoong's shushing kyungsoo  ( who actually didn't make a peep in the first place, but y'know, he shushed him just in case ).  he drags heejin to join them behind the door and toes it shut.  "we're going to get them back,"  he explains to her, placing a finger over his lips to indicate shh while his mouth curls into a rather mischievous smile.  sometime later, the door opens once more, and suwoong jumps out with a loud boo!

        eric shrieks and begins beating on suwoong's chest, wailing don't do that!  it ends with him embracing the younger and patting him numerous times on the head . . . all before pulling him behind the door as well.

        the scene then unfolds:  four youths -- a stoic, a dumbass, a princess, and a babie -- are huddling in the corner of the room, waiting with dwindling patience for the coaches to arrive.  they wait for a while, and just as they're about to disperse, the door cracks open wider and wider and---

        "boo!"

        cheri and ella hurl themselves away, all while cheri shuns them as demons.

        suwoong can't breathe.  he doubles over with wheezes as kyungsoo and eric, the ever serious and sweet pair, rush over to aid ella, who had fallen from shock.  he, himself, is mid-cry laughing as he reaches down to give cheri a hand.  and while he does apologize several times for their little scare prank, it's all lost in-between fits of laughter.  he sobers up a good minute later and offers a few pats, as he did with eric, as condolence -- but the deed is already done.

        as the day progresses, he feels like the coaches are just a biiit harder on them, perhaps because of the scare prank.  and while he does find himself whining here and there---especially when they're doing squats while eating lunch---he eventually sucks it up, because hey, it's the finals.  and they'll be the last performance, so they absolutely have to give it their all.

        sunday starts similarly:  in pain and agony.  morning squats and harmonization have gotten a bit easier, and dare he say, his booty is looking mighty fine thanks to them.  ( kidding, his booty looks the same.  yes, he has checked.  who hasn't? )

        by time lunch break rolls around, he and heejin---the two best dressed of the quartet, and no, this is not up for debate---usher out to the shopping strip for their  < luv >  outfits.  they've opted to go for a pastel yellow color scheme instead of pink, since yellow is sphere's color.  picking out their own and eric's is easy;  he goes with a white shirt and yellow jacket, whereas heejin goes with a cute white top and a yellow pleated skirt.  since eric's rather young, they choose a white top and a yellow sweater vest, complete with white trousers that matches suwoong's own.

        for kyungsoo, it's a bit more difficult.  suwoong wants him in the cutest outfit ever!  but unfortunately, heejin is a party pooper who shakes her head at everything he proposes, citing that it's not something that kyungsoo would wear, lest fit---to which suwoong asserts that's the point!  in the end, suwoong wins with a yellow shirt that proudly boasts a huge white bow, adorned with a matching yellow beret.  they also buy a second beret for hyojin, so he can wear it in spirit.

        on the way back to the royal building, they come across a small crowd milling around someone -- and as every nosy person should, he sticks his head in to see what's going on.  he's surprised to find kyungsoo, of all people, standing there singing.  "did he tell you about this?"  he asks heejin, quirking an eyebrow at the oddity that is kyungsoo not telling anyone that he's performing.  is he trying to gain more fans?  or is he promoting their group?  but if he's promoting them, wouldn't it make sense to have them all out here?  though a bit skeptical, suwoong still claps as the song comes to an end while making a mental note to ask kyungsoo about this later.

        after they return to the practice room, he and heejin proudly show off their purchases, with suwoong talking animatedly about the struggles they had gone through to get these outfits.  "do you know how hard it is to find a sweater vest in this weather?!"  he flails eric's outfit out.  "everyone kept giving us weird looks, because who wears sweater vests in the summer?!"  once he hands eric's outfit over to the younger, he reaches into their shopping back to pull out the last outfit.  "and this one is yours, kyungie!  with the hat!"  he's positively beaming as he holds up these items -- these items that they bled, sweated, and cried for.

        and yet, kyungsoo has the audacity to turn it down.

        "it's a gift!"  suwoong says, shoving the shirt in his cousin's face.  "you can't refuse a gift, that's rude.  it'll make heejin cry, and you don't want her to cry, do you?"  but kyungsoo, the absolute ass, does not accept the outfit even after he says that, so he ends up chasing kyungsoo out of the practice room and into the hallway where he successfully tackles the other, dragging him into one of the restrooms.

        some time later, suwoong busts into the practice room with triumph, and kyungsoo trails slowly behind in the outfit he had initially refused.

        when tuesday comes around, kyungsoo presents a bag of snacks from their honorary member hyojin, all labeled with notes of encouragement.  suwoong nearly cries from awe as he sends hyojin a total of twenty-seven texts to thank him for the food.  as they're munching away on their next water break  ( hereby snack break ),  he leans, almost as if he's telling the other three a secret -- but instead of a secret, he makes a suggestion:  "let's do a second prank."

        eric voices his disapproval, citing that they nearly killed ella and cheri for their first prank.  suwoong thinks that's an exaggeration -- which is a pretty bold thought coming from lee suwoong himself -- and shakes his head.  "no, no, no, not another scare prank.  something bigger.  better."  his eyes light up as he sits upright to explain his idea.  simply put, they're going to trick the coaches into thinking that they've changed their sphere song from  < luv >  to  < ppap >.

        "it's foolproof,"  he tells the three.  "they already think we got them back with the scare prank, so they wouldn't expect another one."  he then insists that they perform a small part of the song to really drill in the trickery so that the reveal is much more dramatic.

        and so, that's what they do.

        when the coaches return the following day, they put their plan into action:

        "we have a confession,"  suwoong starts, gaze flickering between the contestants and coaches to fake his nervous impression.  "yesterday, when the three of you were gone, we sat down and thought really hard about our luv performance.  it's cute, but we want to do something more fun and relevant, so we . . . chose a new song."  he quickly raises both of his hands.  "don't be mad!  we think this is the best choice for us.  it fits sphere's image more, and it'll definitely help us win."  when the coaches don't faint from surprise, he adds on,  "we're very serious.  please allow us to show you."

        and so, they take their places:  heejin and kyungsoo in the middle, suwoong and eric at the wings.  heejin and kyungsoo start them off with a beautiful rendition of ppap,  while the other two slowly mimic the original ppap choreography.  once the first two finish the short vocal part, eric whips out his otamatone and begins playing a more upbeat ppap.  they all begin to dance a bit more vigorously, stretching one of their arms out as if stirring a pot with attitude.  they barely finish the dance portion before busting out of laughter -- suwoong being the absolute loudest when he sees the look on cheri's face.

        after sobering up for the millionth time this week, they get back to business.

        🌸

        "we are royal flush!"  they greet before bowing in unison.  kyungsoo, the ace of hearts, introduces himself first in the line-up.  suwoong follows soon thereafter:  "i'm lee suwoong, the king of hearts!"  he shoots out two finger hearts to individuals in the front row.  his left finger heart is directed a yena, who he fondly remembers as the one who bought him chicken and cheered him on, even after her tragic elimination;  his right is sent to kyulkyung, his gossip buddy and second duo partner whom he has developed a rather strong friendship with.

        after heejin and eric introduce themselves, the four take move into their starting position.  kyungsoo, heejin, and eric sit with their backs to the audience, while suwoong lies down at the end, in the opposite direction.

        as the music starts -- a gentle melody that's unlike suwoong's type -- the first three lie down in succession while suwoong sits upright.  his gaze catches one of the cameras that he had identified during their introduction  ( all thanks to brilliant tips from coach won ).  he moves his left arm in a fluid, slow motion, then his right, as if to lift the three lying down upward.

        kyungsoo is the first to sing, followed by suwoong, who stays upright as the others sink to one knee.

한껏 깊어진 시간이 아무 의미 없이 don't sleep oh 셀 수 없이 니가 아른대는 거야 yeah

        his voice, by sheer nature, is louder than that of kyungsoo's.  when they had initially practiced their lines, the contrast seemed jarring at the time.  it took several one-on-one sessions with cheri to soften his vocals to fit their choice song.  the gentleness, however, isn't long-lasting;  it gradually ceases as the beat picks up for the chorus, which heejin starts and suwoong picks up second:

니 목소린 간질간질 간질 하게 들려 맘이 포근포근 포근하게

        again, he finds himself in the center of the semi-circle formed by the other three.  he's sure to, once more, gaze in the direction of the camera, the corners of his lips lifting into a small smile that gives way to a softer appearance.  expressions are important.  he had stressed this with kyulkyung in their  < close >  performance, as well as with the group in their  < shangri-la >  performance.  under ella's careful guidance, the four of them had practiced their facial movements, making sure they highlight the emotion they're trying to convey in just once glance.

        following the in-choreo squat, which they had done more than a hundred times while harmonizing  ( again, thank you, coach ella and cheri ),  eric leads them away with his rap portion.  for someone so young, suwoong finds himself impressed by the other's efforts.  the younger had entered the competition with dance as his main skill, yet volunteered for rap after realizing no one else could deliver the lines as well.  suwoong, himself, had tried and fumbled numerous times before finding solace in vocal lines.

        heejin follows the rap, then suwoong steps forward, the volume of his voice raising slightly to accommodate the crescendo.

니 목소린 간질간질 간질 하게 들려 맘이 포근포근 포근하게

        as he sings these lines, he leads the stronger movements -- rolling his shoulders back, head tilted at a slight angle, eyes catching yena's then kyulkyung's.  he hasn't forgotten about them yet.

        eric raps once more, followed by heejin, who delivers her impressive high note.  as fades away, suwoong grabs her by the wrist and spins her into a loose embrace.  his nose brushes along the side of her hair as he peers up with a peculiar twinkle in his otherwise darkened eyes.

        "such a good night,"  he says, allowing the words to drip from his lips like a seductive promise.

        after a quick succession of kyungsoo's lines, then his, then heejin's, the four of them collectively shout one last time! right as confetti shoots out above them.  while the paper slowly flutters down, snowing their pearly white outfits, they finish their performance by easing into their ending pose:  heejin standing behind, him and eric sitting back to back, while kyungsoo is propped up in front on one elbow.

        it's not long before they're back on stage, this time in pastel yellow outfits that he and heejin had dutifully bought.  they introduce themselves once more as royal flush before sweeping into another respectful bow.  once they straighten up, suwoong reaches up to steady his headset.

        "it's been a long journey, hasn't it?"  his eyes glisten as they skim the crowd once more for those familiar faces.  "thank you all for supporting us every step of the way.  as we perform the last song for this year's mgas, please listen closely to the lyrics.  these are our feelings for you as we begin to fondly reminisce our time here."  and with that, they begin.

        the second song choice is not as explosive as the other groups', but going out with a bang! isn't necessarily their intent.  they had shown elegance with  < shangri-la >  and charm with  < all night >,  but with this last performance, they hope to incorporate the nostalgia factor from she'z with their experiences this season.  he sings to the friends he's made, the partners and groupmates he's worked with, and and the fans that have supported him since the first episode.

믿을 수가 없어 한참 지나버린 우리 얘기

        the lyrics are easy on the tongue and gentle to the ears.  as he delivers his lines, weaving in and out between the other three's parts, he adopts a sadder expression with his eyebrows furrowed, his lower lip jutting out in yet another small pout.  he knows that sadness is harder to feign, particularly since they're all happy to perform this final stage -- but as the song goes on, as he hears kyungsoo, heejin, and eric sing their respective parts, he finds the expression coming naturally to him.

        he is, admittedly, a bit sad that this would be his last time on such a big stage.  win or lose, he now has a taste of stardom.  it's exhilarating, performing in front of so many.  his life as a go professional suddenly seems lackluster.  he's not sure if he can turn back to that.

수없이 마주치는 사람들 속에서 점점 잊혀져 가겠죠

        with so many people i run into, i will gradually forget you.  as these words leave his lips, he catches the gaze of various audience members -- yena and kyulkyung again, as well as some others who hold up banners in support of him and team royal.  his gaze softens as he considers these lyrics for himself:  as days pass by and he returns to studying go, the mgas will become something of the past -- a distant memory tucked away into the crevasses of his most treasured experiences.

        but sometimes i smile at the thought of that time.  kyungsoo sings this line, and when he does, suwoong finds himself looking at his cousin.  they've both been raised under strict circumstances to walk a path that's been paved for them by others.  he doesn't know what will happen to him -- what will happen to them -- after this performance, but he knows that they'll both fondly remember their time here.

        it's here that he has experienced something that he never thought he'd experience:  the ability to choose.  he chose to participate in the mgas.  he chose to stand on this stage, to perform, and to keep pushing week after week.

        for once, he's not his parents' pride.

        he's his own.

        "do it with us!"  the four of them shout before he leads them with the last chorus.  together with the audience, they part their forearms to l-o-v-e luv.  faces blur, the music fades.  he looks on beyond the audience to capture the last few moments on stage.  just a month ago, he was doing trot in front of a hundred contestants.  tonight, he's performing in front of three thousand.

        it hits him as they sink into their final pose:  a large heart created from their arms, with heejin and eric forming the top half, while he and kyungsoo form the bottom half.

        three thousand.

        here.

        to watch and support them.

        and to think, he gets to perform this last stage with eric, someone he had bonded with during the first week;  heejin, someone he'd stood alongside for top three during the second week;  and kyungsoo, his mostly insufferable but still okay cousin -- who would've thought?

        he's grinning as they rise for a final bow.

        win, his father told him.

        for some reason, he feels as if he's already won -- not necessarily the competition, but in general.  he's made it this far by his own choice.  how's that not winning?

MENTIONED :  @rkkyungsoo  /  @rkheejin  /  @ericxrk  /  @rkcheri  /  @rkella  /  @rkwon  /  @rkkyul  /  @yuzurk​  /  @hyojinrk

[thiswillbereportedtomanagement]

The Streetwear Startup forum lets aspiring creative directors figure out whether their graphics are cool—and where they can get blank tees to print them on.There is absolutely no good reason the words “yo pierre, you wanna come out here?” should be here pinned on the page for Reddit’s Streetwear Startup subforum. Clicking on the words leads you nowhere, and the phrase—first heard on the Jamie Foxx Show and more recently popularized by hip-hop producer Pierre Bourne—doesn’t have anything to do with the page’s function: convening an unusually friendly online community to help burgeoning streetwear designers launch their brands. But it turns out that “yo pierre” is a perfect symbol for a genre of clothing that thrives on coded imagery—ranging from Coca-Cola to Dragon Ball Z—to signal to other people you’re hip, you’re in the know, and yes, you would like to come out here.The streetwear startup aims to dissect the very concept of cool. Can the designs and signals that have catapulted brands like Supreme and Kith into the fashion stratosphere be focus group-tested until you’ve found the thing that resonates with customers? After all, if the almost-14,000 users on the page think your piece is a must-cop, it’s also possible that Miami Dolphin Jarvis Landry will too, and will then wear it on ESPN, like he did with streetwear startup success story Rude Vogue. And if this chorus of voices say fire, there’s a decent chance the streetwear press will join in, like Hypebeast did with the brand Deadnight.Anyone with an Instagram account would be forgiven for thinking that the streetwear market is oversaturated with streetwear brands. But others see the endless stream as a siren call to jump into the fray. But the rush with coming up with a catchy name—seriously, it can be anything; the most popular streetwear brand in the world is called Supreme—can make you forget there are logistics to be dealt with. How do you get your vision on the screen? How do you make other people fuck with that vision? How do you get that art on a T-shirt? And, wait, where do you even get those T-shirts from? And once you have the T-shirts and someone willing to shell out the cash for it… what then?How do I get these printed?Streetwear Startup is built to answer those questions. “I want to keep it as open as possible and for it to be for anyone curious about brand startup as a whole,” says Dustin Wilkie, a recent UNC-Asheville grad who moderates the subreddit. The subreddit was formed, in November of 2013, and Wilkie, who was working on a brand of his own at the time, joined almost immediately. Wilkie says the person “who actually made it just doesn't use it, and I don't even have contact with them any more”—a poetic start for a page that’s all about trial and error. Wilkie was put in charge because he was the longest-tenured member.The subreddit’s main services can be broken down into two parts: beginner questions (What’s the best ecommerce site?) and brand feedback (What logo do you like most?). Wilkie’s goal is to eradicate the first part by compiling a How to Streetwear 101 handbook that will contain everything you need to get from idea to brand. “We have a pretty big problem with people posting the same beginner question over and over,” Wilkie laments. The ”wiki” currently covers four topics but “we're creating a how to beginner's guide that should handle all of those questions,” Wilkie says.“The subreddit is filled with people who are grinding away every day in the same way as me,” says Slade, a 20-year-old college student studying graphic design in Missouri who founded the brand VVID. “Oftentimes, they've stumbled and had to learn during their journey, too, and they're nice enough to impart that knowledge to me, and in turn I get to circumvent those mistakes.”Wilkie says the page has been growing quickly recently, though he can’t pinpoint the exact reason for all the newfound subscribers. Jaffry Mallari, a 19-year old Geomatics Engineering Technology student at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, says that when he joined almost two years ago, there were only around 2,000 followers. He took a break after his first brand went to that friendly Shopify site in the sky, but when he came back around a year ago the number of subscribers had tripled to 6,000. Now it stands at around 14,000 members—and more people means more voices. “There is more information now,” Mallari says. “So now it's like more of a struggle [to get to the top post] but since there's more competition now it made me push harder on my designs.” Mallari dubbed his new brand Resurgence: “To fix the mistakes that I’d made and to do twice as well as before—that's the meaning of the brand.”When I catch Slade on email he tells me he was getting “sewing 101 tips.” Others start by sponging up even more rudimentary knowledge. Mallari recounts his first experience on the page: “I just kept putting in designs and kept asking questions, like, ‘What websites do I use? How do I get these printed?” Mallari says that the first brand he made “crumbled and fell off” after a bad business decision. “But back then I was still new to it and I thought [I’d found] an easier way. That's when I learned the hard way that's not how you need to run something.”Everyone started from the bottomBuilding a career in fashion takes time: Alessandro Michele worked anonymously for more than a decade at Gucci before being handed the reins. Building a career on r/StreetwearStartup is a considerably quicker process. “I have been posting in the subreddit showcasing my collections for about 18 months now,” says Sam Hall, a 27-year-old living in Manchester. In that span, his brand Deadnight has been featured on Hypebeast. Well-followed DJs like Example and KuruptFM requested clothing from him. Now, he says he’s in talks to be stocked “across Asia for a very large organization.” That’s thanks to the subreddit, he says: “Each time I have received high praise from members, but most importantly vital feedback which I have used each and every time to improve.” And therein lies what’s truly one-of-a-kind about this page: unlike most internet enclaves, most people on Streetwear Startup aren’t total assholes.A large percentage of the posts request feedback on a design. Amateur designers posting their best efforts to an audience granted internet anonymity should be like throwing red meat to a pack of hypebeasts. But the group on Streetwear Startup is almost entirely supportive, and only intends to nurture when it does give feedback. Compare the top comment on a recent Hypebeast article—”Looka ma stickers bruuuuuuuh. Fucking f*****s”—with a comment the brand Anomaly received when its founder asked for feedback on a tee: “I really like the original to the point where I'll cop rn if you release.”And that’s just one of the 33 comments offering advice on what the graphic should look like (“If you're going for the water reflection look, I feel like you should make the water a little more recognizable,” writes one commenter) and ways to add small details (“Would like to see something really simple on the back of the shirt,” reads another post). Anomaly’s founder Adam has been on the subreddit since 2015 and describes it as a key resource in building his brand. “It's the first place I turn to whenever I need feedback on a new design, tips on marketing, or just advice in general,” Adam tells me via email. “I'm not exaggerating when I say I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the supportive, albeit critical, community​.”That sentiment is echoed by other users. “I personally value when people on the sub are a bit ruthless,” says VVID’s Slade. “It may often hurt my feelings at first reaction, but I also find harsh critique to give my subconscious a new perspective when approaching design.”What feeds the harmonious atmosphere is the fact that everyone has some skin in the game. “Everyone has the same perspective,” says Mallari. “So it's much easier for them to praise others, keep it up, this is good. It's a supportive environment because everyone started from the bottom.” Wilkie says he’s only ever banned one person.The whole community is reliant on this continuous feedback loop. “If you give to the community, we're going to try and give back to you,” says Wilkie.But this isn’t just a fun hobby; those who stick with the subreddit are serious about their success and the page can act as a fast track to it. “This is the future for me,” says Slade of his brand. “I'm hoping when Volume 3 releases I'll be able to drop out of school and do VVID full-time. I don't think it’s a long shot.”Adam, a 17-year-old who runs a brand called Anomaly with his friends Omar and Abdullah, echoes that thought. “Every brand owner within the subreddit wants the same thing: to make it big,” he says.It’s the amount of experience that all of us combined can bring to one person's ideaThe subreddit’s greatest strength, though, is the sheer number of voices and people it can bring to bear on an issue. “We have [14,000] people now but even if 10 people talk to you about a design that may help you decide to start over or decide that, ‘Wow this is really something I can work on.’” says Wilkie.When I ask Slade what the most valuable thing he gets from the subreddit is he says opinions. This is what’s most disruptive about the page: it lets burgeoning designers to crowdsource their designs rather than coming up with designs in isolation, investing the money, then plopping them on the web in hopes of finding an audience for the work.The process by which the clothing is made is different, but the resulting products have a lot in common with brands we’re familiar with. In the world of streetwear, the difference between what we consider hot and not oftentimes has a lot to do with the name behind it, rather than the strict aesthetic appeal of whatever’s on the front. The reasons we lose our collective shit over a white tee with a red box on it isn’t because of its unprecedented design quality; it’s because of everything that red box signifies. Anomaly recently featured paintings that were criticized for looking too similar to those used by popular streetwear brand Heron Preston. The factor that makes one cool and another unoriginal can often come down to the name. There’s nothing inherently uncool about the brands on the streetwear subreddit except maybe that they’re just not cool yet.Sorting out all the signals is why the streetwear startup can be so helpful. “I needed a place to gauge the response a larger audience would have to the collection and I wanted to know if it would stand out the way I wanted it to,” Slade explains. “What better way to test that than post in a community of people who look at or create streetwear designs all day, and see what they think?” You can feel out a customer base before needing, you know, a customer base.And because these are people who also have brands, it makes them the perfect target market. “If the majority of them like it, it will mostly likely at least sell a few pieces,” says Mallari. Streetwear Startup offers people a testing ground for items and designs before they ever put real monetary investment into anything. And you can keep taking the community’s advice until you’ve smoothed out the edges enough that someone—probably a number of someones on Streetwear Startup, who have now all helped you make a garment closer to their tastes—might actually buy your product. Fashion isn’t a science, but in Streetwear Startup you can play a game of addition and subtraction based on feedback until you’ve got something at least one person will wear.And you can keep adding and subtracting until someone like Jarvis Landry wears your clothes on ESPN. Matt Nicholas, a 30-years-old supplement store manager in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada and the designer behind Rude Vogue, says that the subreddit vaulted him in front of a larger audience, but the Landry placement is on a different level. “It was a pretty amazing feeling, just growing up always watching ESPN daily and then to see your brand you've worked so hard for making a cameo on SportsCenter,” Nicholas says. The rest of the subreddits users are hoping to find the same kind of streetwear success — with a little help from their 14,000 friends.Watch Now:How Kinfolk Became One of the Coolest Designers on the PlanetMORE STORIES LIKE THIS ONE

https://www.gq.com/story/reddit-streetwear-startup