Young Thug's SP5DER Is a Proper Fashion Brand Now
Young Thug's SP5DER brand has been around for five years but, now, it's a proper fashion label. What started as a series of sold-out hoodies has evolved into an actual ready-to-wear line.
On September 8, SP5DER presented its Fall/Winter 2024 collection during New York Fashion Week, comprising over three dozen co-ed looks and really pushing the SP5DER envelope.
Founded as SP5DER Worldwide in 2019 by Young Thug, SP5DER's offering has always included ample graphic fare that leans deep into its, er, spider-y aesthetic. Lots of webs, lots of logos.
Classic streetwear stuff. So much so that SP5DER rarely ever receives mainstream press, though its fanbase is so big that the brand can hardly be called underground.
The people buying SP5DER are mostly young and all extremely online. You'll see overlap between the people to whom Travis Scott outfits are a guiding light and also the folks wearing Cough Syrup sweats, reflecting a fairly broad base. These aren't fashion as fantasy shoppers but fashion as flex.
The SP5DER consumer represent a sort of fashion consciousness filtered through hip-hop and Instagram's Explore page with heavy luxury indicators, be that rhinestone-studded hoodies or artisanally distressed Kapital jeans.
SP5DER's one of many brands walking a trail blazed by Virgil Abloh's Off-White™, wherein a charismatic and prescient cult of personality pushes up from the underground into the mainstream. And the NYFW runway is SP5DER's crossover moment.
To be fair, SP5DER isn't going for the gusto here. The majority of its FW24 collection comprises staples like printed hoodies and leather pants, adorned with the usual spiderwebs and enigmatic text.
But SP5DER also indicates elevated fashion ideals with fairly audacious fare and even more advanced styling.
Like, for a brand that's mostly traded in hoodies and denim shorts, it's pretty valiant of SP5DER to proffer leather chaps, gem-studded flip-flops, and stirrup sweats.
The envelope isn't being pushed too far but the line's creative direction clearly has aspirations.
Most reference points are plainly worn on its studded sleeves, however: some models wore Rick Owens boots because that's a popular brand that everyone knows and many of SP5DER's pants are only made visually intriguing by large logos printed atop the crotch, an indirect homage to the streetwear cornerstone established long ago by NIGO's BAPE.
Which makes sense, because SP5DER is still at its core a streetwear brand with an audience seeking approachable flex pieces, which they'll be able to buy from SP5DER's website come September 11. But, with this show, SP5DER becomes something more.
