Rise of the Dolphin: Poking Fun in '08 to Acclaimed Hypebeast in '15

Pink Dolphin has come a long way in a very short time; from being ran out of a garage in San Jose to two flagship stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles (and a third is on the way in New York City.) This brand has become a widely known street wear clothing staple that you either love or hate.... whether you love it or hate it doesn't really matter because you have to respect it. Why? Hit the jump to learn something about the story.

Pink Dolphin, at least from my California bias knowledge, goes into the category of one of the most diverse street wear brands that I know of.

I see people in their 20's like me wearing it, along with people in their 30's, to standard teenagers, along with high school & middle school kids alike. This could be somewhat comparable if the brand was tailored to a certain type of person and age didn't really matter, but "cool kids" wear it, "preppy kids" wear it, "skaters" wear it, "gangsters" wear it, "hipsters" wear it, "athletes" wear it, "famous people" wear it, "trendsetters" wear it, "hype-beasts" wear it.

I can go on and on, you get the point I'm making. Furthermore, the brand doesn't pertain to a particular race either because white people, black people, asian, latino, blue, yellow, green... everyone wears it. Why does that matter? What's the point of this article?

I was walking through the mall just last weekend, when two guys stopped and asked me where I had bought my Pink Dolphin hat. These particular individuals believed that it had to be from the newly released Spring Collection because they had never seen it before and they wanted to buy their own.

After some conversation they let me know that they have been fans of the brand for a few years, but now they are starting to shy away from wearing it because they don't want to look like a "hype-beast." That is the premise of this article, this brand has jumped into the limelight so quick that it has caught me off guard quick and had me thinking, "I was made fun for wearing Pink Dolphin back in high school and now I can seen as a hype-beast for wearing it," that's crazy.

2008 - 2011: The Grassroots

In 2008, I was a senior in High School and there was this little group called The Pack that I was a fan of. I was a fashion trendy type of person, so I always tried to find brands that no one had heard of... literally finding the weirdest gear and wearing it just for one reason; no one else would have it. Keeping that idea in mind, Young L announced that he was releasing this little brand called Pink Dolphin with designs that had a cross, Japanese letters and bright colors like pink and aqua... Pink and aqua in 2008? Hell no.... well at least to the general public. When the first release came out you could only get the gear in a store called Four Square out in Stockton, California, so I had my friends drive me out there so I could buy it on the day of the release.



Next thing you knew, midway through senior year, I was wearing bright pink Pink Dolphin shirts, colorful snapbacks, G-Shocks, baggy pants and Vans on my feet. You think that went unnoticed? Not at the least, I stood out from a mile away and that led to everyone making fun of what I wore not only for the rest of my Senior year, but for the next three years of college too. Even being out of high school for years now, people still remember me for my crazy outfits, it was really out of control for that time period when black, white, red & blue were the norm; not pink, aqua, teal & purple.

Where did I come into play in this story?

I was designing MySpace layouts and I had this little page where I uploaded music. Mostly the music was Bay Area/Hyphy/The Pack related type of sound that me and my friends liked. Next thing I knew the page had a few thousand friends, over 200,000 plays and a message from Young L in my inbox. After a bit of back and forth we decided to make it an official fan page; I started premiering music and going to all the shows even though I was heavily underage. I was 18 at over 21+ shows, essentially too young for club situations, but I made it work and that's where I met the Co-Founder & Designer of Pink Dolphin, Cena Barhaghi.

Not only was he designing MySpace layouts like me, but we were the exact same age. Essentially we were just some teenagers running around trying to make something happen with ourselves. I started designing little flyers and what not for the brand, ran the Street Team and promoted it at The Pack venues. Even more super old school, I started the Pink Dolphin Twitter account for the company, designed the YouTube layout back when they had those and helped run the MySpace account as well. (Pretty crazy when I think about how long ago that was.) Nothing I did was super essential to the brand, but I was a little piece to the puzzle back in the day.

Moving back to the story...



As colorful trends started to fade in to style, Pink Dolphin, who mind you, was ahead of the trend years before, starting shining through in the fashion world. Instead of people making fun of my outfits like they did in 2008, people were asking me where they could buy it or if they could buy it off me. I have had offers for what I like to call my "classic Pink Dolphin gear" for upwards of $500 for a single item. Yes, $500.

If I had to sum up the first few years the brand I would say:

Pink Dolphin successfully created a small, but dedicated following that grew slowly, but stayed strong. A few dozen fans turned into a few hundred and few hundred turned into a few thousand.

2011 - 2013: The Golden Years



Summer 2011 through late 2012 is what I believe to be the two year span where the brand exploded! This was the point where it went from a 'small Bay Area bred brand' to one of the coolest brands in the country. It was something everyone wanted and tried to get. I say tried because it always sold out so quickly... if you didn't get it, then you missed out.

The numbers really started to grow when artists like Chris Brown & Wiz Khalifa started wearing it in their videos. From there moving forward, it grew to the top with celebrities like Justin Bieber wearing it head to toe. With the brand gaining huge recognition online, growth was inevitable. What comes next? Opening the first flagship store.



The very first flagship store opened August 25, 2012 on the legendary Fairfax Street in Los Angeles, Ca. With staple brands on the street like Diamond, The Hundreds, Black Scale, Stussy, Hall of Fame, Supreme & more, you would think the brand fit in, but to 'the Fairfax family' it didn't. What did this opening mean to them? Hype-beast galore. Brands and their following thought it would bring in the wrong people. Furthermore, I heard and saw online that there was an ideal out there that Pink Dolphin was a brand that hit it's peak and ultimately wouldn't be around for much longer. Pink Dolphin didn't belong and wouldn't stay.... boy were they wrong. Post grand opening they had countless collaborations, in-store signings, exclusive releases and more with dozens of celebrities that had lines stacked up around the block. Clearly this wasn't a fluke.



So, what comes next? A second flagship store. The Pink Dolphin team returned to the Bay Area with it's second store just a little more than a year later on October 12, 2013 on the legendary Haight Street. You thought LA's grand opening was big... ha... the grand opening in SF was epic and I was glad to be a part of it. Not only was the line around the block from start to close with hundreds of people lingering on the street to get a glimpse, but every well known to local artist, tastemakers, blogger, photographer, director, designer, etc. Everyone that was anyone was there to support the brand. The Bay Area stood strong.



Continuing forward with two stores up until 2014 was super solid. There were always successful Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter releases to no fault. The brand was being sold not just at the flagship stores now, but at well known outlets like Mainland & Zumiez across the country. Now that the brand is even more well known, everyone knows was it is, (like it or hate it) what comes next?

2014: What to do now? Where do we go from here? What's next?

I believe that last year, 2014, was the first year the brand took a step back and questioned their future. Not because something was wrong, something just needed to change. The focus needed to be on expansion and how to achieve it. Not to say expansion wasn't on the horizon or had already happened, Pink Dolphin's principles were already super successful, but with more area's of expertise on the table, the better off the brand would be for the future in growth.



With that, the company started to focus on more designs and deeper layouts, more limited pieces and more simple pieces. Lineup's grew from one release per season to two giant releases per season. It wasn't "just more gear flooding the streets" either. Instead of flashy outfits creating bold statements you could for example, stay clean cut head to toe in their bomber jackets, flannels, quilted hats, layering tees, biker denim, etc all in low key soft pallet colors. This was the grown up look the brand successfully achieved, which put them in that next level because now you had more options on the table as a consumer.



Now, you could not only stand out from the crowd with all over patterns in bright colors by day, essentially riding the color wave, but you could easily tone it down and still look extremely fashion trendy in darker colors, more suitable lets say late night in the city or going to the club type of look. (Stand out from the crowd & stunt in multiple ways.)

2015: The Future.

The future of the Pink Dolphin brand is now and I believe the next few years will be the time the brand really matures. As the people who run the brand grow and mature, the brand will do so with them. Going back to what I said with the more simple pieces, I believe this will be the trend from now on. There will be more LIMITED drops, more cut & sew, more soft pallet colors, more shades of grey and smaller splash of color pieces. There will always be crazy colorways available in every shape and form, but it will turn to a 50/50 split of options going back to what I mentioned earlier about day and night looks.



As they state in their tagline:

"Not just any other clothing line, we are here to promote positivity and show people what power's they have bestowed in them. Our slogan - Legends At Our Craft - is a phrase that not only defines the pride, creativity, and superior quality that we put into our gear, but a phrase that encourages everyone to be a legend in your own craft. To strive to be the best in everything one does while promoting positivity and remaining humble will lead to unlimited success and prosperity."

Think about it, the brand was created essentially by teenagers and people in their early 20's.... even all the years that have gone by most of the team are still in their mid-20's. OG's sit back and hate, but if you were in your 20's with a successful brand, you're telling me you wouldn't wrap Ferrari's in brand colorways? You would be lying. If Young California takes off and I have more money then I can count, I'm wrapping my own Ferrari too!

Right now at this moment, from an outsiders perspective, could you call this brand a hypebeast brand? Sure, but anyone that really knows the brand, knows that's not true. The growth is there and it will continue. I don't think there's anything wrong with a brand growing into the limelight and be called 'hypbeast,' because clearly your doing something right. Pink Dolphin is shining bright right now and as that light fades a little and matures, people won't be calling it a 'hypebeast' brand anymore, it will just be known as a staple.



This doesn't properly form the complete rise of the Pink Dolphin brand like it should, but I needed to sum it up. From my perspective it's been a pleasure watching it continue to grow since literally day one all the way up till now. No matter what anyone has to say about it, negative or positive, I always look forward to the future and what it may hold. Cheers to Cena, L, Neima, the team, the day ones, the old and the new.

- Matthew Garner. (Young California, The Based Update, #FreeMatt)

SF Store Photos provided by Julian Edward