Men's Zoo York Fashion Brand

Zoo York is the Z letter's street name, a brand for young stylish men. Zoo York was an American company that designs and markets skateboards, apparel, sneakers and accessories. On this page you will find information regarding men's clothing with the Zoo York brand - a label that began on New York City's skate scene and covering the boards, the clothes and the shoes together.

The company was founded in 1993 by skateboarders Rodney Smith, Eli Morgan Gessner, and Adam Schatz. The trio siphoned creative inspiration from NYC's rapidly evolving skateboarding, music and art scenes to produce a variety of culturally relevant products that were dark and gritty like New York City. Together, the three founders' names, the founding year and the city's three scenes are the brand's whole origin story.

Sold to Iconix Brand Group

The Zoo York brand was sold to Iconix Brand Group. That single ownership line is the whole corporate history of this label beyond its founding: an independent skater-founded company of 1993, later a brand held by Iconix. The directory's own cross-reference from this profile to its Iconix Brand Group company profile is linked from this page, so a researcher can follow the sale into the parent company's file.

The brand serves up a wide range of casual, utilitarian looks for men and women that takes creative inspiration from New York City's skateboarding, hip-hop, and graffiti cultures. Note the widening: the founding drew on skateboarding, music and art, while the range as sold draws on skateboarding, hip-hop and graffiti - the city's street cultures are the constant ingredient in the brand's design recipe.

From a Simple Line of Skateboards and T-Shirts

What started off as a simple line of skateboards and T-shirts steadily grew into a full-blown apparel collection marked by military surplus, street athletic styling that was designed to withstand the city's rugged terrain. That growth sentence is the brand's product history in one line: boards and tees first, then a full collection, styled from military surplus and street athletics and built for the rugged terrain of the city that inspired it.

This brand sells apparel, footwear, accessories and more. For a men's buyer, the useful summary is therefore a double identity: a skateboard company by founding - founded by three skateboarders, in 1993, on the city's skateboarding scene - and a full apparel, footwear and accessories label by growth, serving casual, utilitarian looks for men and women. The brand's official site is linked in References below, and this page links onward to men's clothing stores, wholesalers, menswear buyers and men's fashion news.

Read together, these facts form a single test for any Zoo York piece: does it carry the city? Dark and gritty like New York City, inspired by its skateboarding, hip-hop and graffiti cultures, and styled to withstand its rugged terrain - those are the standards the brand sets for itself, from the first skateboards and T-shirts of 1993 through the full-blown apparel collection that followed, and they are why this label closes the Men's Fashion Brands alphabet beside a luxury house with nothing in common but the letter Z.

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