Union

Union was founded in 1991 in New York by Mary Ann Fusco and James Jebbia (who would later go on to found Supreme in 1994) as a small streetwear-and-Japanese-imported-product store at 12 Spring Street in SoHo, specifically focused on bringing the kind of inventory (early Stüssy, Bape, Neighborhood, Goodenough, original Japanese-import streetwear) that was extremely difficult to access in 1990s New York. The brand was then sold in 2008 to Chris Gibbs, a former employee, who relocated the operation to Los Angeles and rebuilt the brand around the LA-streetwear-and-Japanese-import-overlap conversation. The Union LA vocabulary settled around several distinguishing things: a buyer-led brand list anchored to Stüssy, BAPE, Cav Empt, Neighborhood, WTAPS, Carhartt WIP, plus an extensive Japanese-and-Korean-import streetwear network (the only US store to consistently stock certain Japanese brands), the long-running Union × Air Jordan and Union × Nike collaboration programme (the Union × Air Jordan 1, Union × Air Jordan 4, and Union × Air Jordan 5 releases have been among the most-collected Jordan collaborations of the 2018-2023 period), the iconic Union LA in-house apparel programme (heavyweight cotton tees, hoodies, and the Union LA × Bricks & Wood collaboration capsules), and a continuous run of in-store events featuring Japanese-and-Korean-streetwear-designer talks and product launches. The brand is independent and held by Gibbs. Union LA operates flagship retail in Los Angeles (La Brea Avenue, the brand's home neighbourhood; the Union LA 2 store on Beverly Boulevard), Tokyo (Aoyama, Union Tokyo), plus international wholesale through HBX, Patta, the broader streetwear-specialty distribution network in Asia, Europe, and Australia. The retailer has been one of the defining US-anchored streetwear stores of the post-1990 generation, with the Japanese-and-Korean-import inventory and the Nike-Jordan collaboration programme specifically anchoring the brand's cultural position.