Our
Chapters

FREE THE PAGES

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. - Ray Bradbury, Author: Fahrenheit 451

Across the U.S., books that touch on issues related to racism, gender and LQBTQ+, are being systematically targeted and banned. Ironically, the most successful lobbyists for these bans do so in the name of “liberty” and “freedom” — misleading words that would make even the Ministries of Orwell’s 1984 proud. In response, we’ve created a series of tees that shine a light on the criminalization of freedom of speech and thought.

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FO[REIGN]

Everything is fo[reign] until it's [fam]iliar.

Imagine all the people... If everyone is foreign to someone else in the world, then what we really mean when we call someone foreign is that something about them is unfamilar to us. But once we engage with each other and learn to understand the meanings behind our differences, we often find that we have more in common than we don't. And the differences that do exist between us, often relate to one or more cultural perspectives that have stood the test of time. That's why we bracket regin in the FO[REIGN] collection, and tag each piece with the reminder that "everything is fo[reign] until it's [fam]iliar".

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PHILOS

In comparison to the ancients, we stand like dwarves on the shoulders of giants. — Bernard of Chatres

According to Joseph Campbell, the hero's journey is a symbol that binds two distant ideas: the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity. Our Philos collection pays homage to philosophies, like Campbell's hero's journey, that inspire us to seek transformative experiences by engaging, among other things, the thoughts and perspectives of those that have come before.

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ELEMENTALS

Good design is thorough down to the last detail. Nothing must be arbitrary and left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer. – Dieter Rams

Drawing inspiration from function, form and elements of our natural surroundings, our Elementals Chapter focuses on silhouette – an experiment in identifying how we move in the clothes we wear and how they, in turn, shape us. Clean, structured lines and elegant draping are saliant features across this collection. Constructed with monochromatic finishes, we celebrate the majesty of the human form and the grace in which it moves.

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ORIGINAL ROYALS

If you are not noble to your thoughts and actions, no title awarded by any king or queen can make you so.

What began as a gift from Queen Victoria to King Moshoeshoe in 1860, today forms the basis of a proud cultural heritage and blanket-wearing tradition that is interwoven into the very social fabric of Basotho life, from birth, through rites of passage, and even in death. As the Basotho say in their native tongue, "Kobo ke bophelo" [trans. “The blanket is life”].

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LA VIDA ... ETREUM AL

in collaboration with Carlos Luna

A piece of gold that wants to shine must pass through fire first – Yoruba Proverb

Unknown Union unveils its Chapter with world-renowned artist, Carlos Luna. This collection touches on themes that are personal to Carlos Luna and at times autobiographical, including the rural Cuba of his childhood, where the beliefs of African Yoruba culture were particularly strong, and Mexico, where he trained in ancient pottery traditions and met the love of his life. While personal to Luna, the experiences captured in his work are equally universal. VOLUME 1 of this capsule collection invokes the richness of these cultural influences on Luna's expression of life, death and all that the journey entails.

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ROSETTA

..translations construct cultural bridges and enlarge our horizons.

Translated in the early 19th Century, the Rosetta Stone provided the conduit through which Egyptian hieroglyphics could be deciphered and translated from Greek. This bridge provided the fertile ground from which greater research and study of Egyptian thought blossomed throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Our Rosetta Chapter analogizes this significant historical event by highlighting additional graphic writing traditions and symbolism designed to transmit knowledge, construct cultural bridges and enlarge our horizons.

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