#1Cheap Monday
Swedish H&M-owned denim label, relaunched in 2024 with skinny, flared and baggy jeans and indie-sleaze styling.
#1Swedish H&M-owned denim label, relaunched in 2024 with skinny, flared and baggy jeans and indie-sleaze styling.
#2Independent Los Angeles label known for Y2K- and punk-inflected womenswear, graphic baby tees and chunky platform boots, sold direct-to-consumer online.
#3A skater-run American label from Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen, known for provocative collage graphics on decks and streetwear.
#4Shepard Fairey's streetwear label, applying his Obey Giant propaganda graphics and political commentary to military- and workwear-rooted basics.
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#5Southern California goth-streetwear label selling occult-graphic tees, hoodies and accessories built around an atheist, self-empowerment ethos.
#6American surf-rooted streetwear pioneer known for its scrawled signature logo, graphic tees, hoodies and tightly controlled chapter-store distribution.
#7San Francisco skate magazine and apparel line, running since 1981 and known for its Flame logo tees, hoodies and Skater of the Year award.
#8British bootmaker behind the 1460 eight-eyelet boot, known for yellow welt stitching and air-cushioned AirWair soles; LSE-listed and led by CEO Ije Nwokorie.
#9New York label from designer Chris Leba making distressed premium denim, band-tee graphics and leather outerwear with a rock-and-roll bent.
#10Los Angeles label founded in 2013 by Jerry Lorenzo, pairing oversized streetwear silhouettes with luxury fabrics and muted, neutral palettes.
#11Australian direct-to-consumer label known for digitally printed leggings and licensed pop-culture collections spanning gaming, anime and film franchises.
#12London label founded in 2012 by musician-designer Nick Davey, making rock-inspired leather jackets, vintage band tees and distressed graphic knitwear.
#13London label founded in 1994, built on leather biker jackets and washed, rock-referencing basics in a muted monochrome palette.
#14New York denim-rooted contemporary label, founded 2002 and acquired in April 2024 by Guess?, Inc. and WHP Global.
#15American skate footwear and apparel brand, founded in Anaheim in 1966 and owned by VF Corporation, known for the Old Skool and Sk8-Hi.
#16British alternative label founded in 2010, making gothic and occult-inspired clothing, footwear, accessories and homeware sold mainly direct online.
#17HUF is a skate and streetwear brand founded in San Francisco in 2002 by pro skateboarder Keith Hufnagel, now owned by Japan's TSI Holdings.
#18California-born teen and young-adult retailer selling graphic tees, baggy denim, fleece and swim through roughly 300 US stores and pacsun.com.
#19New York skate and streetwear brand known for weekly box-logo drops and collaborations, owned by EssilorLuxottica since October 2024.
#20American mall chain selling band tees, licensed pop-culture merch and goth, punk and emo apparel, owned by Sycamore Partners.
#21UK alternative label from Newcastle making goth, grunge and punk-leaning graphic tees, hoodies, dresses and accessories, sold direct-to-consumer worldwide.
#22British bootmaker producing Goodyear-welted, air-cushioned-sole boots in Wollaston, Northamptonshire — the factory that once made Dr. Martens' UK-made footwear.
Grunge streetwear borrows the 1990s Pacific Northwest uniform — oversized flannel, washed band tees, shredded denim, work boots — and runs it through skate and streetwear production. The constants are layering, deliberately damaged or faded finishes, relaxed-to-oversized proportions and graphics that read as printed rather than branded. Almost everything on this list fits one of three interpretations.
This is the most wearable entry point. Fucking Awesome, run by Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen out of Los Angeles, builds collaged photography and hand-scrawled type onto tees, hoodies, denim and work jackets. Thrasher has been printing Flame logo and Skate Goat graphics on heavyweight tees and hoodies since 1981. HUF, founded by Keith Hufnagel in 2002 and owned by Japan's TSI Holdings since 2017, leans counterculture graphics and work pants. Obey applies Shepard Fairey's propaganda imagery to chore coats and cargos. Stüssy and Supreme (owned by EssilorLuxottica since October 2024) are the cleaner, logo-led end. Vans supplies the footwear — Old Skool, Sk8-Hi, Authentic.
Darker, all-black, occult graphics. Killstar is the cheapest way in, with pentagram and moon-phase prints across dresses, mesh tops and platform boots. Black Craft Cult works the same territory from Southern California with sigils and tarot imagery. Disturbia adds grunge and punk references with dark humour. Black Milk sits adjacent, printing licensed pop-culture graphics onto leggings and bodysuits.
Leather, band tees and beaten-up denim. AllSaints is the volume option — biker jackets and washed monochrome basics across 200-plus stores. OTHER UK does the handmade version from London, with vintage-washed lambskin jackets around $540-730 and licensed Motorhead and Jane's Addiction tees at $85-130. R13 is the luxury take: shredded Japanese denim and oversized band-style tees at very high prices. rag & bone, acquired by Guess?, Inc. and WHP Global in April 2024, is the tidier denim-and-boots version. Fear of God sits apart — oversized, muted, expensive, more luxury streetwear than grunge proper.
Dr. Martens' 1460 is the default; Solovair makes Goodyear-welted alternatives in the same Wollaston factory that once produced Dr. Martens' UK line. Note that Hot Topic and PacSun on this list are retailers, not labels — they stock band tees, plaid and platform boots rather than design a house aesthetic. Cheap Monday, the Stockholm skinny-denim label, was relaunched under Weekday in September 2024 and its products are sold there now. UNIF, still independent in Los Angeles, covers the Y2K-punk side with baby tees and chunky platforms.
Distressed or washed fabrics, oversized silhouettes, layered flannel and denim, heavy boots, and graphics drawn from bands, skate art or occult imagery rather than logos. It splits roughly into skate (Fucking Awesome, Thrasher, HUF), goth (Killstar, Black Craft Cult, Disturbia) and rock (AllSaints, OTHER UK, R13) interpretations.
Killstar sits in the lowest tier. Obey, Thrasher, HUF, Vans, Disturbia, Black Craft Cult, UNIF and Cheap Monday all fall in the low-to-mid range. Hot Topic and PacSun are cheap because they're retailers carrying a mix of their own and third-party labels.
Yes. H&M wound the Stockholm denim label down in 2019, but it was relaunched under Weekday, part of H&M Group, in September 2024, and Weekday currently sells Cheap Monday product.
Both are Goodyear-welted with air-cushioned soles and both come from Wollaston, Northamptonshire — Solovair's NPS factory made Dr. Martens' UK footwear for decades before that contract moved overseas. Dr. Martens offers far more styles and sizes; Solovair is the English-made alternative, priced a tier higher.
Most sell direct from their own sites and stores: Stüssy chapter stores, Supreme's roughly 17 locations, Fucking Awesome's own shops, killstar.com, otheruk.com and AllSaints' 200-plus stores. Black Craft Cult also sells through Hot Topic, EMP and Impericon; R13 through SSENSE, Net-a-Porter and Nordstrom; Thrasher and HUF through skate shops. disco is a directory, so it doesn't sell anything itself.