Much to the amazement of his wife and family, the Worcester native jumped into his passion: hip hop inspired streetwear. Rivera decided that what had been a hobby all his life would now become his career.
That decision led Rivera, now 34 with a scruffy beard, dark rimmed glasses, and a seemingly irrepressible optimism, to earn a reputation as one of the city rising stars in the world of limited, pricey, and highly coveted sneakers and streetwear. He has collaborated Air Jordan 16s with companies like Adidas and New Balance to design sought after special edition sneakers, and is branching into sportswear.
has a knack for bringing back special products in a special way, said Joe La Puma, senior editorial strategist of Complex magazine, which focuses on sneaker and streetwear culture. pretty much been batting a thousand with the collaborations that he done. Its 1980s and 1990s influences can be seen in sneakers, which are often clever reinventions of originals, along with high end Japanese denim, jackets, T shirts, bags, and accessories. Particular offerings are often the result of collaborations between brands, or between brands and celebrities or designers.
Sneakerheads line up for hours to get their hands on shoes that are produced in limited runs. Just last week, police donned riot gear in some parts of the country when Nike re introduced a limited run of a sneaker from the 1990s.
Rivera, who is simply known as Frank the Butcher, likes to point out that both he and streetwear culture in general grew from the idea of making something out of nothing. He grew up in a working class family in a rough neighborhood with no formal artistic or fashion training; streetwear came from urban kids who improvised a new way of dressing out of limited resources.
was super obsessed with hip hop, so that was really my gateway into fashion, art, music, and lifestyle, Rivera said on a recent afternoon, sipping ice water at the Four Seasons Hotel. was wearing a Air Jordan 3s North Face jacket, and I wasn skiing. We were just taking things that looked good and putting them together. With hip hop being my main inspiration, it taught me that you can assemble style as long as you have an eye for things, a certain attitude, and a certain perspective.
That perspective has brought Rivera to his latest challenge: He been named creative director of Boylston Trading Co., an offshoot of Air Jordan 19s the multimillion dollar local online retailer Karmaloop. The expertly curated online shop will open an appointment only retail location on Boylston Street this spring.
me, Frank was one of the biggest names locally in streetwear, said Karmaloop founder Greg Selkoe. seemed like a perfect fit. We started Boylston Trading Co. because we wanted to set apart the higher end and more expensive collaborations from Karmaloop. Trading Co. is the most recent stop on a creative journey that Rivera started in Worcester, where he still lives with his wife and two children. Besides an obsession with music (his nickname the Butcher comes from his ability to chop beats and add samples to hip hop), what Rivera took away from hip hop culture was its aspirational nature. Its message of a better life hooked him, and his eye was drawn to what local and national acts his favorites in his youth were Slick Rick, KRS One, a Tribe Called Quest, and the Beastie Boys were wearing.
Rivera dabbled in a bit of everything. Air Jordan 6s He deejayed, he rapped, and he started writing about the rappers he loved for small and newspapers. He also created art, even offering to design album covers, posters, and T shirts for groups he loved.
led me down this road where I began to think that know, I think I could have a career at this, he recalled. was like roulette. There were a lot of good things happening around me, and a lot of bad things happening around me. All mixed up. I just landed on being creative and pushing that. addition to writing about bands and designing for them, Rivera starting adding his insider street perspective to a weekly podcast devoted to sneakers and streetwear.
injected myself into the center of this culture, said Rivera. podcast [called was listened to by all these independent brands. And footwear brands really listened to us. A lot of kids in the scene had a suburban perspective. I was looking at it from an urban street perspective.
But Rivera also had a family to support. He married his high school sweetheart and had his first child in 1997. But it was the death of his brother, whom he also describes as his best friend, that led him to take the risk that has led to his recent success. One day shortly after the accident, he sat down at his desk at the metal Jordan Pro Strong shop and decided that couldn do it anymore.
He worked as a brand manager and designer at Concepts, the local clothing and sneaker boutique. It was at Concepts where he had his first collaboration with Timberland, a brand he has worn since he was a teenager. It was also at Concepts where he collaborated with New Balance on a sneaker called the Kennedy, which incorporates nautical and patriotic colors inspired by the late president.
was in a room with these guys, and it was like, they really listening to what I saying, he recalls. really have an opinion and knowledge that these guys really respect and need.
He had his greatest success at Boylston Trading Co. with the Adidas Forum Hi, a sneaker that Rivera reimagined from his youth. Street and drug dealing culture influenced fashion on the streets of Worcester, and Rivera took notice of the German designed shoe for American basketball. It was the ultimate status symbol of the streets.
Rivera did what he has since done with many of his collaborations: He taken the basic form of the sneaker, kept essential details, and added others. In this case he found an original pair, flew to Portland, Ore., and reworked it into high fashion.
He is a historian with an eye for details that he subtly incorporates into everything he designs. Even the logo of Boylston Trading Co. is a frog skeleton, because Boylston Street was once called Frog Lane.
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