Spring is officially here! So, let’s take a look at this new contemporary street and creative culture brand that was formed from the idea that there will always be people out there who not only embrace the rawness and imperfections of the everyday life, but use it to creatively push the boundaries of what’s possible in skateboarding, fashion, art, and music their own way, with complete disregard of the consequences. This brand is COMUNE.
COMUNE’s mantra, “Something Better Change” reflects the personalities and distinct style of the people responsible for COMUNE who continually push to change and influence the look of the industry.
COMUNE debuted globally with its launch of the Fall 2009 collection in June 2009 and continues to expand its current structure through the addition of DROP CITY, an innovative and economic gallery space made from recycled steel shipping containers. DROP CITY provides the platform to attract likeminded creative people to COMUNE’s artist community and clothing brand.
Pinstripe Magazine wants to introduce you to the three young talented guys responsible for COMUNE. Meet Jacob McCabe, Sven Altemtz and Corey Smith.
Contemporary men’s apparel designer Jacob McCabe began his obsession with design at the age of 16. His passion for beautiful, utilitarian, detail oriented design lead him to study fine art and design at the Art institute of Los Angeles. Once graduating from college he moved to London to continue his education in a textile graduate program. He has worked for such brands as Orthodox and Ambiguous, as well as countless independent freelance projects.
Born and raised in Pasadena of immigrant parents, native Sven Altmetz learned early on that with old fashioned hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of luck, life offers unlimited possibilities. Immersed in the surf, skate lifestyle throughout his childhood, it was as expected that his professional journey would revolve around this culture. Early endeavors in retail, art, fabrication, EMT, construction and motorcycle building somehow led to a career in the textile industry. True to his roots, Sven focused his efforts in the surf and skate world, pioneering, developing and supplying textiles that are pertinent to the market. His career flourished and the dream of expressing his own vision through his own brand began to take shape. Concurrent to his professional growth, his personal journey was also evolving. He spent a few years traveling, exploring and experiencing life. His professional and personal journey eventually came to its culmination.
Sven founded COMUNE in 2008 with long time friend and business mentor John Inn (co-founder and CEO). Armed with a well-established background in sales and merchandising, years of entrepreneurial accomplishments and his unique aesthetic sensibility, Altmetz takes the helm of COMUNE and leads the way to the brand’s continued growth and success.
Corey Smith, art director at COMUNE is a painter, sculptor and photographer from Portland, OR, who currently resides in downtown Los Angeles, CA. For over ten years he has been exhibiting his work in galleries all over the US. Smith has been featured in countless notable print magazines and online sources. Smith’s high-gloss, ultra-flat paintings capture the joys of plasticity and pre-fab environments, celebrity as the ultimate blank canvas, and the absurd hyperboles of modern leisure. But rather than repackage the manufactured world into an aestheticized form-a la post-Warholian Pop-Smith favors a post-Pop approach that brings into day-glo focus the dark vision at the corner of the spectator’s eye. The paintings find their subject in the tension between the works’ fatalistic undercurrents and the celebratory aura created by Smith’s use of bold color and bright-lined contour. His sculptures and mixed media works develop some of these same themes, but rather than map plasticity onto flat canvas, Smith instead maps flatness onto plastic forms-whether by painting across arrays of commercially molded objects or by making use of the naturally deflective precision-cut panes of modern machinery. See the COMUNE’s Spring/Summer 2012 LookBook below.
Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Pinstripe Magazine. Creative thinker and menswear designer who has been writing articles dedicated to men’s fashion, lifestyle, luxury items, home design, gear, grooming and gadgets since 1998. For info on PinstripeMag, any editorial needs or to contact me please email at marv@pinstripemag.com.
