Triumvir3 Interview + Exclusive GS-Pack presentation!!!

Triumvir3 is a striking new brand from Orange County, California. They became more known after there sneaker customizations appeared on the Sneaker Pimps Tour. After that they released their first tee`s, with hot designs like the GS and now they dropped the Mao design and came out with their first hoodies. One can clearly see how the brand evolves in the right direction. Read now the Interview with the founder of Triumvir3 Brandon Cheng. Find out how Triumvir3 began and where they are heading. Also be the first one to see the exclusive pictures of the Triumvir3 GS-Pack that drops New Years Eve in a limited edition of 125pcs of each color.

HS: Hi Brandon, how is it going these days? Busy for the holiday sales?

BRAN: What’s up David...yeah it’s been pretty hectic…someone gave me the flu for Christmas…very enjoyable.

HS: Please tell us, who is involved in Triumvir3? Who are the founders and who is in it now? And quickly explain us where the name Triumvir3 comes from.

BRAN: Brian Chen, Richard Vaughn, Van Ness Wu, Brandon Cheng... Triumvir 3 was founded in the Summer of 2004 by myself. The name Triumvir was taken from the last two Triumvirs of Rome, the coalition between 3 men who jointly ruled the Roman Empire…mainly Julius Caesar, Pompei Magnus, Augustus, Mark Antony and other boring historical figures that nobody cares about…

HS: Triumvir3 does clothing but also sneaker customization. What came first and explain us the background of how it all started?

BRAN: Custom sneaks came first…a year ago I was working at Niketown. Bored off my ass I decided to take advantage of the employee discount and bought a bunch of sneakers. Bought some paint, and an air brush that I had no idea how to use and painted away the whole summer…I started posting some of my works on Niketalk and eventually was getting requests for customs. First pair that I made was the Clockworks, and then the Kill Bill Vol. 1 theme took off in its own direction. The name Triumvir 3 was being associated with the Kill Bills and it carried our brand here today.




HS: Where is Triumvir3 available aside from your online store?

BRAN: Our line can mostly be found in urban boutiques along the coast of California, NY, HK, Taipei, and Sweden. More boutiques are on its way for January so I’ll keep our supporters updated.

HS: Triumvir3 is located in Orange County, California. How come so many hot streetwear labels come from that area? Stussy, LRG, Creative Recreation….. to name a few. What makes the place so unique?

BRAN: First I would like to add that not everyone in Orange County live like the TV shows, “The OC” & “MTV’s The Real OC.” There are people of different ethnic backgrounds here…but I would like to add that the girls are very cute in that show. In reality OC is a big suburbia by the Pacific, it’s like an all you can eat international buffet. So many cultures to borrow from in such a big wide setting, it’s comfortable, mellow, and we’re 30 minutes away from our weekend playground Los Angeles. Being 30 minutes away is a big difference…everything that’s comes into OC gets filtered back out with a laidback feel…seriously I don’t know…this is the best answer I can give…you really just have to check OC out for yourself…


HS: What are the future plans for Triumvir3? What can we expect to see soon? A full collection after you now also introduced the Mao hoodies?

BRAN: Brian came up with that Mao parody design one day when he was suppose to do something else. After seeing it I gave it that Chinese slogan and we fell to the ground laughing. We were testing the waters with that Mao design but the results have been very surprising, so a collection is definitely in the works. We’re also busy working on some cut & sew pieces for the first time, something to distinguish us not just as the t-shirt guys. Let’s just say our loyal GS fans will be seeing a lot more styles soon in Spring/Fall 06.



HS: Where do you get the inspirations for Triumvir3? Is there a common theme behind the brand or a brand philosophy?

BRAN: This is a tough one to answer...I personally feel that it’s our generations time to create and lead. A lot of the designs we throw out relates to a person, place, thing, or time…and people in our generation are noticing and they can relate with us. In the last 27 years of my life the last time I recalled going crazy over t-shirts was during the T & C, Gotcha era...and now I see it happening again, like an Urban/Fashion Renaissance…But my other philosophy behind the brand is to smoke, drink, and get creative…

HS: You guys also participated in the Sneaker Pimps exhibition and showed some of your beautiful sneaker customizations. Tell us something about the event. How did you experience it? How did you end up in it?

BRAN: It all happened one day when Peter Fahey from Sneaker Pimps emailed me. He wanted to display my Kill Bill series for the Pimp tour, I couldn’t miss this exhibit, it still feels like I hit the jackpot to be in that show. When the show came to LA, Peter was nice enough to give us a piece of the wall for our GS series, Brian and I pulled mad hours for that show. Brian did the Porno-Camo Collage to match each of the GS shoes (I can’t wait to get that back)...it was really cool just to see a few people taking pictures of our stuff…it was the show that made us realize that damn, people like our shit…




HS: Now some more info on you Brandon. What is your background? What have you done before Triumvir 3?

BRAN: Believe it or not I actually studied Medieval European History in college. History is what I thought I was going to do for the rest of my life, but time can wait. Before Triumvir 3 I was just like any other college graduate...scared, confused, and high, and still am today. I had a degree but couldn’t find a decent job with history. I traveled around two continents for a year looking for inspiration for a book/screenplay. And I worked at Niketown for a few months and found my calling to never work for ANYONE…and start Triumvir 3.


HS: What are your 5 favorite clothing brands?

BRAN: Tommy Hilfiger (boxers), Abercrombie & Fitch (bottoms), 5 for $10 T-Shirt Warehouse (socks), Diamond Star Tees (tees we print on), and Nike (shoes)…my wardrobe year round…priceless…




HS: Which websites (aside from HighSnobiety!!!), do you read on a regular basis?

BRAN: Highsnobiety is the only one for us and none other..! Whoo, Yeah !...just kidding. But seriously HSNOB, HypeBeast, Lurk Ltd, Hyde, Honeyee, Niketalk, Sneakerfreaker, Think-Silly, and I can’t remember…


HS: That’s it already. It has been great talking to you. It’s great to see Triumvir3 moving along and dropping mad designs. Keep us posted here at HighSnobiety and Peace.

BRAN: Thanks bro…it was fun…


******Now a quick note on the new GS-Pack. Its been a while since Triumvir3 last released a GS tee.. now they created the GS Pack. The new GS-PAK comes in a homemade box like all of their shoe boxes, 2 colorways of the GS will be released, limited quantity of 125 pcs in each color. The Pack will be released New Years. Hurry, because these will be sold out in no time. HighSnobiety is the first one to release exclusive pics of that pack. Check them out above and click on the images to get to Triumvir3 and purchase your own.******



Enjoy,

David