If you grew up in the blog era you most likely have feelings of inspiration and excitement attached to this image.


(Pictured: Don C, Taz Arnold, Chris Julian, Kanye West, Fonsworth Bentley, and Virgil Abloh at Paris fashion show in 2009)

And although South Park used it for satire on their show; back in 2009 this was a special moment for many black creatives. This picture is full of legends that have all done and continue to do amazing things individually. To witness everyone’s trajectory from this moment to now is nothing short of inspirational. This picture made us all envision ourselves pulling up to Paris with our crew. This past weekend we were able to tap in with the man holding the Louis Vuitton luggage: the legendary Don C.

We were invited by Foot Locker to attend a private event to celebrate Don C’s launch of his ALL CITY collection and collaboration with Foot Locker. We were hyped! The event was centered around a conversation between Laura Stylez from Hot 97 and Don C himself. They talked about his early design inspirations and how sneaker culture and sports have always influenced his approach to fashion.

A treasure chest of gems mixed with introspective jokes kept all of us engaged and in the moment. After the conversation Don C took his time talking to all the young creatives in the building. 

It was dope to reconnect with friends of The Aware Brand to share our successes and lessons learned. We were also able to tap in with other brands and people who are killing it out here. Everyone was empowering one another all night, it was a vibe.

(@pericolimited)

(@jaetips)

Building a brand can be very frustrating and exhausting sometimes which makes it that much more important to celebrate the wins. From launching at Dose Detroit to Richard and Drew’s birthdays to the GQ feature plus some behind the scenes stuff, November has been a big month for us! We are growing and more and more people are seeing it.

 Meeting Don C is definitely one of the highlights of the year so far. He said he likes the brand and followed our IG on the spot. Crazy! It was a full circle moment to be appreciated by someone who has shaped so much of the streetwear culture. It lets us know we are moving in the right direction. 

Shout out to Foot Locker for inviting us and gifting us some gear from the new collection!


(Photos from Richard’s phone and Foot Locker NYC. Photographer @calligrafist ) 



Growing up in the same building in Spring Valley NY, we were always into art, fashion and music. When it came to clothes, our love for hats is something neither of us could have guessed would be the thing to make us go into business together. Life is funny like that.

Before a website or Instagram page, hats were the first items introducing everyone to the brand in 2017. We were wearing the hats and “selling them out the trunk”; we wanted to see if people would actually buy them, and they did. The message of self awareness and self love spoke to people in a real way and it didn’t take long for us to realize we really had something on our hands.

Whenever we talk about Aware, Drew always talks about getting the initial download from the Universe to start the brand, and that it came to him in the wee hours of the morning-“God’s hour”. There are so many ideas freely floating around in the atmosphere, and we have to be on a certain frequency to catch them. On that morning, at God’s hour, a seed to change our lives was planted.

Now to the juice! We are sure you’re thinking: How in the world did two guys from Spring Valley get their brand in 13 Foot Locker stores??!

The plan was always to touch the people, and we started 2020 with a couple of pop ups before Covid came and shook everything up. We hit the Pandora headquarters in NYC for their Black History marketplace experience AND killed Detroit’s “In The Streets” pop up at the Foot Locker in Eastpointe. In the same month! And it was the pictures and content from that Foot Locker pop up that caught the eyes of some important people on the corporate side of Foot Locker. After a couple of meetings we decided to bet on ourselves and take a chance!







We started with two stores last year, now we are in 13, and only looking to grow more and more. If you ever needed confirmation to trust your vision and follow it, look no further than us. That message from the Universe has the potential to completely change your life. Honor it and work hard.

Check the stores we are in!



Our hometown Spring Valley has been aware, and now Foot Locker is AWARE👁!