About Us | 2k by Gingham

Japan, a country with a class free and category free society. The land of Gucci and Prada bag toting high school girls and convenience stores equipped with every product essential to survival in this intense urban arena. The t-shirt is without exception one of the bountiful fashion items readily discovered.

In most countries, you will find art t-shirts only in museum stores, restaurant t-shirts only at restaurants, bicycle manufacturer t-shirts only at bicycle shops, so on and so forth. These imprinted t-shirts have been confined to a single category of style, form, or content. On the other hand, in Japan, you will see a variety of t-shirts within numerous genres displayed in many fashion boutiques. Trends begin once a particular design or graphic has been defined as "cool". The people have implored such boutiques and retail outlets to obtain the newest and trendiest designs, no matter what their source. Although this aspect of the Japanese market may seem chaotic, the challenge has become fun. We enjoy, as always, searching for the latest designs, graphics, and logos from all over the world. This is the background where 2K was born.

In the early 90s, many museum and popular art design t-shirts, began to be displayed in fashion boutiques in Japan. We then thought that we could compliment this current trend by researching museums throughout the world. This led us to a trip to the U.S. in 1995, to visit various museum stores in order to export and distribute their t-shirts in Japan. At that time, our most favorite design was Gilbert and George's t-shirt from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the meantime, frustration surfaced as we could only find a few new images that we really liked. The majority of museum t-shirts appear too mainstream for us as it was becoming more difficult to find contemporary cutting edge designs. Meanwhile, we felt that the area between contemporary art and sub cultures was disappearing; yet the mutual links could not be denied. These feelings brought us to start working with a variety of "new" artists and design sources to produce 2K's own art and sub-culture image t-shirt line.

Since 1998, our travels throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan preoccupy more than one third of the year to find interesting artworks and images. In meeting many artists, designers, and various people, a new found respect for our new found t-shirt line has created a "buzz". People have inquired, all over the world, on where the 2K t-shirt line was made available. At that time, availability had been limited to Japan only. At the same time, we saw a synchronicity of global urban youth cultures. People began to share information and feelings without a difference of time and space. When people in Tokyo became attracted to a particular icon, New Yorkers simultaneously agreed. When people in London "sport" the latest watch or timepiece, Los Angelinos immediately became attracted to this accessory with mutual admiration. The t-shirt is one of the key elements among this global urban youth culture network. The latter part of 2000, we set-up another headquarters in Southern California to start production and distribute the 2K line here in the United States. The positive reaction felt worldwide has encouraged us to also export to Europe. Now 2K is being seen at more stores in not only Japan, but North America and Europe as well.

2K, a small company whose name was bestowed by Experimental Jetset, is totally anti-mass marketing. 2K is for people who are bored with the market and merchandise that has been controlled by mega mass-marketing brands. We have become determined to introduce the best and most unique artworks and artists to the global youth culture network through t-shirts that we recognize as one of the most informative mediums. Instead of spreading the name 2K, we attempt to gain recognition by the people through our vision of presenting artistic uniquities by artists we have met and become fond of. On the other hand, 2K differs from museum stores that tend to print on "One Size Fits All" kind of garments, leaving labels of mass t-shirt manufacturers. We carefully and seriously research garment fabrics, cuts, and details to customize our merchandise. We are happy to introduce 2K' s nonpareil garments in the spring of 2002. (See details on the "GARMENT" page.)

Special thanks to all the artists and people we work with for making 2K possible. We express our gratitude and respect to each artist in working with, and trusting us to introduce their works to the world. These vary artists who spend extraordinary amounts of effort, enthusiasm, time and dedication to create their works are complimented by our same work ethic. Acquainting ourselves with each and every artist, we intend to expel an equal amount of energy and power in promoting and understanding the artwork that we both take so much pride in. With most of 2K t-shirts, you will find paper tags attached to help define an in-depth explanation of artists/designs for you to better understand what you wear. We wish you wear our t-shirts to feel the energy and power of each artist we represent, as 2K always tries to convey their vision without weakening it.

Hope you enjoy wearing or even just browsing 2K.