Swag Interview: King Duce

So I first came accross King Duce when I was just randomly surfing for streetwear lines. These guys do streetwear well... but they're a whole lot more than that. With sports, music, and art (I love art) under their listed passions, I'd say they were more like a lifestyle brand. (I love lifestyle brands) So I had to check em' out. The result was this short interview that I now lay before you.

Swag- So I know you guys explain it a little in your blog... but what do you guys stand for?

Rockwell- "Andy Howell, the renowned visual artist, former pro skater and founder of Element Clothing, said it well:" "King Duce is an essential cross-section of California's music, art, and action sports scene. Its so rare to actually find a crew of people from seemingly different subcultures band together naturally without it feeling contrived or manufactured. But King Duce is the real deal, and it's a movement more than a brand. Inspired by the memory of fallen originators of the Sacto scene, the voice of King Duce reverberates worldwide because of its authenticity. To see LA street and comic artists connect with hip hop heads and snowboarders, and to align with King Duce has been inspiring, and to be a part of it an honor. King Duce has home grown authenticity with global relevance, and that combination is extremely powerful when communicating with the cutting-edge of popular culture."

Swag - Seems like you guys really bring the heat when it comes to apparel as well as music. Tell us a little more about the artists behind that.

Rockwell - "Thanks! The focus from day one has been establishing King Duce with the most talented and passionate people. Quality and innovation is a natural result, whether we are producing a rap music video with Lace Leno; or photographing our Brazilian goddess fashion model, Nataniele Ribeiro; or creating the next line of art inspired work by one of our visual artists like Jim Mahfood. Everyone is coming with their best game."

Swag- When you launched... was it a slow process or did you just take off?

Rockwell - "Quality requires a lot of focus, time and hard work. Building anything that will stand the test of time is a slow and patient process. It took three years of blood sweat and tears to put the King Duce foundation and team together. And now King Duce is starting to take off. But, in my mind, we've just started. And we have a long way to go."

Swag- If I was an up and coming artist... how would I go about getting signed by King Duce?

Rockwell - "We encourage young artists to submit their work to us by going to our website. I enjoy working with young and emerging talent because they are fearless, passionate and inspire us to keep pushing limits. With that said, we are very selective, since we are led by well known musicians and visual artists that set a pretty high bar of performance for anyone that we invite into the King Duce family."

Swag- And last but definitely not least... whatsup with the King Duce girls and how can I get the digits?

Rockwell - "Ha! You'll have to join us at a King Duce event soon! We take good care of our friends. Duce Up!!"

Swag- We'll I'll see you at the next event then. Ha... you've been great Rockwell... and I seriously can't wait to see what you guys do from here on out. Expect me to be an all time King Duce twitter and blog follower. Show love.

As you can see... King Duce is way more then just streetwear.. or even just music. These guys are definutely a lifestyle brand. Three words to describe them? Passion... pure passion. Look out for King Duce... you'll be seeing them a lot soon enough.

You can check them out at http://www.kingduce.com/ or get at them on Twitter.