Guard Your Heart, Feed Your Mind
Speaking to Eric Fobair, 32, on Sunday evening about Local Tourist, a brand he created during his senior year in art school, escalated my appreciation for independent fashion labels. Just nearly a decade ago, the genius who was born and raised in Minnesota until he was 9-years-old and later relocated with family to North Dallas, found the motivation to start his brand after gaining rapid success in the artworld. He’s an art school graduate who attended the University of Oklahoma and finished with a Fine Arts degree in Painting and Printmaking. How did he get into fashion, you may wonder? There’s an easy explanation. He was heavily inspired by one of Marc Ecko’s creations.
Doing this company is always something I wanted to do since I was 15,” he recalls. “Once I found out that there was one guy and his name was Marc Ecko behind Eckō Unltd., as an artist, I was like “That’s it. That’s what I want to do.” I was wearing his clothes already. When I was 13, I got into hip-hop. I had just started listening to Wu-Tang and Mobb Deep. I was running to the mall ever so often to get these shirts.
Here’s some background on the name of his brand:When you’re a young kid, you’re like a tourist. You’re like, naive and then, you become like localized to what it is that you like, you know? Within that process, if you keep your mind open and keep feeding your mind that process will always like, be a cycle. It will always be repeating itself because you’re learning new things and understanding them and moving on in that fashion. So, that’s what I kind of think about Local Tourist,” Fobair explains.
In addition, respectfully, everything he produces for his brand, down to Local Tourist’s logo, mirrors his personal style and real-life experiences.
Before knowing the details of his brand, what struck me was our likenesses. Recently, in New York City at Highline Ballroom, I interviewed Nipsey Hussle, a famous rapper from the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. Aptly, Nipsey Hussle is a supporter of Fobair’s brand. Also, my first full male model feature for my website called Grunge Boys features Jason Blake, an alternative model who you will get to know via what I like to call the “edgy romantic” in this post. They’re all annotated too.
I was really doing good in college. I was showing around my college town in Norman and I was like, ‘I have to do it. I have to start it.’
So, he did. It wasn’t an easy start but it was not until he produced a 1-month pop-up shop, The Local Tourist Spot, in Downtown Los Angeles during the monthly art walk, ended up running for 22 months. What started out as a woman’s clothing company transformed into what it is today: A brand that has had the likes of Chuck Inglish (The Cool Kids), Nipsey Hussle, and Telli (Ninjasonik). “He created a plethora of music connections in Los Angeles which include Rick Bricks (THC), TiRon & Ayomari, Le$ (been affiliated with Curren$y), Skip Rage and many others.
RiFF RaFF performed at one artwalk. We literally shut down the block,” Fobair says.
Then, we started throwing promotional parties with another company called “Ham on Everything” and I had Joe Moses and Ty Dolla $ign perform, and Cassie Veggies. This was before Life Changes and all of that. With all of the parties and events, he was inspired to produce two artist compilations.Promptly out of school, Alternative Apparel sponsored him, which is based out of Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, he would paint liquor and wine bottles with latex paint and it would be real drippy, and create stencils with faces on them but that wasn’t what he wanted to do for a living. In 2009, he set up clothing booths at local in clubs, raves, house parties, collaborations with promoters, photographers, art galleries.
Actually, music has been a large part of success, and is becoming more involved. He released a mix with DJ Neu Girl, an Australian-based talent who loves to play what she describes as “classy ratchet” music.
On Jason Blake, male model:I was really honored to work with him. One time, I went to The Hundreds website and he was their stock model for all of the t-shirts... I was proud to have Jason model for Local Tourist when he is modeling for the 'big dogs'.
On Mandee, female model:Mandee is just awesome. I’ve known her for quite awhile. She’s definitely a friend in LA. She’s a beautiful girl, for sure, but she really has so much more going than just her looks. She’s a very talented graphic designer. She’s worked with Brooklyn Projects, Vans and now, she’s working with New Era. So, yeah, it’s not only her body, it’s definitely her brains and what she does design wise. She works with top tier companies. She’s a very talented person, too.Fobair is currently back home in Minnesota and working on making his dream of Local Tourist being carried in department stores worldwide come true.
My vision really got bigger and opened up as I moved [back home].
Local Tourist is available on Karmaloop Kazbah, which is a great platform according to Fobair. It opened his brand to all different states in America and international markets. He plans to release a mix a month which features artists, labels, DJs and producers. His first mix features a young French kid producer Aei, who he discovered via the Producers Alliance, check it out. And last but not least, coming soon are mixes by Spintelect and League of Starz. All images by Scooby Miranda.
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