Double Black founder Joey Betesh has style in his blood. He’s the son of Elliot Betesh, founder of the seminal streetwear store Dr Jay’s. The younger Betesh is the brains behind Double Black, a brand that combines “the edge of NY streetwear and the thrill of extreme sports.” He describes the brand as “blending the grit of the mountains with the pulse of the city.”
After the Milan/Cortina Olympics we’re all wanting to channel our inner Eileen Gu or Alysa Liu, looking like a champion on the slopes or the ice. Or taking that sporty style to the streets or the club. We catch up with Joey Betesh to talk about why now might be the perfect time for the Double Black lifestyle.
Tell us about Double Black.
As you dig deep into the brand, there's so much depth to it and that's what I'm excited about. It's not just how it feels and looks, but also just what the meaning of what the products are. I know when I wear it, it speaks to me personally, that it translates into inspiration, aspiration, overcoming challenges. I love fashion in general, and I like to always dress and wear cool things, but it doesn't necessarily make you feel something different. For some reason, when I wear Double Black and when people wear Double Black, they get inspired by it.
Fashion as inspiration. I like it.
People want to make their day better. They want to reach a different goal. It’s like saying "What are you gonna challenge yourself today wearing?" We have our tagline, Experts Only, which really sort of makes you feel like, "Ooh, how can I become an expert?” That came from the snow culture and the mountain culture, and really that's the messaging that happens in that world. Now can translate into any aspect of your life, which I think makes it all the more interesting and creative and fun. I think people really feel that. It just makes the excitement of continuously introducing new things even more fun along the way, and more creative. It's just a great little avenue that I'm able to like be a part of, which I feel great about. My kids love it. My kids inspire me.
So the next generation might follow the family tradition of fashion! Experts Only, is that what it says on the tough hills, that are not for beginners?
You should be an expert, exactly.
I never made it there.
So it's the tagline of our brand. People love that. I want to reach that goal of whatever expert you want to potentially be. I want to get there. What's my challenge today? I want to achieve it. I feel that in my own daily life.
Did you start this because you felt like it was the right or did you think, ‘now's an amazing time for this kind of, this legacy of streetwear moment’?
I think that there's a lot of noise in streetwear in general out there. A lot of the messaging to me was very muddled.I wasn't inspired to want to buy anything out there in the marketplace. That's when I said, "You know what? I'd love to introduce something that can be not only fashionable, but also have some meaning to it."
A lot of the goal here was to wear the product if you're out on the slopes, or in an apres ski environment, or even you're in New York and you want to go out. You could wear it almost any time and feel as good in it whenever you're wearing it. I almost had this idea of casual couture. How can it feel casual, but also feel couture at the same time? I think the market was missing that. Just for me, just a regular shopper, somebody that just likes to wear fashionable things. I found myself not inspired at all out there. And so, that's how this sort of came into its own presence. The ski apres world was just growing tremendously. Everyone wanted to go skiing, everyone wanted to be in that sort of environment.
Are there brands or people who inspired you lifestyle-wise from the old days, that you are channeling today?
That’s a great question. I think growing up in the streetwear world a lot of streetwear was very inspiring to me. So we kept that in mind as we sort of introduced a lot of the things. It definitely has a good lacing of that streetwear of the late '90s incorporated into it a little bit, for sure.
Mm-hmm.
It's the OG streetwear Mickey, that we reference. Like, the FUBUs, and the Apple Bottom, and like the really cool stuff that was done. Obviously, it's modernized with the, with the fit, and they elevate it through use of material and the subtle logo.
Do the kids who are shopping know what FUBU was? Do they know these old brands are? Or do they just look at it and think, "I like the slopes-to-the-club look, and that's what I'm interested in." Do they get the heritage?
Fabulous question. I think a lot of people sort of forgot that world from the past. So, I think we're in the same genre of age, and I think we remember a lot of things that the current culture doesn't. What I've always seen, watching people shop for so many years, is that when they see something that looks cool to them, they think it sort of resonates. I do love that streetwear lifestyle that I grew up seeing being designed. I like to keep that in mind, just keep a flare of creativity, and not just a very simple product at the same time. There needs to be a combination of the two in everything we're doing. I want every piece to sort of stand on its own. I want every piece to be something interesting if you only bought that. So, we design things that way.
Do you think of it as being a very New York brand? Or is it universal? NYC, Aspen, Gstaad?
We have this collection now that's the Apres 83 collection. The concept was, "Okay, what if I was going to play tennis from padel, tennis, pickleball, all of the above. So how would that look if I was playing that in the mountains? It really doesn't exist in the center of Aspen, a pickleball court and a tennis court combined. So how would I want to look if I was going onto that court? At the same time, if I was playing padel in New York what would I want to wear?
How do you sell mostly? Is it direct to consumer? Are you in stores?
Direct to consumer. We have a few retailers now looking at it now as well, so that's interesting.
Do you have any dreams or hopes to create your own retail store?
I think what's exciting for me is when somebody appreciates what you're doing, that's really the satisfaction.
Photos courtesy of Double Black
