Forgotten: Up Against the Wall

Remember in the late 90s/ early-mid 2000s when hip-hop/ urban apparel was the hottest thing to wear? If you are from California or the DMV area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) you remember that one cool store in the mall that had all the latest urban clothing? It had Sean John, Enyce, Roc a wear, Phat farm, akademics, baby phat, Mitchell & Ness and G-unit clothing. The store had a DJ playing music in store on the weekends and all the cool guys and girls shopped there. Do you remember the name of that store? The store was called Up against the wall.
At its peak up against the wall had 25 stores and was in such major cities as Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. It catered to the counterculture and the hip-hop movement. In Up against the Wall you could find such items as $ 320 Prps Jeans with pre-shredded knees (ironically back in fashion today), $ 115 Ed Hardy rhinestone studded baseball caps and $775 Parajumpers parkas with fur-lined hoods (the modern-day equivalent of Canada Goose or Moncler Parkas.) If you were a fan of urban clothing in the LA area during that time period, Up against the wall was the go-to place for your shopping needs. A side note for all the Laker fans out there long time team GM Mitch Kupchak was one of the owners of the company. Kupchak seems like one of the last people to invest in an urban clothing store right? The store employees stared and gave you disapproving looks if you had on something they did not approve of, but hey its the same in most high-end retail stores. Up against the wall announced it was closing all of its retail stores on October 28th, 2010. We were too busy engulfed in the tea party red wave that was about to happen in a few days to notice. Up against the wall, gone but not forgotten.
Mistakes Made:
Up against the wall rode the retail wave of the hot urban clothing market until the wheels fell off, and that’s what happened the wheels fell off.  The recession of that time didn’t help matters but another bigger issue led to the clothing store demise. Jay -Z essentially started the slow death march of urban Fashion with his line ” and I don’t wear jerseys, I’m thirty plus, give me a crisp pair of jeans n***a button up. ” After that point wearing a throwback Houston Astros jersey wasn’t cool anymore nor wearing an all enyce either. People started shifting to the classic clothing brands like Polo Ralph Lauren and J. Crew and the European fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara started making heavy inroads into US malls and people started buying their wears as well. Up against the wall didn’t foresee the change in fashion taste with the urban youth, and was essentially caught off guard when the fashion tastes migrated to a different direction. If you are going to ride a fad you better know that the fad will eventually end and prepare yourself for it or diversify your business so that when the fad ends, your business will still be able to maintain. Macy’s and Bloomingdales both sold urban clothing too and they still exist unlike Up against the wall because they could pivot and sell other things when the urban clothing market collapsed. Pour out a little liquor for up against the wall your gone but not forgotten by all of us reformed urban clothing wearers.