It's 2010, in a quiet corner of an unassuming retail arcade in the very core of the world renowned Portobello Market in London, a creative space is opened no larger than a shipping container that calls itself home to the grass roots Streetwear brand known only as Trapstar.
The dark styling, aggressive lettering ,abrasive brand name and revolutionary invasion pop-up approach ensured that the boys and girls, of the rude and lost variety from the local council estates, would provide a constant flow of business in Trapstar's opening period. The reliable influx in their most unreliable time prevented Trapstar from failing in it's first year in a brick and mortar location, the same as the thousands of clothing brands that had lived and died on the very same market streets had before.
The lost children of West London had taken the brand as their own and for as long as they felt that the brand spoke for them as people and their struggles as a forgotten sub-society, they would live and die in Trapstar. The location of the store itself puts it within walking distance of Ladbroke Grove, Shepherds Bush, White City, College Park and Harlesden which are areas that happen to have a bloodied history of gang violence, this linked with the brands unique clientele made for a challenging environment rife with G Checking.
Within a few years Trapstar was so deeply embedded in the street culture of West London that it became a uniform for those who were 'about that life' and it would not be uncommon to be stopped and questioned in the street if you were an unfamiliar face in the area wearing the brand.
Around the same time a relatively unknown and largely misunderstood genre of underground music was bubbling to the surface among the very people who were attaching themselves to Trapstar as a brand, a genre of music that would become known as Grime, set to change the musical landscape forever.
Mikey, Will and Lee, have remained anonymous in any public interviews with their faces always covered which may have been one of the best decisions they ever made. The lads are local and have been local long before Trapstar ever existed, their anonymity allows then to remain local and truly involved in the developing street culture they love without the distractions and limitations that celebrity would provide.
Trapstar naturally grew arm in arm with the developing underground music scene, the brand didn't decide to become so heavily involved in the culture because it was a smart move, which it was, it didn't do it because it would be profitable, which it would, and it didn't do it to launch the brand onto the global stage, which it did, Mikey, Will and Lee Trapstar just wanted to do it because that was their culture the whole time, long before Trapstar.
This creates a unique situation when Trapstar interacts with celebrities, specifically in the music scene. Trapstar is the only brand I have seen who can comfortably approach someone like Jay Z as a true cultural colleague, rather than another outsider looking to profit from the culture through the artist. Trapstar has not only had an almost identical start and end point as many of these successful musicians, it has also followed the same journey, through the same route, in the same industry sometimes directly alongside the artist themselves.
Trapstar is special, when Mikey, WIll and Lee are sat in a room with the A$AP Mob, one group is on the music grind and one group is on the fashion grind, that's it, they respect the mutual success and move on, how many brands do you truly respect these days? That's why some of the largest stars in the world like Rihanna, Jay Z, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Cara Delevingne, Iggy Izalea, Rita Ora and countless others will wear and promote Trapstar with more energy and love than the brands who needed to pay them to do it.