Freshjive Fresh Jive / Raw Vibes / Brass Recordings / Lush

Founded: 1989
Founder: Rick Klotz
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Rick Klotz is the artist and entreprneuer who started Fresh Jive in Los Angeles, CA in 1989. Freshjive is more than your typical California founded clothing company even though their influeces included surfing and skating. They were a huge part of the rave and party culture of the early 90s and were embraced by not only skaters and ravers, but by hip hop heads, arty kids and even the general populous in their prime years. In the early years, they were known for doing logo rips of famous logos and brands, such as their Big Gulp cup rip (Big Jive), Tide detergent (Jive) and Special K cereal box art (Special J). They went on to be a much more ubiquitous clothing line, expanding to multiple brands including their Raw Vibes imprint, starting an acid jazz record label (Brass Recordings) and ultimately separating out their girls clothes to an all female line called Lush. At the height of their success, Rick rebelled against his own success and decided to remove branding and logos from all of their clothes because he didn’t want to just be know as a label. To him is was more about the quality of the product than the name on it.