Founded: 1988
Founder: Dave Patri, Scott VanDerripe and Scott Bailey
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA

Split Clothing was a pioneer in the action sports market. At one point they were one of the top brands with appeal across the mulitple niches: skate, BMX, motocross, surfing, streetwear and clubbing.

“We were always on a board,” explained Dave Patri. “Also, the best way to see the impact of our style was to wear it and to put strong messages on t-shirts.”

From their begginings as a t-shirt line, Split quickly expanded to become a cut and sew giant, making some of the most polished and refined, while still respected, brands in the market. Their booths at ASR were always huge and packed. It was difficult to even get in for a showing.

After selling to conglomerates and being relaunched a couple of times, Split is oddly still around, even though today’s Split is more reminiscent of a LuLu Lemon rip off than anything related to streetwear culture, but in the 90s it was one of the brands that set the groundwork for today’s streetwear scene.

Contributing Members: @mrthingone