Founded: 1993
Founder: Sean Barger and Chris Martin
Location: HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA

According to Chris Martin they named their clothing brand Swank Threds because, “We like the sound of it. Suwwaankk, the meaning fits us perfectly: overly stylish to the point of being too showy, too gaudy.”

Swank started in 1993 with screened tees and hoodies, but it didn’t take long for success to allow them to expand into embroidered logos and even cut and sew pieces, like pants, jeans, shirts, jackets and hats.

For design inspiration, Swank borrowed heavily from the 1970s and even the 50s and 60s, using graphics and imagery from old films and TV shows, their cut and sew also reflected this same retro-throw-back look: bold stripped shirts, large ringed zipper pulls and fabrics like wide wale corduroy, vintage polyester and even heavy bull denim.

By the mid 90s they had gained so much exposure that they fell onto the radar of the porn magazine, Swank, who sued them for copyright infringement, which ultimately led to them having to cease operations under the Swank Threds name.  The first season, they simply rebranded all their current designs and relaunched them as Hi-Fi MFG.  In later years they would end up going through another name change as they pivoted to Last Match Studios.

Contributing Members: @mrthingone