Powered by Google
Home
Listings
Editors' Picks
News
Music
Movies
Food
Life
Arts + Books
Rec Room
Moonsigns
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Personals
Adult Personals
Classifieds
Adult Classifieds
- - - - - - - - - - - -
stuff@night
FNX Radio
Band Guide
MassWeb Printing
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Work For Us
Newsletter
RSS Feeds
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Webmaster
Archives



sponsored links
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
PassionShop.com
Sex Toys - Adult  DVDs - Sexy  Lingerie


   
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend

ID CHECK
Cool-kid catalogue king
BY CAMILLE DODERO

Past ID Checks

  • Lyrical Miracle, John Kulsick

  • Sneaker Pimp, Josh "Wisdumb" Spivack

  • Iron maiden, Véronique d’Entremont
  • Electro Porn Duo, Christopher Rand and Rori Hanson
  • # 1 Supportah, Christina North
  • Standup comic, Noah Garfinkel
  • Mr. Birdhead, Michael Crigler
  • Shy girl gone wild, Naomi Bennett
  • Teenage Bentmen, Casey Desmond
  • Naked animator, Bob White
  • The Boston jerk, Wayne Marshall (a.k.a. Wayne & Wax)
  • Experimental audio researcher, Jon Whitney
  • Savage rock, runway style, Keys to the Streets of Fear
  • Mash-up diva, Kate Enlow
  • Acitvist poster boy, Nick Giannone
  • Barista master, Willie Carpenter
  • Allston via MTV, Iann Robinson
  • name: Greg Selkoe

    age: 32

    resides: Boston

    turn-ons: business erections

    Reverend Run was invited to the Karmaloop party last Thursday at the Underbar. But old-school rap’s most famous preacher didn’t make it. Clinton Sparks, hip-hop’s über DJ from Dorchester, did make it, however, along with the girls in the fake-fur-lined coats and the high-heeled boots, and a guy in a T-shirt that proclaimed "I love Ass."

    Greg Selkoe is the dude responsible for the Thursday-night Theater District throw-down, a launch party for Karmaloop Boston — the two-month-old brick-and-mortar version of Selkoe’s locally based, internationally recognized "online streetwear boutique" Karmaloop.com. Earlier in the evening during the open-bar VIP reception, the host was pumping hands and smooching cheeks in a sleek black suit. But when Sparks turned the party on smash, Selkoe changed into his more comfortable clothes: designer T-shirt, jeans, sneakers — you know, streetwear.

    "People usually go, ‘What the hell is streetwear?’" Selkoe said the previous afternoon, over sauerbraten and spaetzle at Jacob Wirth’s. He illustrated the point by playfully accosting the waitress with my voice recorder for her take on streetwear. She lurched back and pleaded, "You’ve got the wrong person!" It’s clear Selkoe’s speaking a different language.

    But as Selkoe, like any CEO worth his street salt, will tell you, streetwear is more than the sum of its parts (parts like Fidel Castro hats, slick tracksuit jackets, hoodies, vests, blazers, and messenger bags). It’s a "culture." And talking up that lifestyle brand has not only drawn nearly a million unique visitors a month to Karmaloop.com, but gotten Selkoe invited to speak at academic forums alongside the CEO of Pepsi. He’s also been lauded by the press as a "Gen-Y trendsetter," even though at 32 he’s "slightly out of" the 18-to-28 demographic. He grins boyishly. "I feel like I’m an honorary Gen-Y."

    Selkoe started Karmaloop in 1999, as the e-commerce industry was crashing. People told him he was crazy. He didn’t agree. "It’s just a no-brainer: catalogues have been around for 100 years, they’re getting more dynamic, more interesting, more unique. [Karmaloop’s] a catalogue, basically." But the key to Karmaloop’s success was convincing brands like Adidas, Puma, and Freshjive that "we’re not going to sell the most of your brand at first, but we will represent your brand better than anyone else online."

    Selkoe convinced them, he said, cracking up, "because I’m so full of shit." He paused. "Nah, I’m a good talker." What Selkoe means is that to become an "urban-fashion powerhouse" like Karmaloop, you have to act like you’re an urban-fashion powerhouse even if you’re, well, house-less. Which for Karmaloop’s first few years, Selkoe was. "For a long time, I lived at home and [Karmaloop] was in my parents’ basement. I would literally pack the boxes, take the subway to work, and drop the boxes off at the mailbox." His then-girlfriend-now-wife Dina, a Fletcher School grad, pitched in as Karmaloop’s creative director.

    Growing up in the early ’80s in Jamaica Plain’s Moss Hill, one of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods, and having an interest in graffiti culture and break-dancing (his specialty was the head-spin), Selkoe has always been into sneakers, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. At Jacob Wirth’s he wore a limited-edition collaboration between Adidas and the Swedish company We: green crayfish-patterned low-tops with yellow laces and brown-leather stripes. But he insisted he’s not a sneakerhead. Nor is he a fashionista. "When I have interviews with people and they’re very serious about fashion, they wind up disappointed, amused, or angry, one of the three." He admitted, "[Clothing] hasn’t been my number-one love. Urban planning, building environments, is definitely my number one. I like the idea of building something like [Karmaloop], building a business and a culture — that’s the type of thing that really turns me on."

    That’s specifically why he’s kept Karmaloop in Boston. He’s creating a niche that’s mostly been absent in this fashion disaster of a town. "We’re certainly helping Boston’s name in the streetwear world," he said, sticking a fork into a bowl of apple strudel. "We make jokes about it too. Like ‘We’re from Boston, the fashion capital of Massachusetts.’"

    Visit www.karmaloop.com or 160 Newbury Street, in Boston.

     


    Issue Date: Novermber 25 - December 1, 2005
    Back to the News & Features table of contents
      E-Mail This Article to a Friend
     









    about the phoenix |  advertising info |  Webmaster |  work for us
    Copyright © 2005 Phoenix Media/Communications Group