Boiler Room Hoodie
All orders take 3-5 weeks to ship. Every hoodie is made by me upon purchase.
The Boiler Room Hoodie. Available in three variations.
1: Gildan Heavy Blend. A classic, staple hoodie. Black, not faded black.$80.
2: Independent Trading co. Mainstreet Heavyweight Hoodie. 420GSM. $100.
3: Los Angeles Apparel Heavy Fleece Hoodie. 475 GSM. Ultra warm and soft. $140.
The DJ in this design is from an old matchbox label commemorating the 40th anniversary of Czechoslovak Radio in 1963. The label was produced by Solo Lipník, a match factory in Czechoslovakia that has a ton of really interesting label designs. I had recently read an article about Boiler Rooms acquisition by the private equity firm KKR, and just a few months ago a group of Bay Area artists boycotted Boiler Room’s planned SF show because of KKR. I found this matchbox label months ago and knew I wanted to use it in a design at some point, and on a flight a few weeks ago I played around with this design. Today I finally had some time to stitch it out. The sweater in this piece is an Independent Trading co heavyweight hoodie, and I think this base blank color with the deep red stitching continues to be my favorite color combination to work with. Anyways, here’s my rant on private equity.
In 2019 Kim Kelly wrote that private equity firms are “monsters [that] do not focus on the dead—they go after the living”, and despite being “flush with generational wealth [they are] always hungry for more”. Her piece in The Nation was spurred by the private equity acquisition of Deadspin, a sports media outlet that did a significant amount of reporting on a broad range of topics that the PE firm then deemed forbidden - telling them to “stick to sports”, which then triggered quite literally everyone to quit. This is the PE playbook - buy an immensely popular company and gut it, selling every bit they can for profit. KKR, the firm that acquired Boiler Room this year via its purchase of Superstruct Entertainment, infamously is responsible for the demise of Toys “R” Us (they purchased them in 2014 and laid off 33,000 workers) and today invests heavily in firms linked to the Israeli military, weapons manufacturers, and major fossil fuel development projects. Anything hosted by Boiler Room now directly financially benefits KKR, furthering their ability to invest in what they see fit.
From Kim Kelly again, “Private equity has wiped out entire grocery chains. It controls the price of calling our loved ones in prison. It profits off the bail bonds and payday loans that extort poor communities of color. It kneecapped millennial fashion staple Forever 21. It even killed Necco wafers—and left the crumbs for the rats. Private equity vampires are gruesome avatars for capitalism itself: They are rapacious, and roam the earth draining communities of their livelihoods.” Her assessment of PE firms remains true today, and these firms have only grown larger and more powerful. Current estimates state that they control more than $13 trillion dollars and are invested in more than 50,000 companies worldwide. In the 6 years since Kelly’s article private equity firms have acquired, and in many case bankrupted and gutted, big names like Gymboree, Neiman Marcus, Southwest, Hertz, Party City, Vice, K Mart, Sears, Joann’s Crafts, the 99 Cents Store, and numerous healthcare providers. More importantly, they’ve taken the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of working-class people. And they will get away with this over and over again until regulations are enacted that force them to end their predatory practices. Or, as Kelly said, until we enter “a ruthless new era of regulation to put a wooden stake through the heart of private equity.”
All orders take 3-5 weeks to ship. Every hoodie is made by me upon purchase.
The Boiler Room Hoodie. Available in three variations.
1: Gildan Heavy Blend. A classic, staple hoodie. Black, not faded black.$80.
2: Independent Trading co. Mainstreet Heavyweight Hoodie. 420GSM. $100.
3: Los Angeles Apparel Heavy Fleece Hoodie. 475 GSM. Ultra warm and soft. $140.
The DJ in this design is from an old matchbox label commemorating the 40th anniversary of Czechoslovak Radio in 1963. The label was produced by Solo Lipník, a match factory in Czechoslovakia that has a ton of really interesting label designs. I had recently read an article about Boiler Rooms acquisition by the private equity firm KKR, and just a few months ago a group of Bay Area artists boycotted Boiler Room’s planned SF show because of KKR. I found this matchbox label months ago and knew I wanted to use it in a design at some point, and on a flight a few weeks ago I played around with this design. Today I finally had some time to stitch it out. The sweater in this piece is an Independent Trading co heavyweight hoodie, and I think this base blank color with the deep red stitching continues to be my favorite color combination to work with. Anyways, here’s my rant on private equity.
In 2019 Kim Kelly wrote that private equity firms are “monsters [that] do not focus on the dead—they go after the living”, and despite being “flush with generational wealth [they are] always hungry for more”. Her piece in The Nation was spurred by the private equity acquisition of Deadspin, a sports media outlet that did a significant amount of reporting on a broad range of topics that the PE firm then deemed forbidden - telling them to “stick to sports”, which then triggered quite literally everyone to quit. This is the PE playbook - buy an immensely popular company and gut it, selling every bit they can for profit. KKR, the firm that acquired Boiler Room this year via its purchase of Superstruct Entertainment, infamously is responsible for the demise of Toys “R” Us (they purchased them in 2014 and laid off 33,000 workers) and today invests heavily in firms linked to the Israeli military, weapons manufacturers, and major fossil fuel development projects. Anything hosted by Boiler Room now directly financially benefits KKR, furthering their ability to invest in what they see fit.
From Kim Kelly again, “Private equity has wiped out entire grocery chains. It controls the price of calling our loved ones in prison. It profits off the bail bonds and payday loans that extort poor communities of color. It kneecapped millennial fashion staple Forever 21. It even killed Necco wafers—and left the crumbs for the rats. Private equity vampires are gruesome avatars for capitalism itself: They are rapacious, and roam the earth draining communities of their livelihoods.” Her assessment of PE firms remains true today, and these firms have only grown larger and more powerful. Current estimates state that they control more than $13 trillion dollars and are invested in more than 50,000 companies worldwide. In the 6 years since Kelly’s article private equity firms have acquired, and in many case bankrupted and gutted, big names like Gymboree, Neiman Marcus, Southwest, Hertz, Party City, Vice, K Mart, Sears, Joann’s Crafts, the 99 Cents Store, and numerous healthcare providers. More importantly, they’ve taken the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of working-class people. And they will get away with this over and over again until regulations are enacted that force them to end their predatory practices. Or, as Kelly said, until we enter “a ruthless new era of regulation to put a wooden stake through the heart of private equity.”