Industry Retail Founder Paige Mycoskie Website aviatornation.com | Founded 2006 Headquarters Venice, LA, CA, US | |
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Products Apparel, accessories, surfboards | ||
Aviator Nation is a privately owned lifestyle brand of contemporary casual wear founded by Paige Mycoskie in 2006. The line consists of apparel for men, women and children with most styles unisex. The brand's pieces are signified for their natural stitching, worn-in feel, and vintage essence. Notably, the brand uses single needle stitch-work, and hand drawn graphics to give garments a one-of-a-kind effect resulting in each piece being unlike any other. The brand currently carries apparel, accessories and surfboards. The company is named after Mycoskie's love for aviator-style sunglasses' timeless and versatile appeal. All Aviator Nation products are manufactured in Southern California, remaining authentic to the brand's key source of inspiration.
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Mycoskie's personal style is that of comfort and color-fused with 70s nostalgia. After failing to find clothes that fit her aesthetic, she began creating garments for herself, out of her home garage in Venice, LA in 2006. Mycoskie sold her handmade designs at a local street fair, and witnessed the business potential after quickly selling out of every style, specifically her white hoodie, now known as the "Signature Hoodie," one of most successful garments for the brand. In 2009, she opened the first Aviator Nation retail store in Venice, on Abbot Kinney Blvd, drawing locals and tourists alike. The brand is a true reflection of Mycoskie's passion for an active lifestyle, Southern California and surf culture. The company has grown into a global lifestyle brand with an online boutique, and destination retail locations: Abbot Kinney/ Venice, CA(2009), Manhattan Beach, CA (2011), Malibu, CA (2014), and Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, CA (2015), Laguna Beach, CA set to open June 2016.
All Aviator Nation designs adhere to style trends of their inspired era, favoring inks and dye treatments popular in the 70s. Fabrics are broken down to extreme vintage softness and are intentionally distressed to a degree of perfect imperfection. The brand uses natural fabric deconstruction, hand drawn graphics, burners, handmade stitch-work and appliqués, and uses sewing machines popular in the 70s to maintain authenticity.
Along with the "Signature Hoodie," Aviator Nation has various noteworthy collections including "Pray for Surf" and "Rock and Roll." Iconic trademark graphics include the surfer graphic and rainbow stripes stitched in the hood of garments. The rainbow stripe designs stitched across the chest of T-shirts and hoodies in both four and five stripe combinations are also the brand's best sellers. Aviator Nation's prints include drawings from Mycoskie's earliest sketches, and she still hand draws some of the icons found on her clothing from lightening bolts to psychedelic maidens (4). The use of rainbows and bright colors found in Aviator Nation clothing, that has now become the brand's niche, comes from her mother Pam Mycoskie's preference of decorating and dressing Mycoskie in bold colors and rainbows prints.
Aviator Nation surfboards debuted in early 2016, shaped and airbrushed by hand.
Music and philanthropy
Aviator Nation has a main focus in connecting fashion with music festivals, raising funds for philanthropies, and generating a greater awareness of our collective consciousness. In 2012, Aviator Nation launched a partnership with The Austin City Limits (ACL)Music Festival. Mycoskie curated a signature Aviator Nation experience in the artist's lounge inspired by the iconic energy surrounding Woodstock. She designed and installed a rainbow tepee for musicians to relax and play vintage instruments, which organically evolved into impromptu shows. She also designed ACL x Aviator Nation merchandise that sold out both weekends of the festival. Today, the partnership continues with the merchandise still selling out year after year.
Mycoskie collaborated with musician, John Mayer, designing his "Born and Raised" tour merchandise.
Aviator Nation is a partner of the Global Citizen Festival, a music festival that shares the brand's personal mission of, "empowerment through music". The brand creates festival merchandize with proceeds aiding in the festival's ongoing campaign to end poverty. In 2015, Aviator Nation-designed merchandise for the festival was featured during New York Fashion Week. Aviator Nation will continue its collaborations with ACL, Lollapalooza and Global Citizen in 2016.
Accolades
In 2013, GQ Magazine named Mycoskie as Best New Menswear Designers in America. With this recognition, she was asked to create a capsule collection for GQ x GAP. The collection debuted at GAP stores domestically and internationally selling out globally in the first 24 hours. GQ Magazine refers to Aviator Nation as "…a brand with a point of view – cohesive, spirited, vibrant – that extends from its clothes to its sun-bronzed designer."