King Apparel is a London-based streetwear brand. It was founded in 2002 by former professional snowboarder/skateboarder Tim Hoad and his friend and graphic designer Paul Linton; their goal was to create a new clothing brand, which reflected the creative freedom of their own lifestyle and culture. After securing start-up funding from The Princes Trust and Business Link, the brand launched in 2003 with a small range of accessories and t-shirts. From this modest beginning King Apparel has now grown to present a fully comprehensive range of garments every season including the launch of their sub-brand 'LDN' across the UK and Europe.
A notable detail of King Apparel is that all of their outerwear garments and accessories produced are limited to exclusive runs of just 300 pieces and they also operate a strict "no re-runs and no repeats" policy. They were also the first independent brand to work exclusively alongside New Era Cap, following an agreement made with New Era Europe in 2003, and have specialized and exclusive design modifications to the classic New Era Cap fit that no one else on the planet produces. More recently in the Autumn of 2010 King Apparel signed an exclusive deal with Starter Brand to manufacture their snapback style caps. King Apparel were the only UK brand with this deal until 2012 after which they utilised their experience to develop and manufacture their own line of headwear, whilst still producing limited edition collaboration hats.
Want Respect campaign
For the Summer of 2007, King Apparel teamed up with the UK Government Want Respect campaign for safer sex. This is the first documented collaboration between a clothing brand and a government social and health campaign. King have produced 1,000 pairs of limited edition denims with hidden "stash" pockets for condoms emblazoned with the Want Respect logo designed by the legendary Mode 2. Every pair of jeans also comes with a customized swingtag of 'King' condoms attached to the waist.