For our second installment of #GearToTheStreet, we caught up with some more new peeps you may not have heard about yet & should be on the look out for, as well as a legendary New Jersey retailer that is at the midway mark of their expertise and tackling a full-on revamp! So yeah, this is a double feature, a la grindhouse. (Scroll it, scroll it.)

First up, meet ‘Tears Of Joy,’ a brainstorm product of two friend’s emotional outlet of sorts. (Yeah, I said that.) We caught up with Jesus Noel Hernandez & Robert Escobar of the New Jersey based brand and spoke about their offbeat approach and what’s next for them. Hope you enjoy.

PV: What’s up Fellas, so what’s Tears Of Joy about?

TOJ: Tears of Joy is a creative collaboration between two friends Jesus Noel Hernandez and Robert Escobar focused on bringing an innovative perspective to the independent clothing culture scene in our local community.

PV: I get a weird, cool vibe. I particularly like the design with the frame on it. What’s the name of this Tee?

TOJ: The design is a photograph of a religious statue; this piece is named ‘Emotions for Sale.’ The piece is meant to connect emotion to our collaboration.

PV: Is this the first brand, or collection of goods for you guys?

TOJ: This collaboration has been something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time and we really wanted to introduce ourselves through genuine emotion. This is our introduction to the designing world. We have both created very DIY pieces for ourselves, but this is our first legitimate project.

PV: What kind of brand style or approach would you categorize Tears Of Joy as? What I mean is, people tend to call their shit streetwear, high fashion, or something else. What genre of clothing would best describe your brand?

TOJ: I would prefer- independent clothing brand. We really don’t want to label ourselves as streetwear since a certain stigma holds to the label. I would love to call myself high fashion, but I do not believe the brand is at its fullest potential yet, so I would avoid that as well. We are, as I said, really just focused on bringing new ideas to the clothing culture that are very unique. Really reminding, especially our immediate environment, that there are different ways to approach things. Personally, I would call this a creative designing collaboration.

PV: What else do you guys have in the works?

TOJ: You can look forward to a very active Summer for us. We are currently working on our next release.

PV: Very nice work, Fellas.

You can keep in tune with Tears Of Joy via their social media platforms & purchase the Tee via their website listed below.

@tearsofjoyusa | tearsofjoyusa.com

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Next up! I got the opportunity to document the transition of one of New Jersey’s most beloved retail destination shops, specializing in everything headwear. This was very dear to me being that I played a little part in laying some of the foundation in the fifteen years of this establishment, and now they are relocating and revamping. Yes, I’m talking about the one and only Cap City. Now known as Halftime Goods.

For this is featurette, I’d like to highlight the brand new retail store Halftime Good’s original ‘NJ’ logo. The Cap comes in a SnapBack silhouette and in a timeless Navy/White color way. Also features a Krlly Green undervisor for that retro look. The logo itself stems from a very interesting back story. It was designed by Juan ‘Cheese’ Vasquez who used to work at Morlees in downtown Jersey City and is a very prominent art figure in the Jersey City art culture. (Look him up.) The logo became very popular very fast. It’s been   seen various renditions, tweaks, alternate versions but none more reputable than in this O.G. form. The original is always the best.

The fate of the logo hit a curve ball though when it was never trademarked and through its popularity, became a public logo for use by any retailer. One of the most notable being our friends here, the retailer formerly known as Cap City. (now *Halftime Goods)

Ecentually, New Era Cap company banned the logo due to it getting the attention of a certain major league baseball team and their discontent with it bearing similarity to their iconic emblem, an NY. After about half a decade of twists and turns, the logo has been brought back to life and is now trademarked and owned by Halftime Goods! I must say, I’m happy they took ownership.

Reason being, if they didn’t adopt the logo, it could have easily been bought by someone for the wrong reasons, like burying it so that it’s never seen/worn again. Who knows? Maybe turning it in to the logo for a wack ass new streetwear brand ‘No Joke’ or something?! Thank you Streetwear Gods for not letting that happen and thank you Halftime for keeping this simple, clean, classic logo alive for another decade or two or three.

I have seen this logo written on notebooks, tattooed, as a bumper sticker and consistently on Caps and Tees everywhere throughout the Garden State. Seen it worn on the boardwalks down the Shore, and even on the heads of some of the biggest Rap stars from Jersey. This logo is certainly a staple. My reason for highlighting this SnapBack design, or rather it’s logo, is not to stir up controversy or build animosity between folks. It’s actually the complete and total opposite.

It’s to give credit and appreciation where it’s due. I’m a fan of the classic-ness of this Cap.
I believe that if you are a representative of this State you should own at least one. Be you Male or Female.

I think of the word STIGMA when I see this logo and because of that word itself, this logo  is the perfect embodiment of what NJ represents. A certain group of stigmas. (No offense.) As Jersey folk, we are driven, if not hellbent on proving our kinship, and we’re quick to break down any barriers or disbeliefs that our hoods & goods are any less as tough as those of our sister State across the pond. This logo has had a few stigmas in its lifetime but it’s still tough as shit!

At one point, more and more New Jersey logos popped up, some from random places, but the best ones came from www.ecapcity.com. Luckily, this one still lives on. I can’t really recall of any specific logo that has this much history off the top of my head. And that makes me fall back in love with this Cap all over again.

The ‘NJ’ SnapBack is also offered in several colorways and available now. Feel free to stop in and check out the brand new Halftime Goods. You can also shop online at halftimegoods.com | ecapcity.com

@halftimegoods

HALFTIME GOODS
974 Teaneck Road
Teaneck, New Jersey