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  Jim Shubin of True Love & False Idols.

We recently checked in with True Love & False Idols’ Jim Shubin to see how the brand is doing since the La Jolla Group acquired the master license in January.

 

True Love & False Idols is the La Jolla Group’s first streetwear-influenced brand. La Jolla hired Shubin to run the brand’s sales and marketing, and kept founder, Alex 2-Tone Erdmann, to run the brand direction and artist program.

 

Shubin said being under the La Jolla Group umbrella has benefited the brand.

 

“They literally sunk us right into their infrastructure, and they gave us the freedom to build the brand properly, because it is something different for them,” he said.

 

For those of who have never seen the brand, Shubin describes it as “a boutique-minded streetwear company with an eye on fashion.”

 

True Love & False Idols is influenced by music, art and street culture. Founder, Alex 2-Tone Erdmann is an artist himself, and the brand also works with other artists including Sunny Gheris, EWok, Joe King, Henry Lewis, and Akiko Stehrenberger.

 

The brand is also quite irreverent.

 

“We add a twist of humor, and have some really good, quality garments,” said Shubin.

 

True Love & False Idol’s mascot is a Koala Bear named Reggie who holds an Uzi. The brand parodies street culture and “Hollywood-esque” icons in their designs.

 

One Spring 2011 T-shirt features a guy with an afro and a shower cap, flashing a gangster sign and holding an Uzi. He is photo shopped onto a surfboard getting barreled inside a huge wave. The ink on the shirt smells like coconut and it will be shipped with a shower cap attached.

 

 

On page 2: more on printables, integrated earbuds and the future

 

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Another one of its signature denim pieces comes with a “cholo comb” inside the pocket. The brand’s catalog is a flash drive shaped as an Uzi.

 

Besides comical printables, Shubin said they also have quality cut-and-sew pieces with new technology.

 

For Spring 2011, one of the brand’s key pieces is a hooded sweatshirt with machine washable headphones that use HB3 technology.

 

Rusty has a similar sweatshirt using wired technology.

 

They are the only two action sports companies to integrate the new washable earbuds into their line.

 

While most of the True Love & False Idols brand has been heavily focused on printables, Shubin said the La Jolla Group’s manufacturing expertise has allowed them to add a lot of cut-and-sew pieces for Spring 2011 and beyond.

 

The brand recently hired a new sportswear designer to specifically focus on cut-and-sew for Fall 2011.

 

Since the licensing deal, Shubin said the brand has easily doubled in sales, even though it tightened distribution.

 

He said the humorous designs translate across a variety of accounts from boutique to core surf and skate.

 

“The accounts are loving them, especially anything with the koala bear on it,” he said.

 

The brand currently sells to shops like The Closet, Metropark, Loserkids and Sun Diego.

 

Shubin said all the “Hollyhood by Henry Lewis series,” a line of women’s Ts that parody the troublesome girls of Hollywood, is doing really well, especially at test locations in PacSun right now.

 

In the next year, Shubin said the brand will continue to expand its artist collaborations and work with musicians like DJ Cheapshot and the Get Busy Committee (GBC).

 

It will also expand its international distribution with distributors in Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, and Latin America.

 

Shubin would not say how big the brand is, but said, “We expect to be smaller than Stubbies in 1985 and bigger than any brand starting in 2012.”