BU x Karmaloop Q & A
Our sixth Q & A features Boston based Karmaloop!
BU: What is Karmaloop?
Greg Selkoe: Karmaloop is a community of style that sells clothing to the global streetwear culture, hard to find and limited edition gear for men and women
BU: Who or what does Karmaloop represent?
GS: We represent the type A personality, the early adopter, the influencer. The person who cares about having style, these are the people who are DJ's, Musicians, artists, designers, promoters, authors, or people who just like to turn the party out and live life!
BU: What was the main idea behind Karmaloop?
GS: Karmaloop was created as an alternative were people could find dope gear, people are sick off all the bull shit and conformity at the mall we have lots of stuff you won't be able to find anywhere else, we provide universal reach to the most innovative and flyest gear on the planet, we sell to over 35 countries world wide.
With that being said about our quest for the unique, limited, and underground we are not all dogmatic about it we have a few brands on Karmaloop that have made it really big and or are bigger brands like LRG, Artful Dodge, Adidas, Nike we don’t hate on success even if the brand is big if the stays true and are about good design then they make the cut. But we still have the brands on the site that might be one dude grinding out T-shirts in Brooklyn some place that is gonna be the next LRG or Stussy.
BU: When and where did it all begin?
GS: 2000 in my parents basement in JP Boston MA! Man the stuff we went through to make this happen you wouldn't believe it floods, low money, no money, maxing out credit cards, getting robbed the list keeps going on but we kept believing and kept pushing and we have had amazing customers who have stuck with us and helped spread the word. We have over 15,000 Karmaloop customer Reps around the world that hold it down for us and promote the site
When I started the company I had another job I used to pack the orders myself take them on the subway in the morning drop them at the post office and then go into work in a cubical....
BU: How has karma been to Karmaloop?
GS: Karma has been damn good, we have had a lot of luck, a lot of help, and a lot good stuff happen to us!
BU: The Kazbah couldn't have been an easy thing to put together, what prompted Karmaloop to even think of such a feature for their store?
GS: Basically Kazbah is an underground marketplace for the most up and coming underground brands. People kept hitting me up wanting us to carry their brand on Karmaloop like 10 a week, a lot of them were amazing but were to small to carry on the main site so we set up Kazbah selected only the best of the best and let them sell through the site meaning they do all of their own customer service and fulfillment. The response has been crazy! And it feels really good to see some of these brands just coming up killing it, some of them had little or no distribution before Karmaloop now they are global growing like wildfire! People need to check brands like 9 Grand, Beandip, Jeepney, Methods, Gold Coin...these brands got next, these are some talented cats, hustling and building the next LRG's the next OBEY's, I wish I could name them all because they are all dope.
BU: Who or what has been the biggest influence to the store as a whole, or to the running of Karmaloop?
GS: The customers and all of the staff all the people here from the beginning who never quit never gave up
BU: The Karmaloop store has been around for a while now, but in recent years it's gained more and more exposure, how are you guys coping?!
GS: Things are cool we are coping and just trying to go with the flow, working long days!
BU: What does the immediate future hold for Karmaloop?
GS: Karmaloop TV you will see it is going to be amazing!
The Karmaloop Ikons programs we have people we think are streetwear Ikons modeling for the site we already have had some huge people sign on DMC, Gym Class Hereos, Common, Jason Lee, Roxy Oxycottontail
BU: Where do you see Karmaloop a year, 5 years and 10 years from now?
GS: Hopefully still selling gear and making moves
BU: What are Karmaloops biggest goals and aspirations as a store or business?
GS: Have fun, reach people and have an influence on people and culture, and make money
BU: Have you achieved them or are still being worked towards?
GS: Yes but hopefully there is more of all three to come!
BU: What word or phrase sums Karmaloop up best?
GS: bezerkoogearology
BU: and finally... what makes Karmaloop stand out from the crowd?
GS: We give a shit and love what we do!
A huge thanks to Greg Selkoe, CEO of Karmaloop!
Find out more about Karmaloop on our store page.
