Alyasha Owerka-Moore, the creative director for Fiberops, is low-key and highly respected in the street fashion industry not only for his knowledge and experience in denim and men’s apparel, but for his long-term thinking and ability to stick to what he believes in. His brand, Fiberops, has a rockabilly/psychobilly flair, but the Hot Rod culture, pin-up-girl inspired motifs stem from a different source than making new trends: “We’re not into being classified,” explains Alyasha in an interview with Label Networks TV at Agenda last month. “We supply a demand that’s always going to be there, not create a new demand that’s going to be gone soon.” Inspired from skateboarding, music, hot rods, and rockabilly among other things, Alyasha also provides insight regarding the evolution of the fall of urbanwear and take over by some of these brands of streetwear. “There’s a running joke that streetwear is the new urbanwear.”

Interestingly, Fiberops is part of a growing subculture that’s always been around, but starting to be re-introduced due to the success of designs coming from his brand and others like Commune. They were even located in a separate space at Agenda, along with Fast Eddie’s Commune, and Guttersnipe, which even further defined that they are not like the others. You could say this section of the show was the rockabilly, car culture scene, but actually, it was a combination of a new representation of gentlemen’s street fashion (not to be confused with streetwear). Fiberops, as one of the leaders in this subculture, creates classic pieces with a twist such as a polo shirt with pin-up girl snaps and a straight-razor logo “representing the gentleman” explains Alyasha. Their denim is all 14-ounce with snap flies. And their jackets, ranging from the red Rebel Without a Cause James Dean version, to the racing jacket in coated cotton for riding motorcycles or Vespas, are the type that get noticed for their high quality and subtlety.

Other key pieces for Fiberops include the Cuban shirt with 4 pockets but with bowling shirt gussets on the back and their classic western button-down with the yoke that seeps into the pockets. Each piece of Fiberops upcoming collection represents something unique that illustrates the experience behind the product. Alyasha, like many in the street fashion industry, came from a larger brand—in this case Alphanumerics—and decided to do things on his own. With inspiration from his partner who lived in Hong Kong and Japan, they actually first distributed in Japan, then Hong Kong for 4 years, then at stores such as In4mation in Hawaii before coming to the states where the brand is actually based.

“The difference between the Japanese consumer and American is that in Japan, they are more willing to express personal style. In America, people wear the “uniform.” I don’t create uniforms.” Fiberops is about longevity. As they say, there will always be a customer inspired by the early ‘50’s, hot rods, music, literature, pre-‘70’s Japanese muscle cars, and pin-up girls. This is the difference between Fiberops’ course of action and other brands that scramble to follow trends.