When we met with Mishka NYC co-founder Greg Rivera in New York at United last month, he was wearing a T-shirt that read “2007, The Year Punk Choked” made of cut-out letters. Typical of the sense of humor this brand has, the T-shirt statement was just the start of what lay beneath other parts of the collection, such as the backwards typed “Kidnap Madonna for Drug Money” T-shirt and M.u.s.c.l.e. Hoodie that is actually made up of tiny muscle-men characters.

Mishka NYC began 4 years ago when Greg and co-founder Mikhail Bortnik came up with the streetwear concept and the “Bear-mop” logo. Since then, the brand has become a leader in the scene, having been picked up by stores such as GreyOne, Avenue, Premium Clientele in California, Boundless and Brooklyn Circus in New York, Lafayette in Japan, and Digital Gravel online retail. Greg was also the man behind the incredible Mr. T exhibition at United Trade Show. Having been featured on VH1 among other places, Greg supposedly has the largest Mr. T collection in world. But that’s another story.

Clearly influenced by music including the burgeoning “Trouble & Bass” scene in New York, Mishka NYC stays fresh from a combination of tongue-in-cheek design humor, like the giant bleeding eyeball, Whorde bat win graphics T-shirt reminiscent of metal band merch shirts, and their classic lightening bolts on the Gristle Hoodie. Bold colors are also part of their aesthetic including the red, black, and yellow Kill with Power Raglan shirt and logo in Russian-looking text, or bright purple windbreaker and varsity jacket with Brooklyn! in bleeding type on the back.

Recent collaborations for the brand include 2 T-shirt designs and a New Era cap to mark the 10^th anniversary of MackDaddy stores in Japan. Given Japan’s strong attraction to New York-based streetwear with a punk-metal vibe, and the explosion of Visual Kei bands, particularly guys like Miyavi, we anticipate that Mishka NYC is on the cusp of exploding across the Pacific.