BornxRaised and RETROSUPERFUTURE Unite to Celebrate Angeleno Culture
Co-branded tees and Italian-made sunglasses inspired by local style.
BornxRaised‘s collaborative efforts are always deeply personal, rarely taking cues from anything outside of the Venice Beach-adjoining community the label has built around itself. Even though a tenuous Venice connection may be the only clear throughline between the Californian brand and Italian eyewear experts RETROSUPERFUTURE, the resulting product remains steeped in BornxRaised founder Spanto’s heritage, channeling memories of summers by the beach.
Repurposing RETROSUPERFUTURE’s Roma model, three handcrafted silhouettes take cues from the affordable sunglasses sold by boardwalk vendors. These new designs feature a thick black frame emblazoned with barbed wire and colorful red, blue or yellow lenses with a subtle turtoiseshell frame pattern elevating the yellow-tinged pair. A monochrome T-shirt set accompanies the eyewear and sports the same Old English typface slogan on its rear — “I’D RATHER GO BLIND” — alongside stylized co-branding.
“When we were teenagers we used to walk to the boardwalk and pick up these glasses called boardwalk specials – they cost about 15 bucks and lasted a couple days,” BornxRaised founder Spanto explained on Instagram. “When we spoke to RETROSUPERFUTURE about inspiration behind the glasses of course I chose the Venice boardwalk – but we made these in Italy, they’re heavy duty and will last you a lifetime – so many memories, so much nostalgia – endless summers at dusk on that boardwalk.”
The collaborative items are now available at RETROSUPERFUTURE’s website and the tees can be found on BornxRaised’s site.
Elsewhere, Blondey McCoy introduced Thames’ own premium sunglasses line
