FE ATU REFor more than 15 years Bobby Kim, who goes by Bobby Hundreds, expressed
himself through his iconic streetwear brand, The Hundreds. Now with the
release of his book, This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Commu-
nity—a Life in Streetwear, he tells the world about his personal and brand
journeys. Here, in his own words, Hundreds talks candidly about what he
hopes to achieve with his first book, his painful childhood memories, the
importance of a private life and the lack of love he’s received from the Asian
American community.
I’ve never talked to anyone about this. Not even to my therapist or my
wife. I’ve been broken. I’ve had my ego bruised ... a lot. Crushed. I’ve made
a lot of mistakes. I’ve hurt a lot of people. I’ve been humbled so many
times. I have so much baggage that it’s really hard for me to consider
myself better than anybody else.
I wrote in the book that when people meet me they’re like, “I thought
you were going to be a total asshole.” I guess that’s cool for me to hear.
Because our space, the streetwear world, is fueled by ego and bravado.
And there’s so much machoness in it. That never spoke to me. Maybe
because I grew up in an abusive household where I had a gigantic, angry
Korean dad barking at me, treating us like we were in the Korean military
all the time. That style of love and relationship didn’t work for me. I knew
that from very early on.
In a weird way, I think being Asian American worked against me in cer-
tain aspects of my career, especially on a production level and in terms
of networking in Asia. When we first started popping off in Korea, they
SHIRT TALES The Hundreds put the Fairfax streetwear scene on the map. Photos courtesy of The Hundreds.