LOOK 0923: HiCo x Thick Mint Co.
Words by: CL
When I first moved here, we had no internet in the house. And somehow I justified a $6 cup of coffee three times a week over just paying a monthly internet fee. So for months, I would drag myself between local coffee shops just for the internet. Sometimes I didn't even want the coffee but the face they give you when you just order water is reason enough to just stay home and do the work you need to do tomorrow. So coffee it was, three times a week, seeing the same baristas but never learning their names, nodding in agreement that, yes, we do know each other, but strangers nonetheless. I'd bounce between coffee shops but eventually settled on this little place called HiCo because there's a table outside in the back that faces the parking lot and I can avoid random eye contact with strangers; sip on whatever I ordered that day and pretend to do important things on my computer like writing this little journal. I really just needed to get some home internet.
On another random day, I walked into HiCo and saw these really cool hoodies on their gear rack and desperately wanted to know where they got them. I'd been on the hunt for hoodies just like that for Thick Mint but I never got the courage to ask. I still don't know. Every once in a while I'd walk in again and just stare at their gear rack: t-shirts, hoodies, hats. I just admired their simplicity--somebody with an understanding of a short message and the ability to make it a wearable one. On another random day, as my workload actually requiring the internet increased, I finally got some internet. It was like buying a new phone because my dad went with me and he was the one that actually bought it (I never said I was independent). But as I screwed the router plugs into the wall, our 500 square foot home somehow felt brand new. My computer became useful. The printer worked with ease. The TV... well we're still figuring that one out. When you work alone and single handedly drive your own success and failure, little things count. But with this new form of efficiency, I no longer frequented HiCo. I no longer sat in my parking lot table, said hi to the barista's whose names I never learned or stared at the beautiful hoodies that hung high on their gear rack, too afraid to ask where they sourced them. But, on another random day, the day after a show, I got an email from someone interested in a collaboration; it was HiCo. On another random day, I met with the owners. I was so excited I didn't actually remember much of what they said except for their motto "make your wave". So in Thick Mint Co. fashion, I pieced that message together like a puzzle and out came three designs and one message. On another random day, I stopped by HiCo for the first time in a while since my home internet revelation and was met with a wall of my own designs on their gear rack, right next to the hoodies I still wonder about. On another random day, I woke up at 5am to go fishing even though I don't fish. And off the platform of which we were fishing from, water swirled below, back lit by the rising sun, making its own little waves amongst the coral and rocks. My puzzle pieces had officially found their own way into real life. And if you're still reading this, so can you. Make your wave, learn your barista's names, get your dad to buy you internet, dream of dreams and make them come true, ask about the freaking hoodies. |
HiCo x Thick Mint Co. t-shirts now available in-store and online!