STYLE | CAREERS
From Issue #19
In Their Genes/Jeans
Canadian Bros Chip & Pepper Have Designs on the Stars
by Maya Chendke
Chip and Pepper Foster are the
genetic duo behind one of the
most exclusive denim labels in the
world today. With innovative styles and out
of this world washes, the brand Chip &
Pepper which caters to Hollywood elite
is another successful Canadian story
at heart.
Born in Winnipeg, and raised in Burlington,
Ontario, Chip and Pepper had distinct
dreams. “I wanted to be an underwater
welder,” says Pepper, “Coz I loved going
underwater, and I read all these articles
about it!” Nothing similar to Chip’s early
entrepreneurial skills of selling spray
painted Adidas shorts. Of all these, an
earlier part of their fashion career was
also labeled ‘Bulldog.’
Though the twins
began capitalizing on their creative drive
and began building a company in the
1980s, it was a hard ride with little
support. “Not very many people in my
hometown of Winnipeg helped us, only one
person — one guy,” Pepper explains,
“I don’t know if they wanted us to do well
or not, but there’s a lot of jealousy
and animosity.”
STARTING OUT
The Canadians had dreamed about moving
to California since childhood, fleeing the
subzero Canuck freeze, and eventually
headed down on the waves of a multimillion
dollar deal for a TV show. The
blonde twins were soon idealistic surfer
kids and they also licensed out their name
in a US-based deal, but that ran them in to
some trouble. “The licensing deal with an
American company was so I could still
design and pursue my passion, designdirect
them there, and that never
happened that way. We lost everything,
and we had to re-build and start over. We
suffered pretty hard,” says Chip.
Pepper tenses when recalling the jam they
faced with the deal-gone-bad,
“I was living in the Hollywood Hills in a
multi-million dollar house with no lights,
no electricity, no power, eating ready-toeat
noodles for a year just to plan our
business. Not one person helped us.”
This harsh hit forced the two to re-group
by solidly joining in a 50/50 partnership,
and they began by carving one area:
denim. Chip was at the creative helm with
tons of previous experience from working
in vintage specialty stores. Pepper and
Chip then opened-what is now the famous
Golf Punk, a vintage specialty store on
Melrose Place in Los Angeles.
Pepper is
their business brains, “You go to Barney’s
Japan, if you go to Australia, or if you go
to Los Angeles we’ll be in Fred Segal, and
if you go to UK I’ll be at Selfridges,”
exclaims Pepper passionately. And then
surfer zen takes over “Business is like
big Hawaiian surf. When you don‘t have
the experience, you get killed,” adds
Pepper quietly
INFLUENCES
Their father who was in the pickle business
influenced them not only in a keen taste in
cornichons and develop a green palate in
design, but how to be valorous in a
cut-throat business world.
“The integrity that my dad built in to his business was old school. When good
people make a business, they make their
business successful,” says Pepper,
explaining the model to their own
company, inspired by their dad.
Chip also draws design inspiration from
their dad’s pickle factory. “Going to my
dad’s pickle factory… I love the colour of
the green pickles when they’re freshly
picked. That is an awesome shade of
green. Horseradish is also a beautiful kind
of white. I always wanted to make a shirt
out of that – it’s the perfect white!” he
exclaims excitedly.
WHAT SETS THEM APART
Acclaimed sales are due to their rigid
quality requirements. So is the recognition.
Sporstwear International named them
Best Men’s Denim in the 2005 SIFA
awards. And Chip and Pepper count
amongst their faithful fans, celebs like
Sarah Jessica Parker, The O.C. girls,
and Beyonce.
Their denim is hand-crafted and
individually detailed. What this also means
is that the denim is manufactured from
mills in the US that were originally used by
Levi’s in the 1900s. This is one of the main
reasons which give them that authentic
vintage feel. But these young at heart
brothers continue to impress.
What they
noticed about vintage style clothing was
that the cuts aren’t as good as nowadays.
So Chip and Pepper make the cuts, and all
other details are applied by hand. For
instance, if you look closely at the print in
the pockets, you’ll notice it’s a picture of
a deer looking up at the New York city
skyline That makes every pair one-of-a-kind.
Chip is the guy his brother dubs a
denim “chemist” for his commitment to find new cutting edge washes and
represents another core advantage the
Fosters have over others in the denim
game.
“One thing with Chip & Pepper is it’s
pretty hard to compete against our
washes, what we do. Everyone is biting off
‘em now, right now we came up with a
couple of washes which we’re all beating
up. We’re trying to make the best denim in
the world, trying to make the best quality,
and everything that goes in to it. So when
you buy a Chip & Pepper product you’re
buying an American-made product not
manufactured in China. Our denim is made
here,” emphasizes Pepper. Every pant is
also tagged with as serial number, making them instant collectibles.
CANUCK CAN DO
Just because they now live in sunny Cali
doesn’t mean the guys have turned their
backs on their Canadian heritage. They
have distinct touches on their clothing,
including a maple leaf in their logo, and
those serial numbers that look like our
$50 bill, and names that pay homage to
their memorable childhood. A lot of our
product we name after Canada, like
Regina, Smooth Rock. Different names
come from experiences in Canada as a kid,
in places like Six Mile Lake,” says Pepper.
Even with a galaxy of celeb clients (who
pay for their jeans and don’t get them for
free, mind you), they always remember
where they came from. “It’s very strong to
see Hilary Duff or Dakota Fanning or any
of these famous people wearing your stuff.
In our eyes, the only stars are in the sky,
and that’s the way we think,” says Pepper,
“We’re Canadian kids, and that works to
our advantage, it helps with the way we
are – friendly, and it helps in business.”
All clothing photos by Embry Rucker
Chip and Pepper photo by: Chip and Pepper Foster
