Corteiz x New Era Celebrates Grime's Unexpected Fashion Heritage

As the world waits for Corteiz to drop its rumored Nike Shox collection, the London-based imprint has teased a project that further celebrates local culture on a global scale: a linkup with New Era in collaboration of San Diego's Lake Elsinore Storm.

You may be asking yourself the same question some netizens have shared in social media comments of the collab's campaign video—"What does a U.S. Minor League Baseball team have to do with Corteiz?" Well, the connection is unexpected and simultaneously completely sensical.

Corteiz's founder has demonstrated a masterful ability to tell stories through visuals and products on more than one occasion over the last nine years. From the Phil Foden-backed Joga Bonito-like ads for his Air Max 95 capsule to a takeover of New York City's subway, Clint Ogbenna has a knack for blending nostalgia, theatrics, and good design to create meaningful moments across digital and real life.

The Corteiz x New Era cap collection is no different.

During the early 2000s, the United Kingdom's burgeoning grime music scene found identity in an unlikely source: Minor League Baseball's Lake Elsinore Storm. The team's logo abandoned any initials or playful mascot design in favor of two "angry" eyes that fit right in with grime emcees's screw-face energy. Pioneers the likes of Wiley and Dizzee Rascal began co-signed the menacing graphic, which has historically been mistaken as that of the No Fear motocross brand founded in 1989.

While unrelated, the Lake Elsinore Storm's logo is rooted in a similar affinity for action sports as the No Fear label. The city of Lake Elsinore is big on activities like skydiving, so the energy that baseball team's logo tried to capture is born from the extreme. Grime embraced this energy early on and Corteiz is helping tell that story 20 years later.

More recently, figures the likes of Skepta have given the Storm's eyes logo visibility. East London's PEAK TELEVISION has also referenced the emblem in some of its own headwear offerings. Ogbenna's work with New Era, however, legitimizes grime and its adoption of the unlikely cultural reference point in a way no other project had before it. Ogbenna tapped members of grime's current scene and London's overall artistic community for the launch, too, further expanding the city's creative heritage.

Stay tuned for proper release details. All New Era 59Fifty caps should land on StockX in the near future following what's sure to be a sold out drop.