Sprayground’s David BenDavid Talks Again To Faculty Playlist & NYC Popup – Hollywood Life

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Summer time is shortly coming to an in depth, and with colder climate comes the sound of sophistication bells, slamming lockers, and pleasure (with a contact of dread) as the brand new college yr begins. Whereas the expertise for college kids is completely different throughout the nation, one factor appears to be widespread: the variety of Sprayground backpacks roaming the halls. With its trademark shark mouth, Sprayground has blended practicality with vogue, creating a licensed cool model that is still excessive in demand. And that may be seen within the model’s pop-up retailer in Occasions Sq.. “It feels wonderful to be again within the metropolis the place our journey started,” Sprayground founder and artistic director David BenDavid tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY.

“We simply celebrated our twelfth anniversary, so it felt proper to open our largest pop-up store right here,” BenDavid says of the NYC pop-up. Situated at 200 West 42 nd Road in Occasions Sq., the pop-up store runs till Sept. 5, culminating in a runway present throughout New York Vogue Week on Sept. 8. Till then, followers can drop by to browse the latest collections and consider the large cherry-red T-Rex mannequin with a stomach filled with backpacks. “We labored tremendous exhausting to present our followers essentially the most immersive expertise ever with this store,” BenDavid tells HollywoodLife. “Sprayground is understood for breaking boundaries, so we knew we needed to create one thing particular that we had by no means accomplished earlier than, and that’s what this new pop-up is all about.”

David BenDavid – no stranger to music – is aware of that his model walks hand-in-hand with road tradition and popular culture. In an EXCLUSIVE interview, he shares why the model is upping its sport with extra on-line sport collabs, what the following decade holds for Sprayground – and he gives an EXCLUSIVE playlist of songs that ought to assist any scholar prepare for the brand new college yr.

HollywoodLife: Who got here up with the thought to have a vibrant pink Tyrannosaurus skeleton crammed with Sprayground luggage? And is it going into your lobby when the shop closes? 

David BenDavid: With this pop-up, we need to stroll followers via the previous, current, and future, and what higher strategy to signify the previous than with an iconic T-Rex construction? Each children and grownups find it irresistible! After the pop-up, we’re teletransporting the Tyrannosaurus again to the Jurassic period, AKA, my backyard.

The pop-up expertise commemorates the brand new Again To Faculty assortment. What was the imaginative and prescient behind this new assortment?  

This new assortment is simply pure inventive madness in essentially the most inventive and trustworthy manner potential; every bag has its personal story that makes it distinctive. Now we have included never-seen-before designs, new patterns, monograms, and re-imagined types which can be overloaded with our swag; and followers are loving it!

What would you say is the present style of the present technology? What would you say GenZ is into versus elder Millennials? What’s in and what’s out, for those who might say?  

Now we have additionally seen an upward beat in gaming collabs, and one to not be missed this yr is our Name of Responsibility capsule assortment. We acquired duffles, backpacks, cross physique’s, bears, and even a gaming chair! The gaming world simply retains rising and rising. Now we have additionally accomplished very cool collaborations with Fortnite, League Of Legends, and Road Fighter this yr; they’ve been an enormous success for us, and followers hold asking for extra.

I see GenZs and Millennials amassing our designs, and that’s the magic of Sprayground. We make designs for everybody, no matter your private fashion is, we’ve one thing that can allow you to categorical your self.

Sprayground has launched into its second decade. The model has change into synonymous with backpacks and has since expanded into baggage and luggage. The place do you see Sprayground going subsequent? Do you see it rising extra or refining itself, so it stays on the reducing fringe of backpack/baggage vogue?  

Thanks! It’s been an incredible journey, and I couldn’t really feel extra blessed. Now we have a lot of cool surprises on their manner, we don’t plan to cease! We’re at present engaged on footwear. Followers have been asking for footwear that match their backpacks – that’s within the works! We additionally need to do one thing in outer area, so keep tuned for surprises!