A Hip new lifestyle by Marco Wilson

As the world drifts closer to artificially generated art coupled with a loss of community, people strive to relive the glory days of the late 90s and early 2000s. We become victims to our nostalgia, obsessing over vintage designs. In our hopes of making a better future we go back to our roots, our childhood to seek inspiration and share what brought us comfort with others. This is the philosophy that made NFL player Marco Wilson start Hip.3399 in 2024. 

Marco and I sat down to discuss philosophy, faith, manga, and hip-hop as well as how he integrates all those into building his brand.

Q) What made you start a brand, especially clothing?

There are many reasons that got me into starting this clothing line. First things first, my love for creation as a whole was why I started Hip.3399. When I started this clothing line, it was during a pivotal moment of my career where I got fired from my first job. It made me realise that things can change very quickly in life. So I decided to take action and start my own business, that way when the factors that are out of my control – like the outside world – may come crumbling down, I still have something that is mine, that I have some control over. Something I can start building on that doesn't rely on externalities with the other jobs that I do. 

Another reason why I also started HIP was because I was just simply tired of consuming other people's clothing, other people's brands. I felt like it was time for me to really tap back into my creative side and be the one putting out the things that people are consuming. This honestly is one of the main points for me, and it was big for me because I was into fashion. Buying from some of the biggest houses and having a lot of runway pieces and really being focused on building my personal style. As I did that, I would begin to end up in rooms with some of these people and get to learn more about the creators of these certain lines. A lot of the times when you get to dive deeper into who these people are, from my point of view, they aren't really good people. They aren't people who are of faith. I'm an unapologetic Christian, and I feel like a lot of these people aren't people who are pushing a positive message to the public. I didn't want to continue to be someone who consumes that. I also want to be the shifting factor in our culture, someone who's pushing a positive message and can be an example of righteous living to the youth. Someone who is on the big stage, creating amazing things and gaining the attention of the world, while not losing their head.

Q) In a market that is flooded with athletes doing streetwear, how do you aspire to carve an identity for Hip.3399? 

I'm building an identity for HIP by focusing on me only and on what I have going on with HIP. I don't pay attention to the outside world and what other people may be doing because at the end of the day, I'm in my own race. I'm in my own lane and I'm competing with no one other than myself. So I don't really focus on what other athletes are doing. I am aware that other sportspersons do have their own things going on in fashion but, for HIP I'm in my own lane. I'm in my own universe with it, and I'm trying to build this community and world by just staying in tune with my creations, my mindset, and what I feel, how I feel as a creator rather than trying to compete with what the next person has going on. I feel like that would derail my process and honestly push me away from where I stand and what I'm trying to build for HIP. So just staying focused on my own lane and running my own races is the way I do that. 

Along with that I feel like I stand out and make a difference by being very hands-on and in tune with everything that goes on with my brand. I feel like it's the case with a lot of athletes where they're usually the puppet head of their brand and they're not really personally invested with the brand. As far as for me, every piece that comes out, I'm directly involved with. I'm designing each piece, I'm having the final say-so and I'm in the factories. I'm meeting with the manufacturers. I'm meeting with the pattern makers. I'm talking to the guys who wash my denim and the ones who put my pieces together. Everything is also crafted in the USA, made in the USA which is very important to me. So I think just focusing on my own story and truly being engaged with everything that the brand puts out is the way that HIP stands out. Along with the message that I'm pushing that happiness is priority, which is what HIP stands for. 

Q) Is HIP.3399 strictly a streetwear brand? Who is it catered towards?

Streetwear is a big part of HIP 3399, but it is not a streetwear company as a whole. I make bags and paintings. I do a lot of exclusive pieces that have very high quality leather and exotic fur. I know that may not be everyone's cup of tea, but that is just indicative of my aspiration to be a designer for a high fashion brand, and that's what I want to build HIP up to be. Right now, streetwear is the main focus because, one, that's what I know what people wear on a day-to-day basis. They wear this a lot more, so I would like people to be able to get HIP every day, basically. Two, being an American, I feel like I want to attack our daily lives. I feel like as Americans, as I travelled, we relaxed way too much in the fashion sense, and we don't take the way we dress seriously on a day-to-day basis. We usually get dressed up for occasions. Whereas for me, I feel fashion is a part of your daily life and you should care about your appearance, even if it's just walking to the corner store. You should want to make that statement. You should want to look fly. And I feel like with the streetwear pieces that I do offer, it allows the customer to be fly on a day-to-day basis and to always make that big impact, that big statement with their appearance, which I feel is very important. And obviously, whilst we are worldwide, but as an American, I do want to attack that process with my people to help them hone in on being intentional with how they dress themselves daily.

Q) One can see how you design even the most minute details on the clothes, where do you find the inspiration and dedication to be so intricately invested in your work? (the eye button is amazing, very surrealist!)

The inspiration and dedication honestly comes from just me being a man of faith and just putting my faith in God and realising that anything I do put my effort and anything I am working towards is to bring God glory so I will never do it halfway. I'm always striving to be the best I can be in anything I'm putting my mind to. So with HIP, I'm making sure I'm creating every detail, down to the stitching inside the clothes, the little buttons, the zipper pulleys. I want everything to be true to my vision, especially the smallest details because when I was a consumer those were the things that I really appreciated that brands hit on. So as I transferred into designing my own pieces, I made sure to continue to hit on those things because it just lets the customer know that you're locked in and you care that much to even hit these small details. And for me, along with being an artist, the details are everything. As far as also being a football player, the same attention to detail follows. See one thing you can't do is skip over the intricacies because the customer is going to realise that. And then it just takes your product that much further when they realise how detailed you are. And the dedication to that also comes with me using my free time very wisely. I feel like as a professional athlete, people may think our schedules are so packed and yes, they are jam packed, but I do find those times where I do have free time to really lock in and use that time wisely to start working on the next collection. I start finalising pieces and hitting on every small detail so that the customer can realise how intentional I am with making them feel good and look good and also making sure the brand is very thorough. Also, everything I do is made possible with the aid of my partner Andrew. I would not be able to get a lot done because he is the one ensuring that the factories working on the clothing don’t miss our vision. Without him and his ability to carry out my creations, we would not be where we are and where we are planning to go.

Q) Speaking of manga and mangakas, is Japan and Japanese art a reference for your work? What acts as the main source or sources you draw from?

Growing up and even now frankly, I've always been into watching anime and reading manga and I also like to draw as well. So these things are very inspirational to me. I have picked up on a lot of these things as I create. I feel like when it comes to anime, I am very intrigued with just the way they dress in some of the shows. And sometimes I take those silhouettes that I see certain characters wearing and I try to bring them into HIP and make pieces that look similar. I really am into the older ‘90s and early 2000s anime, and I feel like there's that nostalgic look and feeling that people are obsessed with, that I'm trying to bring back. My endeavour is to give them that same feeling when they are wearing and buying anything from HIP.

Also to hit back on that dedication and inspiration point, I feel like a big thing for me as a creator and designer is removing myself from being a consumer, especially digitally. Putting the phone down, stop looking at the screen, stop doom scrolling, and really just reliving my vision that I had as a kid and getting in touch with the things that inspired me. Just by removing distractions and tapping into that part of my brain because whether we believe it or not, it's still there. You just have to dig down deep to find it. And I feel like by removing distractions, especially digitally, I'm able to tap back into that side and hit on those details and inspirations to help build HIP and make it as thorough as I can.

Q) Another reference seems to be old school HIP hop videos and posters - some of the initial Hip crew posters look very Wu Tang Clan/NWA/Run DMC and the Hip boys film also seems to follow that line. Is HIP hop culture a part of HIP.3399 s origin story? And how does your full form of HIP hop correlate with hip hop?

Yes, hip-hop and the culture around it is a very big part of what HIP is built on. My father is from Brooklyn, New York, so I grew up learning a lot about that area. I also have family members that grew up in LA, in the 90s. And so these things have always been around me, whether it's through music, the way people dress or just the lifestyle as a whole. I've picked up on this and these are pieces of culture that I bring into HIP and I want to give people that vibe of back in those days because me personally, I feel like a lot of things are becoming very watered down and times are changing, yes, but I do realise that there's a big love for nostalgic feelings, especially around that time, even through myself. So a lot of the time through the clothes, the visuals I put out and my art, I try to give it that nostalgia from the late 90s, early 2000s, because I think that that was a great time. Through the clothes, the culture, the music, the thought becomes belief that it was a very good time. I want to find a way to bring that back and inspire people in that way. And also being a young black Hispanic from South Florida and growing up there, I want to continue to build that culture and to keep it strong. To never let it die out so that when people look into the brand, they see the identity and they know where I'm coming from, how I was raised and what I was raised around just by being a part of that culture and buying into HIP.

Q) Lastly Hip.3399 was made with happiness in mind - where does happiness factor in with clothes in your life? How do you perceive one’s relationship with fashion and expression through clothes and jewellery with happiness?

Happiness is my priority and HIP was built on having happiness in mind. I actually started the idea of HIP once I got out of college and it was an integral time in my life where I was very down on myself. I was depressed. I wasn't feeling good about my life in general, even though I should have, but it was the case where I wasn't feeling well. Then I had a change of scenery. I moved to a different state and realised that your environment means everything. That's when I just started coming up with the idea of HIP and tapping back into my creative side. And I feel like for me, happiness is a lot of things. But as far as the company HIP, my happiness comes through the creation of clothing, art as well as films. On the flip side of that, people enjoying the things that I create as well as the things that I create making them happy makes me happy. So for me, I'm all about the customer. I'm all about entertaining my customer, making my customer feel happy. And for the customer, happiness kicks in when you, if you, buy any pieces from HIP. You're going to feel happy because you're going to get those compliments and that community. You’re going to surprise those people who maybe thought you weren't fashionable. You're going to break necks in public. People are going to come up to you and say, “Hey, you look amazing.” It happens to everyone that wears the clothes and who doesn't love compliments? Compliments, they cheer you up. They make your whole day. So I love being able to put people in pieces that bring them happiness just from feeling themselves and also by having other people come up to them and compliment them on the way that they look. I feel like there's nothing better than that. And I also hope that seeing me do what I do, people are inspired to create themselves. And ultimately, I feel creating, overall, just brings people happiness.