Ever wonder what would happen if two apparel-industry heavyweights could design what they wanted to wear, outside of the morass of cyclical fashion encumbered by marketing? Now you can see a possible permutation of that with Camp High, the cleverly named knitwear brand co-founded by Greg Dacyshyn and Greg Johnsen. The duo has a wealth of industry experience: Dacyshyn worked at Burton for over 20 years, working his way from an entry-level position to Chief Creative Officer where he set the design standard for the snowboard industry and collaborated with everyone from Danner to Neighborhood to Led Zeppelin to the Andy Warhol Foundation. Johnsen worked as buyer for Union, designed for Supreme and Stussy and founded Situationnormal in 1996 (he was also the Creative Director for Lotto North America and he opened the LA cap boutique Hall of Fame).
So when Dacyshyn left his full-time roll at Burton last year, he got together with Johnsen to do something a little more personal. According to the Camp High website, “it was never about building a brand or a business. It was about finding a path back to simpler times and resurrecting the things we loved in a cool, wearable way.” For the Gregs, that meant producing a limited collection of oversize knits, loaded with premium details and unique colorways. It was about making something comfortable and something quality, but most of all, making something fun.
The brand’s first release includes three hoodies, four crew necks and three pants, available in two sizes each (S/M and L/XL). Knit in LA, the sweaters feature wild designs inspired by various “trips,” among other things. A scorpion, mushroom, cobra and tigers adorn one crew neck, while an oversize hoodie is emblazoned with a huge yin-yang symbol. Prices reflect the limited run, quality materials — yak yarn, deer skin leather trims, custom knit labels — and domestic manufacturing. A pair of pants starts at $664 and the most expensive hoodie is $1,232. To sweeten the deal, each sweater purchased comes in a tie-dyed cotton laundry bag from the Chateau Marmont.
Camp High is iconoclastic. Its website is more akin to a Grateful Dead bootleg tee site than it is to a luxury fashion site, and its product is like The Elder Statesman on LSD. Sure, it’s expensive as hell, but its wild. And, in this case, that’s a good thing.
Totems Double Knit Reversible Gi Pant by Camp High $664
Totems Double Knit Reversible Crew by Camp High $708
Peace Dude Intarsia Yak Crew by Camp High $754
Yin Yang Intarsia Yak Hoody by Camp High $1,208
Nat Geo Jaquarded Yak Gi Pant by Camp High $876
Nat Geo Jaquarded Yak Hoody by Camp High $1,232
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