Sold Out
Zahir Ramos, talks the ‘Sold Out Philosophy’ as well as the brands latest campaign across NYC
By Zuza Gaboush
"Sold Out is a philosophy and art company more than a product line.”
Meet Zahir Ramos, an up and coming designer in the New York streetwear scene who turned an ironic concept between him and his friends into the philosophy of his brand, Sold Out. Zahir is a multi-disciplinary designer, artist, and apple design award winner, who started his clothing brand in New Jersey, in a house that he and other artists inhabited called, The Cribington. This is where the name for his brand was born.
“It was a joke between me and the homies. We kinda just made a joke that like, ‘yo, we feel like every dope artist or musician or athlete or whatever- they make a conscious decision to sell out. They make a conscious decision to be like ‘I’m the shit, I'm the best, screw being humble, this is my time period to do my best.’ "The Sold Out Philosophy" between Zahir and his friends became the foundation for the name of a group he and his friends created, called: “Sell Out Boys.” They made a song and music video, and gained some traction, creating awareness of themselves rather than a brand. The progression from this group towards Zahir’s current clothing brand was a natural and organic transition of energy; they began to curate items and products that were shippable and evolved into a physical representation of the ideas present in the ‘Sold Out’ philosophy. “We would always joke, ‘I’m sold out, I’m sold out,’ and me, as a designer, every time I hear a joke that’s funny, I like to turn things into a brand. So I decided to mock up visuals and it became a good idea.”
From Sold Out’s roots to where Zahir and co-founder Andrew Boateng is aiming to take the brand in the future, it has remained focused on communal creative involvement and inclusion of the people. For this reason, Zahir stated his dream collaboration would’ve been Virgil Abloh, the legendary fashion designer and artistic director of Louis Vuitton. Virgil’s collaborative mindset and efforts to include whatever ideas were sparked up around him is why he remains one of the main inspirations for Zahir and his brand. When asked why he chose to focus on streetwear in particular, Zahir replied: “Streetwear is the voice. It all ties into culture, the modern culture today- hypebeast culture. That’s what the people in the streets of New York City are talking about. I think one of the best ways to tap into culture is just passing out t-shirts on the street.” The Sold Out brand maintains a strong aesthetic through its notorious green colors, star symbolism, and surrealist, futuristic designs and imagery. The marketing for Sold Out is often humorous, light-hearted and imbued with the ironic, carefree attitude of its creator. The brand has an authentic, contemporary feel to it, with a confident flair to compliment. Despite the modern and futuristic feel, Sold Out does take inspiration from and pay homage to classic American hip hop culture and other American cultural ideals; displayed through the imagery of a star which is present on a majority of the brand's leading clothing collections.
“The brand is very inspired by America, in a funny way; America in its most basic form. You think of 50 cent and G-Unit, that whole group you know? Cam’ron, Dipset- red and blue gangsters with stars and motorbikes. And then you think about Wall Street and you think about the Bull, the stocks and in a funny way, that’s all correlated. Seeing those correlations of very basic self-proclaimed supremacy is in the star. The star is just a symbol, an icon to represent that energy.”
For Sold Out's newest upcoming event, represented by a bright green fire hydrant and titled: Hydration, (which Zahir has self-proclaimed as the ‘the hottest event in New York City this summer’) he is focused on involving the community and bringing people together on the basis of his brand. “...a campaign always has to speak to people. And fire hydrants are a very common thing- you think of NYC when it’s a hot summer, and somebody opens a fire hydrant and everyone’s playing in it; that’s the type of energy we wanna represent. The whole party is gonna be this branded and immersive experience- which is another thing that NYC is missing. Events are very algorithmic so we’re trying to bring some new life and something fresh to it.” Hydration will be Sold Out’s newest event, and Zahir has big plans for his brand today and beyond. When asked what his ultimate goal for Sold Out is, he simply replied, “To have a really large billboard somewhere with just the [Sold Out] logo. Nothing else, no context. Just the irony of it... It definitely is an art project at the same time as a brand so when people understand what the vision is, that’s when it’s successful.”
For more visit: www.soldout.world
