To whom it may concern:
This is a follow-up to our origins post. If you haven't read that one, it's a good place to start.
A lot has happened since February 2024.
We had done two popups before any of this. The first was July 8th, 2022 in Pomona. My RX-7 was parked inside, the vibe was right, the turnout was modest. A good first one. The second was November 11th, 2023, and it was a different energy entirely. gum.mp3, silhouette, and dazegxd were on the decks. That one felt like something.
We got a warehouse in July of 2024. A real space, inventory on shelves, orders going out ourselves. It changed how the operation felt day to day. More control, more responsibility, a clearer sense of the physical reality of running a label. That lasted about a year and a half before we reorganized and simplified again. Structures like that are worth trying and worth letting go of when they stop making sense.
Around the same time, the work itself was sharpening. CATVISU kept evolving through new versions, new cuts, eventually a sideways construction and a jorts version, then a second iteration of the skirt. The jewelry line deepened too. Everything in .925 sterling silver for a long time, and then in Q3 of last year, as silver prices climbed, we introduced brass pieces alongside it. A practical decision and an honest one. Cotton muslin came into the mix for tees, which felt quietly iconoclastic. It's not a fabric people reach for in contemporary apparel, which is exactly why it was interesting. The Unbound drop in Q3 2024 was the first release that felt fully of a piece with what the label was becoming. Focused silhouettes, considered materials, nothing decorative for its own sake. Sword neckties came late in 2024, one of the most singular things we've made.
Also in 2024 we began a working relationship with Daita Kimura, the Japanese designer behind The Old Curiosity Shop in London. The shop itself dates to 1567, built from timber salvaged from old ships, and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in central London. Daita has been in residence since the early 1990s, making handmade shoes, hats, and accessories, some of them produced in the building itself. His work pulls from old craft traditions, the energy of London punk, and something very much of the present moment. Finding a working relationship with someone operating from that kind of space, with that kind of history, felt meaningful. It still does.
Early 2025, we brought in our first secondary creative direction: Yoni Niu. She helped shape campaigns, develop product ideas, and refine the brand's voice. Having another set of eyes that understood the direction, without needing it explained, was new for the label and good for it.
Also early in 2025 we launched LANGE, a sub-brand focused on denim and jewelry. Named with an internal logic: the letters of Angel rearranged, the L moved to the front. The chemical designation AG2S, for oxidized silver, became its secondary identity for a period. LANGE was a genuinely interesting thing but the name had conflicts, domain options were limited, and by late 2025 it had been folded back into the ANGELtype storefront as langearchive. Some things are worth trying at full commitment and worth absorbing cleanly when they run their course.
March 2025 was hard. There was a moment, public and unplanned, where a lot of things that had been building came out at once. It wasn't the brand's best hour. But it was honest, and what came after it was clearer. Sometimes those moments are part of the story whether you plan them or not.
In May 2025, the Armor Tee came out. A truly distinct silhouette, structured in a way that felt specific and earned rather than trend-chasing. The medieval influence in clothing was everywhere by then but this wasn't about the trend. It was about what the construction could actually do.
In August 2025, the 2D sandals came out. A product that had taken a few attempts and met a lot of resistance along the way. By the time they released, we had stopped letting that kind of noise make decisions for us. That felt like a shift worth noting.
A fall 2025 collection attempt didn't land. The entry point was a leather jacket that was priced out of reach for most people who follow the label, and it set the tone for everything else in the release. It was a lesson in sequencing and in knowing where your audience actually meets you.
October 2025 was ComplexCon. Our first convention, and a useful one for a reason that had nothing to do with sales. The event put the current state of streetwear in clear perspective. Everyone there was trying to get seen. Most had been trying for years. It's a world built on visibility and recognition, and ANGELtype has been moving in the opposite direction for some time now. That contrast was clarifying.
There is a collaboration in progress with an artist we'll introduce properly when the time is right. We're also moving some t-shirt production to the US.
The label is in a better place than it has been in a while, and so am I. There's a clearer grip now on what ANGELtype actually is: not a brand trying to signal its way into a conversation, but a label making things for people who don't need them explained. Quiet symbolism. Limited runs. Made with care.
That's still the whole thing.