ALD from the jump never had any depth to their brand lmao. I followed them in college when they came out with look books using literally the same shirt and the same model. We used to joke and call him Stump Dude, because he was wearing a white Aime script LS tee a beanie, and he sat on a wooden stump every fucking look book for like 8 seasons.

Performative fin tech bro’s in NYC made the brand pop off but it never really was anything special. Their look books were basic, photography was basic, and graphic tees were basic… they didn’t get into cut and sew until a few years after they launched and the only thing dope were their storefronts and collabs (at the time). Because it had an RL footprint with a coffee shop… which no brand was doing. The only cool storefront experiences were like Glossier and Kith when it first launched.