SXSW: Meet Dumbgood, the Streetwear Company Making Your ’90s Merch Dreams Come True

’90s nostalgia is at an all-time high, and anyone who was around for that era knows that there were very few ways to publicly show your love for your favourite pop culture passions at the time. Since 2017, streetwear company Dumbgood has become a huge success by tapping into our cherished memories of primarily ’90s nostalgia (with a few dips into the ’70s and ’80s) and creating high-quality, officially licensed clothing lines focusing on the likes of Seinfeld, Hellraiser, Kill Bill, Goosebumps, Can’t Hardly Wait, the hit anime series Cowboy Bebop, Cruel Intentions, Good Burger (!), and many more.

We caught up with Dumbgood Marketing Executive Price Ogilvie at their SXSW pop up, made up of walls featuring 5,000 90s-centric VHS titles, to discuss the origins of Dumbgood, how they decide which lines to pursue, and what to expect next from the company.

For more info and to order, visit the official Dumbgood site, and follow them on Instagram for the latest news on their releases.

How did Dumbgood come together?

[Owner / Creative Director Justin Deanda] has been doing licensed merchandise for 20 years, and the thing that we have come to realize is that prior to this, there was not a lot of officially licensed merchandise out there that looked like what we wanted to wear. We work directly with the studios, so everybody’s involved, and create really great products as a way for us to pay homage to the movies and things that we grew up loving.

How did you decide to focus on ’80s and ’90s nostalgia? 

We get a lot of feedback like that, and the fun thing is, is that it’s really just the things that we really liked and grew up watching. It’s not that hard anymore, we just are like, “Oh yeah, I remember that, I love that. Let’s make some T-shirts out of that.” And then we put it online, and people are like, “Oh, me too!” Nostalgia and pop culture are one of those things that everybody, no matter your walk of life, some part of that is going to hit for them. And so there’s an audience for all of these properties.

How do you decide which properties you want to pursue? 

Because Justin’s been in it for a while, we have the licensing piece of it down, we’ve got that down to a science. So it’s really just what we like. And it’s surprising how much of it is just purely what we grew up watching. Like, “I really loved Goosebumps, let’s see if we can get Goosebumps.” And Goosebumps was one of those that popped off, and it really went well for us, people love Goosebumps.

Have you heard from anyone involved in these original properties? What did they think of the lines?

The director of Can’t Hardly Wait reached out and was like, “Oh my gosh, I need all of the T-shirts,” and so we sent her everything, and she was so excited to get them. It’s really fun for the creators to recognize and be interested in our stuff, it’s just a wild trip for me. It excited me to no end that the people that made the things that we love so much are sending love back.

What can you tell us about what you’re working on next?

We’ve got an exciting year coming up, we’re going to do a lot of Nickelodeon stuff, we’re going to bust the slime out. The other two, I’m not sure what I can say, but [one will involve] everyone’s favourite movie rental house.

For more info and to order, visit the official Dumbgood site, and follow them on Instagram for the latest news on their releases.