Photos: Ray Spears

Today we’re launching “Atomic Interlock,” a t-shirt fundraiser for our good friend Alyasha Owerka-Moore. The t-shirt features a new rendition of custom mid-century lettering that Alyasha designed for us almost a decade ago.

“Atomic Interlock” will be available for preorder for the next 72 hours; the presale window will close at midnight on Wednesday, October 26th. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this t-shirt will be given to Alyasha to help with his fight against cancer. Please note that we have elected to print this t-shirt on a blank instead of using our usual 3sixteen heavyweight tee bodies in order to maximize fundraising efforts. We’ve sourced a 6oz black ringspun cotton tee with a soft hand; think about it as somewhere in between our Heavyweight and Pima tees as far as weight and feel go. Sizing is closer to our Pima tees, and we’ve posted measurements on the product pages. The tees retail for $45; our production costs (including free domestic shipping) total $20 - so printing on blanks will allow us to donate $25 from every tee purchase. Please allow 3 weeks for us to produce and ship all orders.

It’d be difficult to overstate the impact that Alyasha Owerka-Moore has had on our lives. Long before we became friends, Alyasha’s seminal work was guiding and influencing us from the time we were just teenagers buying Alphanumeric and Droors t-shirts at our local skate shop. As a young adult building import cars and discovering underground streetwear brands, I wondered who related to my niche interest well enough to put a B16A2 motor onto a t-shirt. And as young streetwear designers trying to find our place in a rapidly growing industry, Johan and I found ourselves floored by the prescience of a brand called Fiberops that was stocked at some of the best stores in the country while pushing a mid-century aesthetic that customers did not fully understand at the time, but would grow to appreciate and respect more than a decade later. Aly, along with a super-talented crew of brands called the “Fuel Injected Suicide Machines,” opened the world of rockabilly, rat rods, garage rock, and pinups up to a streetwear market that was hyper-focused on hip hop and Dunk SB’s (which, by the way, he had a major hand in reviving as well). His accomplishments are too many to name; Hidden.Rsrch posted something last week that is a nice introduction, but this post by Bobby Hundreds dives deeper. The reality is that one could spend hours digging into Alyasha's contributions to street culture. Back in 2015, we interviewed him for our editorial site Singularities and everything he shared with us then continues to hold weight today. It’s no overstatement to say that Alyasha’s work has been the cornerstone of so many successful and industry-defining brands over the years.

In August of 2022, during a routine colonoscopy, Alyasha was diagnosed with colon cancer. After moving quickly into a colectomy surgery later that month, a biopsy revealed that the cancer removed in the Colectomy had been stage 3 and that there was a possibility that it had compromised his lymph nodes. Last week, Aly went in for a second colonoscopy which confirmed that the surgery had been successful. He is now embarking on a 6 month road to recovery that includes an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. In chatting with him, it’s clear that his trademark positive outlook remains despite the challenges ahead, but the challenges do remain. Some of his closest friends began a Gofundme campaign last week to aid with living and medical expenses (if you take time to scroll through the donors, you’ll find a veritable who’s who of designers, skateboarders, writers, brand directors, artists, and musicians - a true testament to the lives he's touched). We were especially moved by organizer Derek Galkin's words:

"His innate ability to recognize, mentor and amplify talent in others, simply because it brings him joy to see them win, has always been a signature part of his charm. Simply put, Alyasha has spent most of his life taking care of everyone else. It’s our turn to take care of the guy who has inspired and directly influenced so many of ours."

To lend a hand with Alyasha’s recovery and to help replace lost income in the months to come, we are launching a t-shirt that features a modified version of the artwork he first drew for us in 2013 to commemorate our 10 year anniversary. Drawing inspiration from mid-century lettering, the “Atomic Interlock” rendition of our logo reminds us of the intersectional nature of our subcultures, and how Aly has built bridges into so many things that we’re into today. While we never intended to reprint this design, we felt like this was as good a time as any to do it. Support if you can, donate to his Gofundme directly if you can, and perhaps most importantly, take some time to read up about him if you weren’t familiar with him. It’s important that we give our legends their flowers while they are with us. 

-Andrew