Alife

First thing I have to say to is that "Alife" is pronounced A-Life as in "aye-life", it IS NOT pronounced "uh-life" -- we get random people saying that at least twice a day in the store!

They started off as just a retail store/office in 1999 at 178 Orchard Street in NYC. You can see a picture of the space below.

I found a picture of the actual store too, humble beginnings would lead to one of the most sought after brands in the industry...

Later in 1999 the retail store moved locations to its current location at 158 Rivington Street in NYC. The store sells all Alife products as well as Married to the Mob products for the ladies.

Then in 2001, came the Alife Rivington Club store which is in NYC and also located at 158 Rivington St. The Alife NYC store and the Alife Rivington Club store share the same address, but are two seperate stores. The Rivington Club is a sneaker store and actually has a Nike Tier 0 account, which is the best account Nike gives out. Something like 15 stores worldwide have it! So they get all the limited sneakers there including all the Alife releases. The store also sells its own separate Alife Rivington Club apparel and collaborations, some of which we have in stock at Motivation, and it is getting known as a highly sought after brand-within-a-brand itself!

There are two seperate doors to get into each store (Alife NYC and Alife Rivington Club); the space is split into two long and narrow stores because they dont have the space like we do here in Michigan haha! Whats crazy too is that there is no signage out front except a little plaque (pictured below) and you press a buzzer to get into either store, and the person working buzzes you in...I guess that is one way to keep out the random browsers haha.

Then in 2005 Alife expanded out of the USA and opened their third store with Alife Vancouver in Canada. It has a very clean design and sells Alife products to all those north of the border.

Then in 2007 they opened their forth store in Los Angeles in the Fairfax district where there is now a TON of streetwear flagship stores. This store design is nuts, its like a museum where they have everything behind glass and you just look at what youd like to purchase. You then tell the cashier what you'd like and slide the money to them through a window and get your product. On a sidenote, I LOVE the sign outside of this store, just a big bold ALIFE, wish I could do something like that with Motivation but the city would probably fine us good haha.

Then, later in 2007 Alife did the unexpected and opened their fifth store overseas in Tokyo, Japan! The buildout is clean as f*ck and looks super super high class, nothing but the best here...

-------------------------------------------------------

This watch only comes in 40 limited edition units (20 in NYC, 20 in Paris)

With all the exclusives and all the hype for limited edition... What makes a brand really standout as something that Alife needs carry?

"I think it comes down more to relevance in the marketplace. If there is a product that is really something new to the genre, say a Nike air woven, at the time of it's release, I think this is the type of product that we are interested in carrying. When the air woven dropped, it was the beginning of the sneaker craze, as most know it now. They had a product that was something really different and at the same time could be worn by people that liked sneakers.
Other brands that we carry are us showing respect for what these people are doing and the commitment that goes into their product."