Despite the Vlone logo being simple and minimalistic, it’s instantly recognizable and a branding success. The Vlone symbol has primarily been a success since a clothing item branded “Vlone” is a lot more expensive than one without.
What Does the Vlone Logo Communicate?
The Vlone logo boasts quite a powerful and cryptic logo. The interesting thing about the logo and the clothing line is that it was largely inspired by a U.S. rapper named SpaceGhostPurrp. This rapper had a soft spot for a Memphis hip hop group known as Three 6 Mafia, which is pretty much the reason why the Vlone brand has a dark theme.
“Live Vlone Die Vlone T-shirt” is the Vlone slogan. This is a really interesting quip from the American psychological thriller Donnie Darko. In the movie, there’s a scene where Donnie is chatting with a woman. He’s telling her something someone once said about life. He told Donnie that “every living thing dies alone.” This very bold dialogue was adopted by Vlone, who made it their unique slogan.
The History of Vlone Logo
The Vlone brand lives by the mantra “you live alone and die alone.” Vlone was founded by three people, A$AP Rocky and A$AP Bari of the hip hop group A$AP MOB, as well as Edison Chen of CLOT. According to Bari, Vlone is a lifestyle brand and doesn’t belong to either high fashion or streetwear. The brand’s DNA was partly influenced by Harlem, a New York neighborhood where the A$AP Mob was founded.
Symbol
The primary Vlone logo features the brand’s name in a highly readable serif font. The letter’s proportions are odd—the glyphs are unusually taller. The word is split into two uneven parts using colors. Whatever the color of the word “lone,” white or black, the “V” is at all times rendered in a different, brighter shade, such as blue, green, red, and more.
The “Friends” Symbol
You may have seen hoodies, t-shirts, and other clothing items bearing the term “Friends-” and wondered what it means. A$AP Bari says that the minus sign stands for zero, so the text simply means “No Friends” or “Zero Friends.” Put simply, and it’s another way to say “Vlone” or “alone.”
In some variants, the minus sign lies inside a circle, while other versions have no circle around the minus sign. The point is that, without the circle, the minus sign has often been ignored, making the logo’s intent unclear. When a circular frame is around the minus sign, it draws people’s attention to the sign, making them think about what it might mean.
The “V” Symbol
The Vlone logo has a third version. It can be seen on the back of clothing items bearing the “Friends-” symbol. There’s a big “V” in a weird font imitating a message written on the wall. Sometimes you can spot another variant of the “V” symbol, in which the “V” is encircled.
The Vlone Logo Design Elements
Vlone Font: While the standard Vlone logo’s font is comparatively conventional, the “V” symbol has a unique look. The glyph appears to have been derived from the font known as Bundy Yellow.
Vlone Colors: The Vlone emblem color depends on the clothing it’s placed on.
For example, if the clothing item is black, the “Vlone” inscription is usually white. If the item of clothing is white, the “Vlone” inscription is black.
The “V” symbol may come in different bright colors. The “V” and “Friends-” emblems are typically rendered in black or orange.
The History of Vlone
Vlone was launched in the streets of Harlem in 2011. It was established when a band of different multi-talented individuals (including rappers, musicians, singers, and fashion designers) that shared the same music and fashion ideology started a street fashion label named Vlone Clothing.
Within a short time, Vlone Clothing began to appear on social networks and rapidly vent viral after A$AP MOB members began to wear the clothing themselves.
Who Started Vlone?
In 2011, A$AP Bari, A$AP Rocky, A$AP K, Ian Connor, and Playboi Carti embarked on a creative adventure that led to the founding of Vlone.
Most founders are big names in the music world except for Ian Connor, who’s more popular as an influential street culture and fashion personality. A$AP K opted out of this venture, but the clothing line moved on without him. Pay keen attention to Playboi Carti and A$AP Rocky, and you’ll notice that they even bear the brand’s tattoo, which affirms their love for the brand and art.
What Does Vlone Mean?
Vlone is more than simply a brand. Instead, it’s a lifestyle that means “You live on your own and die on your own.”
Vlone is a lifestyle as well as a religion that people adapt to. The Vlone idea represents its founders’ minds, thinking, culture, and lifestyle “Live Vlone and Die Vlone.” Like the A$AP MOB, which is a collection of different individuals, the Vlone clothing line stands for different lifestyles.
The inspiration behind Vlone is the freestyle manner of Harlem’s streets, where Rocky and Bari are from. According to Bari, the brand is taking the freestyle Harlem fashion to other places.
What’s Vlone Clothing?
The extended “V” imprinted on A$AP Rocky, and A$AP Bari clothing line (headwear, t-shirts, and sweatshirts) has become the brand’s signature face. According to Bari, Vlone is neither high fashion nor streetwear. It is hood fashion for Harlem residents.
In 2014, A$AP Rocky released a music video that brought Vlone to the limelight. Until then, they had only launched hoodies and t-shirts. They introduced other streetwear in a pop-up store at the Paris Fashion Week, influencing rappers and the youth.
Through the inspiration of Rocky, the demand for street clothing went up. Vlone also launched a pop-up store in Los Angeles in which limited-edition Vlone clothes were introduced. The clothes were soon snapped up by streetwear enthusiasts, including skateboarders.
VLONE Clothing Collaborations with Nike and Off-White
Vlone eventually went international and branched out into fashion design and pop-up stores as A$AP Bari went on a global tour to promote his Vlone project. Pop-up stores were launched in Texas, New Orleans, Tokyo, and many other locations.
Vlone also partnered up with Off-White and Nike in 2017. This was a significant milestone towards Vlone’s success. The Vlone and Off-White Collection includes Vlone orange-and-black suits, track pants, and long-sleeved pullovers designed with the brand’s signature black and orange color combination.
Having originated in Harlem, New York, Vlone thought it prudent to design its own version of the Air Force 1 sneaker. The introduction of Nike and Vlone Air Force 1 happened in Harlem in February 2017, during one of the pop-up events at New York Fashion Week.
This event happened right up the street where the A$AP MOB grew up. Vlone came up with several variations of the footwear. One was a black-and-white high top, while another was a black-and-orange low top. The inspiration came from the New York Knicks’ black and orange color combination, which is the trademark look of the Knicks’ shoe. Both sneakers are engraved with the Vlone brand message.
At the same event, Vlone and Off-White introduced bright camo, hoodies, and sweatpants with the Vlone symbol visible and t-shirts or shirts with the word “FRIENDS” written in orange across the front. The Vlone and Off-White line was officially launched at the event.
Shortly after collaborating with Nike and Off-White, Vlone Clothing proceeded to do another extremely iconic thing by paying tribute to Tupac Shakur, the deceased American legendary hip hop artist.
In April 2017, A$AP Bari partnered up with Bravado, the world’s leading branding, consumer, and lifestyle services provider. Vlone launched a limited-edition range honoring the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur. They timed this perfectly by launching the collection ahead of one of that summer’s most anticipated movies, “All Eyez On Me.”
To mark the line’s launch, Vlone, in conjunction with Bravado, gave customers the ultimate Tupac experience by opening a special pop-up store in the lower east side of New York City. From April 7 to April 9, the Vlone Tupac pop-up store opened its doors to the public.
The collection introduced 18 pieces created by A$AP Bari, the creative director of Vlone. This consisted of a wide variety of graphic t-shirts, hoodies, hats, as well as bathrobes. The pieces were available in three main colors orange, black, and red, and each one featured the Vlone trademark “V” symbol throughout the whole spread of clothing.
VLONE Clothing’s Core Message
If you think you’ve heard all you need to hear about Vlone, you still have lots to find out. There’s more to learn about the history of this brand.
According to the members of the A$AP MOB, there’s a good and bad side to the aesthetic of the clothing line. Ian Connor in the face of the positive side. According to him, Vlone means being in a class of your own rather than being alone.
Connor explains that the top is a very lonely place to be, and you must stay alone, ahead, and above. Connor also looks for like-minded people and helps them hone their skills so they can stand on their own two feet.
A$AP Bari Controversy
In 2017, A$AP Bari found himself in the middle of a huge controversy. The Vlone ideology isolated him from the rest of the A$AP MOB, leading him to self-destruction. In 2017, a video leaked of him beating up a naked woman, which led to the mob distancing itself from him.
Bari later alleged that he wasn’t receiving the attention and affection he felt he deserved. Nike became aware of the alleged mishap and washed its hands off him. This considerably held back the expansion of the Vlone brand.
Many people may ask why Bari would do this. Why he’d do something that would tarnish his name and that of the brand? History has shown that many of the great things that come from Harlem are often followed by controversy. In other words, “Harlem’s soul blooms and then withers.” At the time, Bari’s own slogan, “All Living Creatives Die Alone,” became a reality for him, metaphorically speaking.
VLONE Clothing Present and Future
These days, Vlone Clothing is still on sale online. Before songwriter and rapper Pop Smoke passed on, the A$AP MOB partnered up with him to launch their collection in February 2020.
The merchandise consists of t-shirts, a pair of balaclavas, and hoodies, keeping things simple. Most of the merchandise features a simple “V” symbol, reflecting the direct message of the group’s music. The A$AP MOB is still thriving in these ways while keeping Pop Smoke’s memory alive.
Vlone Clothing is intent on making even more and more history, so watch this space!
Last Word on the History of Vlone
Vlone Clothing is one of the numerous offshoot projects to emerge from the A$AP Mob. It’s a street clothing line headed by Jabari Shelton, more popularly referred to as Young Lord or A$AP Bari. The street fashion brand is also co-owned by CLOT creator Edison Chen and A$AP Rocky.
Like many other streetwear brands that have sprung up fairly recently, Vlone runs primarily through its online shop, delivering merchandise at short notice with hardly any promotion. Despite this, the merchandise sells out pretty quickly, and it’s in high demand. Vlone also occasionally launches pop-up shops worldwide, including cities like New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Hong Kong.
Vlone introduced its first collection in 2014. In 2017, Vlone signed partnership agreements with Nike and Off-White. In June of the same year, Vlone took part in its first-ever runway show at the Paris Fashion Week.
Vlone began collaborating with artists in 2020, pushing out products for The Weeknd, Juice WRLD, NBA Youngboy, and many other artists.
