Haze is the up-and-coming San Diego-based streetwear brand to watch out for. Haze has built up a following of over 15k in less than two years and owner Daniel is continuously turning out unique embroidered and one of one pieces for every streetwear fanatic. Repurposing thrifted and deadstock hoodies and tees, Haze’s clothing is a necessity for every college student’s wardrobe.
Q: How did you start Haze?
It all started back in high school, I started getting into clothing and fashion a lot and learned about how each piece in your wardrobe has a specific value. Then, when I was in college I decided I wanted to make clothing of my own. I started with hand stitching onto thrifted pieces because all I had was a needle and thread. From there I kept upgrading my equipment and production value and it grew from there.
Q: Can you give us a little bit of insight on what you want your brand to represent?
Haze actually means ‘a state of mental obscurity or confusion,’ and I feel like that really goes along with my creative process. Everything that I make is sort of on a whim, designs will just pop into my mind and then I need to work on them immediately. My brand feels very obscure, there aren’t direct moves or business decisions I’m making, it’s just something really fun for me to do.
Q: Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
My inspiration comes from Instagram and the real world. I follow a lot of accounts on Instagram and will always get inspiration from them and what their audience likes. I’ve always had different mood board accounts as well that have helped me keep my ideas all in one place. I go thrifting a lot as well, so that really helps me out. I will get blanks from anywhere and that will really help me draw up logos and ideas to embroider onto them.
Q: What is the creative process like behind making your clothing?
I will go to swap meets and flea markets and talk to the vendors and get the blanks that I need to embroider on. Once I have the blanks I’ll fulfill a lot of the ideas I have on my mood board that need to get done. Then I just fit the logo to the blank and see what looks best, I do all my logos in Photoshop and graphic designs elsewhere. I was originally hand embroidering but now they are professionally embroidered, but sometimes I’ll paint or burn clothing to give it more than just a logo.
Q: Haze seems to do a lot of collaborations, how do these typically come about?
Some of the collaborations are purely hypothetical, I used Instagram as a way to pin up my ideas online so I can communicate the idea in a visual way. Some of them are legitimate with my friends or people that have reached out to me, people will come over and choose their shirt and their color embroidery and we’ll make little collaborations.
Q: What is your favorite piece you have ever created?
It changes so often, I feel like every time I make something new it’s my new favorite. I just made this Dickies work jacket and that’s currently my favorite because it’s new and fresh. I typically don’t sell my favorite pieces because they are often custom made so I’ll just let my friends have those one of one pieces.
Q: What’s next, is anything new or exciting coming to Haze in the near future?
Currently I’m working on getting a lot of different items manufactured, and I am trying to up my embroidery game as well. I have black socks, shoes, masks, lighters, and generally just more colorways made as well!
Make sure to keep up to date with Haze on Instagram and Tiktok!
