Colm Dillane, better known as KidSuper, is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer who just threw one of the best digital fashion shows at Paris Fashion Week. Given the remote nature of this year’s proceedings, he hunkered down in the studio and cranked out a stop-motion fashion show featuring “celebrity” cameos and 1:6 scale versions of his gear.

Some people succeed within the fashion system, and many succeed outside of it. KidSuper is the perfect example of the latter, and shares his own tips on building a universe, finding organic co-signs, and making the kind of world other people want to visit.

Stay tuned for new episodes of Vibe Check every Tuesday and Thursday.

On today’s episode, Brendon Babenzien of Noah and Sam Lobban, SVP of Designer and New Concepts at Nordstrom, talk about their unlikely partnership and why small businesses and big businesses need to work more closely together. New Concepts @ Nordstrom 011: Noah launched today online and in select Nordstrom stores, but unlike previous iterations of Lobban’s New Concepts series (which has included labels like Dior and Thom Browne), the Noah partnership foregoes a physical installation for a digital one, owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The accompanying lookbook was styled by Haley Wollens and features several exclusive pieces to Nordstrom, like paisley yellow chinos in brushed twill and a summer-ready white suit, alongside core offerings from Noah and a collaboration with famed new wave band The B-52s. Lobban and Babenzien discuss the inspiration behind the pieces, the importance of working with partners you trust, and the trick to pulling off paisley.

A few months ago Duckwrth dropped his song “Find A Way,” which became an anthem for people trying to push through amidst the pandemic and a resurgence in the fight for social justice. He followed that up with his new video “Coming Closer,” eventually leading up to the release of his album SuperGood later this month.

The record is a long time coming. “That’s a project that I’ve had in my mind since 2013, but I never was able to act on it. So I’m stoked for that,” says Duckwrth on today’s episode of Vibe Check. We also discuss the unique energy of the modern Black Lives Matter movement, and why it’s important for high-profile allies like Billie Eilish to support the cause and influence the next generation of artists and creators. For more Duckwrth, check out his NTS radio show SuperGood Nights Presented By Duckwrth from 8pm-9pm PST until August 21. Tune in on NTS.live.

Gabe Ricioppo served as the creative director of Need Supply Co. and Totokaelo for over two decades. The Virginia native was instrumental in building Need Supply Co.’s digital identity and helped usher it into an era of e-commerce prominence out of Richmond, Virginia. In 2016, he was similarly tasked with helping out Totokaelo when it was acquired by Need’s parent company.

Currently Ricioppo lives in Los Angeles and runs a creative agency called Supergravity, which operates between Paris and LA and includes clients like MATCHESFASHION. We talk about the early days of Need Supply, the growing pains he faced along the way, and the moment he decided to step away from it all and focus on his family, himself, and create new dreams.

We catch up with some of the guys behind Kinfolk, the recently shuttered club, café, store, and brand once headquartered in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The packed podcast includes former retail director Josh Ilyas, former creative director Jay Perie, former partner Keith Abrams, former communications manager and head of nightlife Felipe Delerme, and former general maanger Sam Sundos.

Of course, the full cast of Kinfolk characters who were instrumental in cementing the venue’s legacy is far too vast to be contained in a single podcast, but we try to speak on how the Kinfolk brand surpassed a singular location, but really represented the creative zeitgeist of a decade.

Joseph Robinson — better known as JoeFreshGoods — is a longtime Chicago veteran of the game whose touring city pop-ups brought out crowds en masse. Recently his collaborations with everyone from New Balance to companies like Spotify and Snapple have put him and his Don’t Be Mad label in an even bigger spotlight.

But don’t get it twisted: It’s a family affair. And Robinson describes the rest of his Fat Tiger Workshop crew as the apparel equivalent of the Wu-Tang Clan. These days people supporting their locals may be stronger than ever, but in our conversation Robinson talks about how he’s been on that wave for a long time.

Quil Lemons is a New York-based photographer whose career has been blowing up, even in the midst of Covid-19. He's shot Evan Mock and Porches for Highsnobiety, and even conducted a FaceTime shoot of Pamela Anderson for The New York Times.

Lately, he's been unwinding. Last month he spent his birthday in Seattle, where he fell in love with the Pacific Northwest's temperate climate and sampled many of the city's weed dispensaries. We have a conversation that spans Black photography, the need for drug law reform, and the importance of seeing in Black.

Gia Seo is a Brooklyn-based stylist, art director, and fan of textures and socks. The self-proclaimed (and keenly self-aware) “sockfluencer” is known for her offbeat sense of personal style and eye for mixing bright colors and verdant patterns with tactile materials. You can see all that and more on her side project @texturenaut, where she boldly explores the final frontiers of all things fuzzy.

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She’s also continuing to use her voice and platform to amplify the issues and causes that are important to her and her community. Recently she helped raise funds for The Emergence Project, a nonprofit charity serving families in NYC, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which helps provide services for thousands of LGBQT youth. On this episode of Vibe Check we talk jiujitsu, her views on cancel culture, and how to continue to hold brands and companies accountable for putting their money where their mouths are.

Brothers Terence and Kevin Kim are the duo behind futuristic Korean clothing label IISE. Their clothes take inspiration from Korean architecture and traditional garments like hanbok, updating the silhouettes with a futuristic lens and forward-thinking fabrics like GORE-TEX. Living in Seoul, they share how the country's lauded approach to combating Covid-19 has kept them ahead of the game.

We also discuss how K-pop fandoms have used their platforms for good and advocating for social justice and causes like Black Lives Matter, and why even after a rise in anti-Asian sentiment during the spread of the pandemic, there's never been a better time to be Asian in the Western world.

Toronto-based designer Spencer Badu launched his label a couple of years ago while in university. His modern take on the idea of a uniform features architecturally-inspired clean lines, military fabrics like nylon, and zipper details that accentuate hemlines and change the way his garments fit.

This degree of customization and self-expression is purposeful, a way to subvert a prescriptive way of dressing in order to let your personality shine through. Chalk it up to Badu’s experience in Catholic school, where ways to show your personal style in a uniform were limited. His ideas have definitely caught on with the likes of A$AP Rocky, who’ve been spotted out and about in his trackies.