What is Minimum Textiles?

2026 Prophecy

Welcome to the Minimum Design Journal

Minimum Textiles vs. Killstar: What Is the Difference?

Darkwear clothing, encompassing goth, alt, darkwave, punk, and artwear, sucks. It's either a blended hobgoblin mess of visuals that look like a Pinterest board fed into AI or a basic logo on a heavily distressed tee and hoodie. 

When I started Minimum, it was just for me. I wanted a brand that I could wear that could evoke darker art, and more specifically, the sublime (more on that later) without leaning into fake heavy metal edge, construction-compromising distressing, or other hallmarks of the cheaper mall brands. People liked what I was making and wanted some.

Selfishly, I had considered never selling any other pieces than the ones I was making for myself: a clothing brand made for only one person. But as I made pieces for my friends and family who asked, it the requests kept coming in. 

Minimum has the following three tenets: 

1. Natural fibers with a heavy hand. The brand uses the term Textiles instead of clothing, brand, apparel, streetwear, etc because this is a construction-first brand. Every single garment is cut and sew. There are no blanks. Items like the seamless tees, seamless hoodies, extreme oversized fits, and elevated accessories all start from scratch. Items use natural fibers at their most elevated wherever possible: cotton, silk, cashmere, angora, merino, linen, wool. The weights are extreme: 470-500 GSM hoodies, 300 GSM tees, 500 GSM sweatpants. Polyester use is incredibly rare, currently confined to our sweatpants blend, with an 80-20 blend for plushness and simple wearability. 

2. The occult, seen through the eyes of a 16 year old skater in 2005. The book Godless, by Pete Hautman, heavily inspired me, wherein a bunch of teens start a cult worshiping water towers (calling them "10 legged ones." As a religious teen, I was always drawn to the occult, to secret societies, to hidden knowledge. I love the sublime: the feeling of awe inspiring cosmic horror. The graphics aren't meant to frighten or bewilder, but to evoke the feeling of seeing a dark god rising from the ocean, or the torturous moment of truth revealed to you during meditation. More importantly, what would a skater think is cool? What kind of stories and graphics would be doodled in the back of a composition notebook? What sort of phrasing, naming conventions, and designs would appeal to someone from that era? While designing, I shoot for a dark beauty in the garments, with graphics that can be seen from 100 feet away in a dark venue under stage lights. However, a bit of that rebellious humor bleeds through. Garments like the Off Duty Goth Girl tee or the upcoming Bite tee showcase this. Taking oneself too seriously is ridiculous. 

3. Extreme oversize. I hate when clothes are tight. I just don't like the feel. A tight shirt makes you second guess your progress in the gym, it pooches and twists when you move, you become aware of how much you had for lunch or how you're sitting. Tight pants feel restrictive and cumbersome. Personally, I love the look of massively oversized shirts with baggy pants. There's something architectural about a heavy fabric drape, the way it moves when you do, the lines it creates as it cascades off your body. The way baggy pants swing with your legs when you walk. There's a beautiful rhythm to it. As a designer, I can only design what I know and like. The reason Minimum's pieces are unisex are because I don't wear baby tees or dresses, so have no idea how to make them better. How can I design something I don't wear? Perhaps selfish, but everything is filtered through my own lens to a solipsistic degree. I like it, I design it, I wear it. If you like it, you wear it too. For this reason, I've never released a zip hoodie and may never. I don't like how they look. I digress. Big is best.

With these three tenets, Minimum has created a signature look and feel. Customers say they can tell a Minimum shirt just by feel when looking through their closet or dresser.  The obsession with heavy fabric weights means that the garments look better with age. The thought of creating a garment with a future vintage feel, one that will be a shirt stolen by your kids or grandkids, is one that I adhere to. 

Let's talk packaging. 

The Extras

Every Minimum garment (insomuch as I can) comes with a little ritual. The shirt is packed into a cotton garment bag. A note, handwritten or personalized, is packed into an envelope with stickers before being sealed with wax. The bag is spritzed with a puff of Encre Noir, by Lalique, a dark, sensuous scent. Spilled ink on a forest floor. At the beginning of each season, metal cards go out with the first 200 orders. The polymailers are designed around the label, like architecture.

This isn't cheap. Why do we do it? 

Purchasing online feels like a gift to yourself. It should feel like a gift when you receive it. Spending $120-200 on a hoodie only to unceremoniously rip it out of the plastic polymailer feels anticlimactic. You spent hard earned money on a precious garment. It needs to FEEL precious. The moment needs to be memorable. 

Customers often say purchasing from Minimum is addictive. Partially this is the reason. You're joining something. It should be met with fanfare. 

A note: business has been ramping incredibly quickly: due to lead times, it's sometimes hard to restock bags or stickers before they run out because of unexpected demand surges. If you received an order without these extras, we sincerely apologize, but sending the item without is better than waiting two or three weeks for the restocked packaging experience. 

Minimum is pretty special, and it's growing quickly. I hope this answers some of your questions. 

- Lowell

P.S. If you read to the end of this blog, here's a special code just for you: READER, for 15% off your next purchase. Thanks for being here.