a lot of the newer brands (or old brands that have experienced a resurgence in the last 4-5 years) that pander to the subgroup of people involved in rave fashion (which extends to a degree skate, emo, goth, and streetwear culture) come off as somewhat uninspiring to me. disclaimer... within the subcultures, a ton of the clothing in their outfits was handmade, thrifted, etc. nonetheless, there were still brands that defined a lot of the trends back then that i wanted to share.
this writeup will specifically focus on more niche brands and their older (90s-00s) lines with the exception of maybe osiris and buffalo, which aren't really "niche" per se. so i won't be writing about like demonias, jnco, doc martens, nike, etc. if you wanna send anything by those brands or really any brand's line that meets this niche you're more than welcome to! those are all good brands in themselves.
without further ado, let's start with some pants.
CAFFEINE
recently had a resurgence in the vintage thrifting hype. started in 1991 as a night club brand and grew popular with east coast rave scenes. at one point they owned a record store and focused on DJ gear & fashion. not defunct but they only really do DJ lessons or whatever now and not fashion. they actually have a history website here. anyways here's some pants images
some shirts as well which are also cool
this shirt below is actually part of a uniform for their defunct record store. according to their facebook they're currently trying to revive it.
MACGEAR
there's really not a lot of information on the macgear brand i can find. someone can probably fill me in on that. to my knowledge, they're defunct. but they made some really killer pants while they were active.
crazy wide opening ones
cool reversible ones below
a different style of the same pair
KIKWEAR
this brand was internationally renowed and super popular with ravers and within skate culture. some of the insane 50 inch opening pants you tend to see online are kikwear pants. in fact, i believe they just reopened their shop for good a couuple months ago. here's some vintage pairs below.
the huuuuuge opening ones you think of when you think "rave pants"..
tactical looking ones from hot topic below
it actually has the tag still on the back
the design on the red one is really cool
BUGGIRL/BUGGRL
these are weirdly obscure and i can't find a lot of information about them online. kinda like how kikwear had a teenage girl focused line of pants called "kikgirl", these are more feminine in design and shape.
neat straps on the pockets similar to some caffeine designs
this seems to be a yellow/gray variant of the one above
you can kinda see the logo here
SWEAR ALTERNATIVE
now we go away from pants and onto shoes! swear is still an active footwear brand, but their weird, quirky era of shoes in the 90s still reigns supreme. apparently they're hard to find, but when you get a pair, they tend to crumble after a couple of wears...
i believe the ones above are a pair that rave culture beacon DJ flapjack has.
there's a black AND green variant of the one below as well
BUFFALO
huge chunky platforms that were popular predominantly in europe in the 90s, now clearly they're worldwide... who hasn't seen these things online?. they still make boots, duh. here's some vintage ones to show you the swagger they got:
really cool orange ones below
bad lighting but i love these blue/yellow ones
baby blue and white? honestly dope
more leopard print
OSIRIS
these are definitely a staple of urban skate culture, but ravers wear 'em too. obviously still a popular brand for their niche, these guys are instantly recognizable especially for the D3 line. they made tons of chunky shoes, too.
some d3s below
some more chunky ones, buffalo style
SODA
honestly weird clog style women's shoes from the 2000s that i don't think are around anymore? they made a lot of chunky tennis shoes too, but mostly sandal style clogs. don't know if this counts as rave wear but definitely rave adjacent cause i've seen them in some 2000s fit pics.
platform heels
these kinda look like they wanted to emulate chukka boots
CRAZY ass clogs below
blue variant it looks like
[size-150]CUBE INTERNATIONAL[/size]
or simply called "cube". i don't know, these seem to be 90s shoes that were popular in europe, since i can only find people selling them in european sizes or on european marketplaces. they're selling them either as "rave" or "skate" shoes. chunky as helllllll...
these remind me of some swear alternative style shoes
neat holo high-top ones
front of those shoes
ODDITIES
i found a couple shoes that i couldn't find any info on the brand nor discussion online about them... there are very few images online (mostly from etsy and ebay sellers) and i wish i knew more.
these NET shoes that have been sold by a total of two people it looks like?
there is apparently a gray variant of this shoe and this is the only other pic i can find
here's another brand apparently called "WIND". can't find anything online but there's more shoe pics than the last brand.
these yellow ones are incredibly dope
and these ones which look like theyre fabric
images of the tags
completely shameless buffalo ripoffs, the tag literally says "bullion"...
i have no clue what these are and can't find another shoe with the same brand name on them
same as above, these are dirty but the back is soooo cool
aaaand that's all for now. let me know what you think, send some brands (new and old) that can fit anywhere in this niche (techwear, gothic, emo, skate, y'know the drill).. or some one offs as well. i'm always interested to hear more.