So Paul recently asked me (and I gather a bunch of other people) what my favorite t-shirt of all time is. And to send a photo. He’s being mysterious about what he’s going to do with them all. But I thought I’d share with everyone what my favorite tee of all time is. It’s by a company I used to work and intern for called PNB Nation. This brand goes way back and most of you probably never even heard of it. But it was one of the original brands that really had a family-like fanatical following. For example, if you were walking down the street and saw another dude wearing PNB, you could almost stop and give the man a pound. Anyway, for reasons that go beyond bottom line sales figures; PNB, to me, is probably one of the Top 5 most influential brands in all of streetwear culture. It’s hard to articulate why, but those who know..just know. So anyway, this tee they did was the perfect culmination of what a t-shirt should be.
1. FIT: Not too slim. Not too baggy. Definitely riding on the hip-hop side of the fence, but you don’t feel like an 11 year in this either.
2. CONCEPT: The shirt’s theme runs deep. Minority athletics, the Olympics, Berlin, The Black Panthers, Rebellion, Pride etc… Definitely not for the light hearted.
3. EXECUTION: Smart, subtle and just THERE. Not beating you over the head. Not too subtle. Small text under the graphic reads “Intention. Deed.” The title of the shirt is “Indeed”. Fucking poetic.
4. BRANDING: Hits on the back and sleeve remind you who you repping. The Nation.
5. LABELING: Concepts even ran deep in their label! It reads “FREE THE LAND” with different quotes hidden under it.
6. LONGEVITY: This shirt is over 12 years old. The durability is there since I have worn and washed this hundreds of times and the print still looks great. (Stash, did you print this?) The concept also stood the test of time as I feel relevant wearing this as I did 12 years ago.
Anyway, this represents what every t-shirt should strive to be. Recognize.
My school just added a statue of the 1968 Olympic Medal Winners. It looks very good, a great attribute to the school. Here is a link to a page with a picture of it, if you care to check it out: http://www.tommiesmith.com/events/statue.html
PNB was the shit. It was damn hard to get that stuff out in the Netherlands though..
Whatever happened to them? Did they fold?
Damn,flashbacks, PNB was the truth. My wife does the laundry in a PNB tee that I bought like probably 11 years ago. I remind when PNB,Mecca and Phat Farm (cow head logo) had the nice tees.
PNB was stoopid fresh. American cats might not remember a line out of Toronto called TOO BLACK GUYS. My man Adrian started it around 1990 or so. They actually had a shop around the corner from the Reed Space on Ludlow. They hooked up an ill t-shirt with the same pic of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the front and on the back in big typeface read “SAY IT LOUD” stacked on each other. Crazy. For all the same reasons. TBG always brought the ‘edutainment’ vibe to their shit. My fave shirt of theirs had a black and white pic of JESUS on the front…with BLUE EYES. On the back, it said “HELL NO!”…so dope.
what did you know PNB to stand for ? everyone had their own acronym definition for it. The few i know were: Proud Nubian Brothers ; Post No Bills — Jeff, is that accurate ?
Respect,
Harry — Jackson Heights, NY
pancakes n bacon!!! that shirt has the OG pig logo too, nice piece. the wash ate my pnb’s up…
Word Jeff. PNB was the truth back then. I always dug the Proud Nubian Brothers-NBA logo with the afro tee.
Couldn’t agree more. Didn’t they have a shirt with “Please No Bacon” on it. I loved PNB. Got me reminiscing a bit.
I’m glad there are other educated PNB fans out there. It’s a testament to the brand. And unfortunately, to answer your questions, it no longer exists.
FINALLY! Jeff you’ve been my thread hero since since the Jovino gatblast shit, but I gotta say nuff propers for the PNB shouts too. I still have my “Definition” tee I got at Union waaaay back in the day. And the PNB giants, the first heads to flip the NY logo…
for true heads in the know, PNB is the absolute epitome of this entire culture now known as “street/urban” wear. it’s all pretty tired these days, but PNB did it right. classy, low level shit.
Plush New Benzes
Post No Bills
Please No Bacon
Pacman Never Beat (me)
People Never Believe
People Need Blue Jeans
Police Need Backup (in the ghetto)
Proud Nubian Brothers
Peter North Buckshots (naw, i made that one up)
the list goes on and on. google brue, zulu, pnb nation, you’ll find a history. them cats were cooper union kids, smart on the real and a bronx science kid can appreciate the mad love for everything nycentric. jeffstaple, it’s all too perfect that you interned there.
mad love
ABEL
This kid just schooled everyone. Props for being a fan of The Nation. So now you know where Staple got its roots and culture from…
yessssir…I remember PNB gear always came with some extra ish (sorta like what LRG does now)…Damn got me wish I stayed a scrawny 5-9 9th grader for life…
Anyone remember when ecko gear was echo gear? Back when they had real hip hop artists as models for their ad campaign? (de la, q-tip, common, the roots and even dave chappelle) And they used to give out tapes when you bought one of their t-shirts!! Man, and phillies used to be 25 cents! (ok, i gotta stop now, gettin’ too hyped at work right now).
I was just telling someone about the old spelling. I have some of those old adds archived away. Used to buy them at TRUE in San Francisco when TRUE was one store.
thanks for bringing up the memories even though i was in my teen then.
Yo, your favorite tee shirt…
some fun facts about Tommie Smith in the 68 Olympics. He and John Carlos were both PUMA athletes during those games. The full photo actually shows that they took off their PUMA’s and placed them next to them on the podium. Not only did they raise their hands in black pride, but they also wanted to take a stand against Adi because they never ponied up promised sponsorship fees for their black athletes. While PUMA always took care of their people, regardless of color. Peep the statue of them at San Jose State.
http://as.sjsu.edu/legacy/DisplayImage.jsp?album=unveiling&page=5&id=71
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Carlos-Smith.jpg
dont forget maurice malone/mo jeans and triple 5 soul from back in the day
PNB was the sh!t. I heard that fool Nick Cannon bought the company (PNB) don’t really know what he is going to do with that brand.
I heard PNB stands for Pimps n Ballers. Is this true?
Yes PNB is still around and kicking harder as ever. i just bought a new pair of jeans with nice graphics on the back pockets. I just found this article on the internet;
COPYRIGHT 2003 Fairchild Publications, Inc.
NEW YORK — PNB Nation, an urban label popular in the ’90s, will be repositioned as a high-end, European-influenced streetwear collection, its newest owners told DNR. Jon Gurman, president of Montreal-based American Dream Team Network (ADTN), said that after PNB’s relaunch as an opening-price-point department store line at MAGIC…
staying on top of the game as always, bless.