Hitler tees, Saddam Hussein shorts and blaspheme riddled prints are just a few of FA's most controversial garments. For over a decade the brand has complicated popular culture with questionable clothing and a cult-like following.
To understand Fucking Awesome, you need to understand Jason Dill - the brand's founder. His successes are difficult to understate, but a tempestuous childhood and personal addictions have made his rise to skater fame rather abnormal. FA has been one of his most perplexing ventures - exonerating his life’s unconventionalities through controversial screen printed tees and skateboard decks.
The company is more prosperous than ever, but its rise has not been easy - coming at a cost to Dill’s health. With spaces in Dover Street Market, Supreme and countless other contemporary clothing stores, we took a minute to investigate the unorthodox rise of Fucking Awesome and Jason Dill.
FA’s beginnings are rooted in NYC’s thriving 21st century skate scene. Before he fully embraced the brand as a legitimate company, Dill would rustle through bins for printable rubbish that looked good on a t shirt. He would then drop off his creations on Lafayette Street for Supreme to sell in their shop. It was in 2001 that Jason Dill, along with Anthony Van Engelen, would form the foundations for their brand - which they insist is not a clothing line, and rather an ideas company. Boasting an all-star roster of skaters: Tyshawn Jones, Na-Kel Smith, Sage Elsesser, Sean Pablo, Kevin Bradley, and Aidan Mackey joined Alien Workhop’s Kevin Terpening and Dylan Rieder to form the FA team, making it impossible to pigeon-hole the company as a streetwear label.
‘Streetwear’ is a term that Dill actively detests, along with the common perception that they are a skate brand. “It’s a bit of a personality disorder company” he explained to Vice a few years ago, and it only takes a brief look through their graphic archives to understand why the ex-pro skater thinks of his baby with such frankness.
FA champions both a sinister and comical take of the fashion world, with printed tees of dictators frequent in their collections. To accept the profanity of his work, you need to consider Dill’s turbulent upbringing; before his 17th birthday, the Huntington Beach native had moved house 22 times. Between dingy flats and trailer parks, his family would restlessly role through California like a bunch of nomadic gypsies. His Dad was an abusive cocaine addict, but Dill luckily confided in skating from a young age and quickly began to formulate a career as a pro. In his teens, Dill was kicked out of continuation school after brawling with a security guard; a day later, he was flown out to Tokyo for two weeks with the skate brand Droors.
The maverick continued to be a seminal skating figure, spending 15 years as part of the Alien Workshop team. After his feature on the companies’ highly influential Photosynthesis film, Dill’s career propelled to new heights - including two cover features on the apex of skateboarding: Thrasher Magazine. Like many reported at the time, the artist didn’t leave AW to focus on Fucking Awesome, but there was little else for him to take his mind off the drug and alcohol addictions he had subconsciously developed since a teenager. Trading his crack pipe for protein shakes, Dill moved out from New York back to California, where Anthony Van Engelen had settled - art became a peaceful remedy for the cravings that nearly killed him.
“I only make something when I feel like it’s right, or if I have the right materials.” Dill told Hypebeast when they questioned his understanding that FA is not streetwear. The artist's unorthodox, non-seasonal approach to fashion has always made his clothing more desirable, and celebrities began to rep their designs in the late 2000s. When Kanye West was spotted in an all-over print hoodie, the demand tripled; they had serious issues trying to keep up with orders.
One of Dill’s biggest fears with Fucking Awesome is it becoming over-popularised - he has used Kurt Cobain and Nirvana as a metaphor for what he hopes won’t happen to his brand. This lead to another breakdown for Dill who admitted: “I wanted it to stop because I was scared of what it had become” back in 2011. Friends had to intervene on his benzo informed diet, with many fearing for his life.
Fucking Awesome, as a full-time career, was never Jason’s plan. However, he had always been passionate about the company: “Fucking Awesome? That's the dumbest name. I think that's why I really strive to make this smart. Make it educated.” - drug fuelled benders or not, there is always an educational element to the designer's work. Well read, and an anti-internet advocate, the underlying meanings of his art have triggered the thoughts of teens across the globe. The brand’s dystopian outlook on American history - commemorating those who have fallen by highly satirical means - is completely intrinsic to Van Engelen, Dill and their skate team.
Along with everyone associated to Supreme in the late 90s and early 2000s, Jason Dill made skating cool again. This was never an aim of the scene; New York naturally assembled a synergetic connection between skating and fashion, art and music - which made it a naturally intriguing subculture for any teen.
At 43 years old, one may question why people still care about the life of Jason Dill - a man who owns a brand with a logo inspired by Hulk Hogan’s ‘Hulkmania’. Maybe his former drug riddled, party hard lifestyle connects to those half his age, but the organically curated skate team and anti-political prints of FA will always capture the minds of generations younger than him. Smoking (un)healthy amounts of zoots, it is reassuring to watch the most recent documentaries on Dill and Fucking Awesome. He seems content with his health and open to acknowledging his previous delinquency.
To celebrate the brand beyond Jason Dill, here are our favourite class photo decks of the Fucking Awesome skaters.