Street Etiquette
New York City
“It’s important to us to understand the history behind clothes and really take cues from people who did it well in the past.”
Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs met while in high school and formed a friendship over their mutual appreciation of men’s style. They began Street Etiquette in 2008 as a fashion blog, and today it’s grown into a full-blown creative agency, with Joshua and Travis being profiled in magazines all over the world.
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- Mount Mansfield Blazer
- Hubbard River Linen Shirt
- Locke Lake Twill Chino
- Kempton Chukka
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“There's always been this common narrative in what we do. We went through different phases of a lot of color, minimal color. Just telling different stories through style.”
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- Locke Lake Twill Chino
- Kempton Chukka
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- Mount Mansfield Blazer
- Hubbard River Linen Shirt
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- Kempton Chukka
Timberland:
You two met in high school, when hip‑hop fashions were king. But were you guys into that?
Joshua:
We were into it, but at the time, we were really into street wear. That's how we connected, through a street wear kind of lens. It was biology class or something like that. That's where we met. We just had a common affinity at the time, but we didn't know we were going to start a website together. At that time, it was just a friendship, and it was cool.
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“Timberland was heavily engrained in our culture when we were growing up. Heavily. It was one of the essentials.”
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- Locke Lake Cordura Concept Denim
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- Waterproof Mount Clay Blazer
- Middle River Texture Shirt
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- 6" Premium Boot
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- Waterproof Mount Clay Blazer
- Middle River Texture Shirt
- Locke Lake Cordura Concept Denim
- 6" Premium Boot
Timberland:
Whose idea was it to start the blog?
Travis:
People ask us all the time, but there's no real answer to that. I guess it was one of those things that we were throwing around for a while. When I met Josh, he was big into the online forums. He would be on a lot of the style forums like Superfuture, NikeTalk, HYPEBEAST. He introduced me to that part of the Internet.
Joshua:
There was no business plan for it. It was just something we were passionate about. I think a lot of great things start that way. It was seen as a hobby and passion rather than work. That's how it pretty much sustained itself for the first three years.
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- Mount Stoneham Jacket
- Locke Lake Cordura® Chino
- Earthkeepers® Rugged LT Chukka
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“We've traveled to Africa a couple of times. We've traveled to Thailand. We've traveled to Brazil. Those trips really opened our eyes and pushed Street Etiquette to be what it is today.”
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- Locke Lake Cordura® Chino
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- Mount Stoneham Jacket
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- Earthkeepers® Rugged LT Chukka
Timberland:
Styles of past eras are a big influence for you guys. Can you talk about why that’s important?
Travis:
When we first started we were big into the history of clothing and what that represents now, what it represented in the past. We really wanted to educate ourselves on clothing in general. From there on we put our own twist on it. It was very important for us to really understand the history behind clothes and really take cues from people who did it well in the past.
Joshua:
That was a large part of what Street Etiquette was when we first started, just documenting clothing and the history of it. We were learning, and at the same time our readership was learning. Menswear just kind of caught up to that whole explosion of what happened three or four years ago when guys started to take their style more seriously. It just kind of matched up with the times.
“New York kind of forces things to happen aesthetically. There's all these different cultural conversations going on in one neighborhood, and I think that plays into inspiration.”
- Brooke Park Chukka
- Slim Rattle River Oxford
- Locke Lake Twill Chino
- Slim Rattle River Oxford
- Locke Lake Twill Chino
Timberland:
How will you pack for an extended trip like this, experiencing freezing-cold Chicago one day and hot Texas and LA a few days later?
Joshua:
I'm not sure. I was about to Google it. [laughs]
Travis:
We pack super light. Contrary to what people may think, we pack really light. Sometimes we pack heavier but then end up wearing the same thing every day. We pack essentials.
Joshua:
It depends. I'll probably keep consistent with the pants and just have different shirts, just to go on that whim. Probably a sweater, depending how cold it gets at night out in the West. Once the sun drops, the temperature drops so drastically, so having something to just keep me warm.
