Noah’s Union collab celebrates 30 years of streetwear's most important store

If you’re serious about your streetwear, Union’s 30th anniversary is cause for celebration. Before its Los Angeles incarnation, the New York City boutique was a breeding ground for the culture as we know it today. James Jebbia helped run the original shop before moving on to Stüssy and founding Supreme, while Chris Gibbs, now owner of Union LA, cut his teeth in the same store. The iconic streetwear boutique can also claim credit for romance, as it was Gibbs and former co-owner Beth Birkett who introduced Brendon and Estelle Babenzien, the married co-owners of Noah.

As part of the year-long Union celebration, Noah is releasing a collaborative capsule with the LA boutique and brand this week. While referencing the introduction that would lead to marriage and the formation of Noah, the brand called the collection “one of our post personal collaborations to date” on Instagram. “Needless to say, Noah and Union are truly family in every sense of the word.”

Historical garms — While combining the two brand’s logos, Noah and Union also pay homage to some of history’s greatest Black creatives. Alexander Dumas and Ludwig Beethoven are front and center on their own T-shirts, while another commemorates the William Shakespeare sonnet, “The Dark Lady.” Portraits of all three also appear down the sleeves of a hoodie that puts Union’s skater silhouette underneath the Noah banner.

A portion of the proceeds from the collection will go to the Watts Conservatory of Music, which provides access to instruments and music lessons for children in the Los Angeles neighborhood.

Two more T-shirts nix the history outside of streetwear to again combine the motifs of the two parties. And if you’re knowledgeable about Union’s pivotal role in the culture, they’re as close to a must-cop as you can get.

“Union became one of the absolute musts when my friends and I took the LIRR to NYC to skate,” Brendan Babenzien said on Noah’s Instagram. “It was the most pioneering store we had seen. Union was the origin point for everything that came after. They inspire us and I can say for sure that their genuine nature and creative approach to life is what has allowed Union to lead and endure for three decades.”

Pick up the collab this Thursday — The Union and Noah goods will go on sale this Thursday, presumably through their respective websites. Noah weekly drops always go down at 11 a.m. ET, but besides that, no further details have been released yet. What we do know for sure is that the 30th-anniversary pieces will fly, so make sure you’re quick with the clicks.