Graffiti Streetwear: How Street Art Shaped Urban Fashion

Graffiti and streetwear grew up side by side on city streets. What began as rebellious spray paint tags on subway walls has evolved into a driving force in urban fashion. Today, the bold aesthetics and DIY attitude of street art culture are woven into the very fabric of modern streetwear. From striking graffiti motifs and wildstyle lettering to pop-art characters and handstyle tags, the visual language of street art defines many of the clothes we wear. Each piece of graffiti-inspired clothing carries a bit of that underground spirit, turning a simple hoodie or sneaker into a statement of creativity and rebellion. In this post, we’ll look at some of the most popular and influential collaborations between famous graffiti artists and clothing brands – partnerships that not only produced covetable gear but also cemented graffiti’s influence on urban fashion.

Futura x Nike – Pioneering Street Art Sneakers

One of the earliest and most iconic bridges between graffiti and sneaker culture was forged by Futura (a.k.a. Futura 2000) and Nike. Futura – born Leonard McGurr – came up in the 1970s New York graffiti scene, tagging subway cars with his alias and even painting backdrops live on stage for punk band The Clash. His style stood out for introducing abstraction into graffiti at a time dominated by letter-centric wildstyles. In the early 2000s, Futura began collaborating with Nike on limited-edition sneakers that straddled the worlds of street art, streetwear and pop culture. These were not just shoes – they were grails that brought a graffiti writer’s vision to a global audience.

Futura’s Nike collaborations were groundbreaking for both art and fashion. He helped design shoes like the Nike SB Dunk Low “Futura” (2003) with colorways inspired by NYC subway trains, and the extremely limited FLOM Dunk High (2004) emblazoned with a collage of international currency as a tongue-in-cheek motif meaning “For Love or Money”. Only 24 pairs of FLOM were ever made, handed out to friends and family – making them legendary in sneaker lore. By bringing his graffiti aesthetics to Nike – from spray-painted color fades to his signature abstract Pointman character – Futura imbued sneakers with street art’s renegade spirit. These kicks blurred the line between a wearable shoe and a canvas, proving that graffiti’s visual language could thrive on feet as well as walls. Today, Futura’s early Nike editions remain coveted collectors’ items, and he’s recognized as a trailblazer who helped legitimize graffiti in fashion.

KAWS x Uniqlo – Street Art for the Masses

If Futura brought graffiti to exclusive sneaker drops, KAWS (Brian Donnelly) brought it to the masses through affordable apparel. KAWS got his start as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, known for sneaking his cartoonish tag onto NYC billboards and bus stop ads. Over time he developed a distinct pop-art style, with iconic characters like the Michelin Man-like “Companion” and a signature “XX” motif for eyes. His work brilliantly bridges fine art and popular culture, appearing on everything from paintings and sculptures to vinyl toys. But one of his most influential moves was partnering with fast-fashion retailer Uniqlo to put his art on T-shirts – a collaboration that would incite global hype.

KAWS’s cartoon-inspired graphics (like the “Companion” figure with X-ed out eyes) became coveted designs on Uniqlo’s UT shirts and totes, exemplifying how a graffiti-rooted artist made street art accessible as everyday fashion. The final KAWS x Uniqlo UT release in 2019 caused a shopping frenzy, proving the massive appeal of graffiti-infused clothing.

Between 2016 and 2019, KAWS x Uniqlo UT released a series of capsule collections of graphic tees and accessories. Each drop featured KAWS’s bold imagery – from his skull-and-crossbones “Companion” to reimagined pop culture icons like Snoopy – printed on simple T-shirts, hoodies and tote bags. These pieces sold for under $20 in Uniqlo stores, putting what KAWS calls “wearable art” into the hands of ordinary fans. The response was explosive. When the supposed “final” Uniqlo x KAWS drop hit in June 2019, pandemonium erupted: in China, shoppers literally stormed stores, wrestling garments from mannequins and each other’s hands. Websites crashed as the collection sold out in minutes. Several KAWS x Uniqlo tees even became all-time best-selling streetwear items on resale markets. This collaboration’s wild success demonstrated how graffiti streetwear could generate mainstream excitement on par with the biggest fashion brands. By emblazoning accessible clothing with a graffiti artist’s imagery, KAWS x Uniqlo helped normalize street art in wardrobes worldwide – a true merging of street art culture and everyday urban fashion. It also showed that the rebellious appeal of a graffiti artist (even one turned art-market sensation) could translate into massive commercial demand without losing its edge.

Basquiat x Supreme – High Art Meets Streetwear

Few artists embody the journey from subway graffiti to high art like Jean-Michel Basquiat. He first made his name tagging gritty messages as “SAMO” on late-1970s NYC streets, then rose to gallery fame in the 1980s with neo-expressionist paintings that blended graffiti text, crown motifs, and raw commentary on race and class. Decades after his untimely death in 1988, Basquiat’s influence looms large over both art and style. In 2013, cult skate brand Supreme – known for championing underground culture – honored Basquiat with a posthumous collaboration. Supreme worked with the Basquiat Estate to release a Fall/Winter 2013 collection featuring the artist’s work printed on apparel. This partnership symbolized a full-circle moment: the street kid who once bombed walls was now being celebrated by a top streetwear label.

The Supreme x Basquiat collection was significant in how it merged high art iconography with skate fashion. The pieces included M-65 military jackets and button-up shirts boldly covered in Basquiat’s paintings (for example, graphics from his 1982 “Cassius Clay” piece) and hoodies and tees printed with Basquiat’s famous crown and portrait imagery. By wearing these, skaters and hypebeasts were literally draping themselves in fine art. It brought Basquiat’s chaotic, handwritten aesthetic – those rough scrawled words, skeletal figures, and colorful crowns – into the realm of everyday street style. Culturally, the collab underscored how streetwear celebrates its roots: Supreme, a brand born from 1990s youth counterculture, paid tribute to a graffiti progenitor who had challenged the art establishment. The graffiti aesthetics Basquiat pioneered, like using messy text and urban visual references, have since become staples of streetwear design. And the rebel spirit of his work – unvarnished, provocative, and defiantly authentic – aligns perfectly with Supreme’s ethos. In short, Basquiat x Supreme showed that street art culture and streetwear not only intersect but can elevate each other, turning a rebellious art legacy into wearable culture for a new generation.

Keith Haring – Pop Art Icons in Urban Fashion

While not a single brand collaboration, the influence of Keith Haring on streetwear deserves its own spotlight. Haring was a contemporary of Basquiat who gained fame in 1980s New York by chalk-drawing his now-iconic bold outlined figures in subway stations. His radiant babies, barking dogs, and dancing silhouettes were graffiti-adjacent public art – accessible, playful, and often carrying social messages. Haring was also a pioneer in merging art and commerce on his own terms: in 1986 he opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in downtown NYC where he sold T-shirts, buttons, and posters bearing his graphics for just a few dollars. He believed in making art affordable and ubiquitous, effectively putting graffiti-inspired pop art onto people’s backs long before “artist merch” was a trend.

Fast forward to today, and Keith Haring’s artwork is everywhere in fashion. His estate (via the Haring Foundation) has partnered with countless brands – from fast fashion to luxury – to keep his designs circulating. Uniqlo’s UT line was an early adopter, launching Haring graphic tees as far back as 2003. Since then, you can find Haring’s crawling babies and dancing men on Adidas sneakers, Reebok high-tops, Coach bags, Swatch watches, and more. Major retailers like H&M, Zara, and Bershka have all featured Haring collections in recent years. This saturation led The Guardian to quip that “it’s hard to avoid the ’80s graffiti artist’s designs” on everything from Pandora jewelry to Primark hoodies. While some critics argue this ubiquity verges on turning art into mere logos, it undeniably proves how graffiti and street art aesthetics have shaped mainstream urban clothing. Haring’s use of simple, repetitive icons and bold lines translated perfectly into graphic streetwear – you don’t need to know art history to rock a tee with a Haring “heart” figure on it. Yet wearing those graphics carries the legacy of Haring’s activist, community-driven values (his art tackled topics like AIDS awareness and anti-apartheid). In essence, Keith Haring made it normal for a graffiti artist’s imagery to live on a shopping mall rack, while still retaining its positive message. His work proved that street art could be both socially impactful and commercially popular, a dual influence that continues to inspire urban fashion today.

Stash x Nike – From Tagging Trains to Designer Kicks

Another NYC graffiti legend who left an indelible mark on streetwear is Stash (Josh Franklin). Coming up in the 1980s alongside crews like IRAK, Stash was part of the first wave of writers to transition from bombing subway trains to showing work in galleries. He’s famous for a distinctive tag style and graphics often incorporating the tools of the trade (he often signs his work with an arrow symbol, and has a love for the color blue). Stash also co-founded early streetwear shops like Recon/NORT, directly blending graffiti and fashion. But perhaps his biggest impact came through an ongoing collaboration with Nike, where he was one of the first graffiti artists to officially design sneakers.

In 2006, Nike released a limited Air Max 95 “Stash” as part of an “Artist Series,” marking the first time a graffiti writer put his stamp on a Nike silhouette. The shoe, done in Stash’s signature palette of grays and deep blues, sold out instantly and became a cult classic. It wasn’t just the colorway that nodded to graffiti – the design was full of clever references. The Air Max’s insole and packaging featured “fat cap” spray paint nozzle motifs, and speckled paint patterns adorned the midsole, imitating the look of aerosol overspray. Even Stash’s tag and arrow icon appeared as branding hits, literally tagging the Nike with his personal handstyle. By infusing a sneaker with authentic graffiti elements, Stash x Nike proved that the graffiti ethos could coexist with big-brand product design.

Stash’s collaboration with Nike brought graffiti tools and tag style into sneaker design. For example, the Nike x Stash Air Max 95 featured speckled midsoles mimicking spray paint and a collage of “fatcap” spray can nozzles on the insoles – literally imprinting graffiti’s hardware onto a fashion item.

Stash went on to design other coveted Nike models – from Air Force 1s to Dunks – often in that cool blue colorway that graffiti heads instantly associate with his work. He paved the way for future artist collaborations by insisting on keeping the raw graffiti DNA in the products (whether through graphics of spray caps or applying gritty stencil fonts). The impact on streetwear was twofold: it gave sneakers extra credibility among the hip-hop and skate crowds who respected graffiti, and it signaled to the footwear industry that partnering with underground artists could yield legendary results. Thanks to pioneers like Stash, it’s now routine for brands to tap graffiti artists for design collabs – but back then, it was a bold validation of graffiti’s cultural value. Stash’s journey from train yards to Nike labs embodies how the rebellious creativity of a tagger can shape the look of global street fashion.

RETNA x Louis Vuitton – Graffiti Calligraphy Goes Couture

Graffiti’s influence hasn’t stopped at streetwear – it’s even made waves in haute couture. A prime example is RETNA (Marquis Lewis), a Los Angeles-based graffiti artist renowned for his hypnotic calligraphic script. Emerging in the 2000s, RETNA developed a unique visual language that fuses ancient alphabets (hieroglyphs, Asian calligraphy, Hebrew, Arabic, Blackletter) with the swagger of graffiti lettering. His pieces look like beautifully abstract codes – bold, rhythmic symbols that are often indecipherable but instantly recognizable. This signature style has landed RETNA murals on walls from LA to Hong Kong, and before long, caught the eye of high fashion and luxury brands.

In a crossover few could have predicted decades ago, RETNA has collaborated with the likes of Louis Vuitton – the epitome of luxury fashion – as well as brands like Nike and VistaJet. For Louis Vuitton, RETNA created custom artwork that was incorporated into store displays and special-edition products, effectively bringing an urban edge to the refined LV aesthetic. His spidery, cryptic lettering provided a striking contrast when paired with LV’s classic monogram – a clash of graffiti’s raw energy with luxury’s polish. By 2011, RETNA’s work was also featured in MOCA’s Art in the Streets exhibit, and he painted a towering mural on Louis Vuitton’s Miami storefront during Art Basel, signaling the brand’s embrace of street art. These partnerships showed that graffiti had truly arrived on the global stage: what started as illicit scrawls could now adorn $5,000 handbags and high-end boutiques.

The significance of RETNA’s fashion collaborations lies in how they broadened the visual vocabulary of urban fashion. His style isn’t traditional “tagging” or wildstyle; it’s a sophisticated reimagining of script, which has influenced modern streetwear graphics and luxury design alike. Many streetwear labels now play with typography and symbols in a way that echoes RETNA’s approach – creating patterns out of text or using lettering as ornament. Culturally, RETNA going couture underscores a key point: the rebellious values of graffiti (individuality, breaking rules, amplifying one’s voice) can infiltrate even the most elite corners of fashion. When a brand like Louis Vuitton collaborates with a graffiti writer, it’s a powerful validation of street art’s artistic merit. And for young artists, it’s inspirational proof that the gap between a graffiti alley and Fifth Avenue can be bridged by the power of style.

Barry McGee (Twist) x HUF – Skating into Galleries

San Francisco’s Barry McGee, who wrote graffiti under the name Twist, is another artist whose influence straddles the art world and streetwear. McGee made his mark in the late ’80s/early ’90s with bold bubble letters, drippy tags, and melancholic cartoon faces painted around SF’s Mission District. His work conveyed the gritty yet vibrant life of the city’s streets, and he later became a leading figure in the “Mission School” art movement. While McGee’s gallery installations and museum shows earned him international respect, he never abandoned his graffiti roots – and that mix of gallery cred and street cred made him a natural fit for skate and streetwear collaborations.

One of the most famed team-ups was Barry McGee x HUF. HUF, the streetwear brand founded by pro skater Keith Hufnagel in SF, has deep graffiti ties (Hufnagel himself started tagging “HUF ONE” in the ’80). In the 2000s, HUF partnered with McGee on several projects, including a series of limited graphic tees and skate decks featuring McGee’s artwork. Notably, McGee created a comic character named “Ray Fong” – a mischievous, glasses-wearing figure – which appeared in an Adidas x HUF x Barry McGee collaboration as part of the Adidas “Adicolor” project. Hufnagel once said his favorite collab ever was the Barry McGee project – the Ray Fong one, attesting to how special it was for the brand. These pieces meshed McGee’s quirky yet authentic graffiti art with apparel that skaters could actually wear while thrashing. Imagine cruising a city street on your board, decked out in a T-shirt emblazoned with Twist’s signature wavy-eyed faces – you’re literally wearing a piece of SF graffiti history.

McGee’s collaborations were significant not by sheer volume (they were often small releases), but by cultural impact. They reinforced the bond between skateboarding, streetwear, and graffiti – three subcultures that have always overlapped in urban life. The aesthetic of many skate brands in the 2000s, from RVCA to Supreme, took cues from McGee’s grungy, hand-drawn style: think all-over print shirts with doodles, or skate graphics that look like they were ripped from a graffiti blackbook. By bringing an artist like Barry McGee into their fold, brands like HUF gave legitimacy to their products and a jolt of creative authenticity that resonated with fans. It demonstrated that streetwear wasn’t just borrowing the look of graffiti; it was actively collaborating with the artists themselves, embedding real street art culture into the clothes. Barry McGee, for his part, showed that even as his work hung in galleries, his heart remained in the streets and skate spots – and that spirit translates into the laid-back yet provocative vibe of the gear he’s influenced.

The Legacy of Graffiti in Fashion’s Visual Language

From the subway tunnels to the runways, graffiti has undeniably shaped the visual language of modern urban clothing. The collaborations highlighted above – Futura’s abstract tag on a Nike sneaker, KAWS’s pop graffiti characters on a Uniqlo tee, Basquiat’s gritty crowns on a Supreme jacket, Haring’s street hieroglyphs on a hoodie, Stash’s spray cap graphics in a shoe, RETNA’s cryptic script in luxury prints, and McGee’s tags on skate gear – all speak to a larger movement. This movement brought the rebellious energy of street art into fashion, making what you wear a canvas for artistic expression and cultural commentary.

Aesthetically, graffiti introduced bold typography, vibrant color clashes, and unpolished graphics into the fashion world, which had often played it safe. Tags and handstyles taught designers that fonts can be art, not just text – leading to the proliferation of oversized logos and stylized lettering on streetwear. Wildstyle graffiti’s layered, intricate lettering showed that complexity and chaos can make a design dynamic and alive, influencing patterns and prints on everything from sneakers to high-end jackets. Even the ethos of graffiti – DIY customization, defiance of norms, and representing one’s crew or identity – has become embedded in streetwear culture. Brands now invite consumers to participate (through limited drops, collectible pieces, or even DIY kits), echoing how graffiti artists take initiative to create and share their vision.

Crucially, these artist-brand collaborations also validated graffiti as more than just vandalism; they framed it as a form of art worthy of admiration and wear. It’s a full-circle evolution: what started as teenage outcasts tagging T-shirts with magic markers for their friends is now global companies releasing official capsules with those same artists – and youths around the world proudly donning them as graffiti streetwear. In doing so, fashion has helped preserve the rebellious heart of graffiti while propelling it into new mediums. As we celebrate these collaborations, we recognize that every graffiti-inspired clothing item carries a story – of an artist, a city, a subculture – bridging the past and future of street art culture in style.

Sources:

Futura’s Nike collaborations bridged graffiti and sneaker culture sothebys.com;

KAWS’s Uniqlo drops brought street art to mainstream fashion with unprecedented hype stockx.comnews.artnet.com;

Supreme’s Basquiat collection honored the late graffiti icon’s influence hypebeast.com;

Keith Haring’s artwork became a staple of urban fashion, from his 1986 Pop Shop to modern brand partnerships theguardian.comtheguardian.com;

Stash’s Nike projects integrated genuine graffiti elements like spray-cap motifs into design blog.size.co.ukblog.size.co.uk;

RETNA’s unique script style led to collaborations with brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike, exemplifying graffiti’s reach into luxury maddoxgallery.com;

HUF’s founder cited the Barry McGee (Twist) collab as a favorite, highlighting graffiti’s bond with skatewear shredzshop.com;

and generally, graffiti’s characters, tags, and bold visuals have become defining elements of streetwear’s style medium.com.

Each partnership shows how graffiti’s aesthetics and rebellious ethos continue to shape the look and attitude of urban fashion. sothebys.commedium.com