Sampling as Method. Clothing as Memory.
Music sampling, in its purest form, is not imitation. It is recontextualisation—a deliberate act of editing history, preserving memory, and reshaping power.
The Pause Tape Collection draws from this lineage: the resistance embedded in sampling culture, where early hip hop and jungle pioneers constructed new sonic forms by lifting, looping, and reworking fragments of existing sound. Using limited tools—tape decks, pirate radio, vinyl—they forged a radical aesthetic defined by process, not polish.
This spirit of innovation didn’t stop at music. It shaped a visual language, too.
Sampling, Streetwear, and Systems of Resistance
New York & the UK: 1980s–1990s
In New York, streetwear emerged alongside the rise of block parties, mixtapes, and b-boy culture. The streets styled itself in defiance of exclusion—pairing military surplus, sportswear, and bootleg graphics as a way to claim space. Clothing became a secondary archive to sound: each outfit a remix of heritage, resistance, and local knowledge.
Meanwhile, in 1980s and ’90s Britain, especially in London and Bristol, young producers were tuning into American hip hop while forging new genres like jungle, garage, and grime. Pirate radio stations and basement studios became incubators of resistance. As a nod to utilitarian style: MA-1 bomber jackets, oversized silhouettes, and minimal branding, often sourced second-hand or reworked became the defining look of this genre.
What linked both scenes was scarcity, and the need to create meaning from what was available. This same ethos defined the early sample culture in streetwear—a practice of self expression through reference, repurpose, and resistance.
Underground Culture as Blueprint
A tribute to underground culture —not just in aesthetic, but in systems.
Each garment in the Pause Tape Capsule carries echoes of:
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The function-first silhouettes of sound system crews and radio operators
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The visual codes of dubplate culture, where scarcity signified authenticity
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The looped logic of analogue production, where imprecision was a form of resistance
These aren’t empty references. They’re acknowledgements.
Clothing That Samples the Past to Build New Form
Sampling in streetwear echoes the principles in music;
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You lift only what you understand
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You remix only what you respect
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You release only what adds to the culture
Every detail in the capsule—its structure, fabric, finish—is informed by that same mindset. This is streetwear layered, intentional, true to form.
Material as Statement
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Eco-conscious and recycled materials, chosen not for optics but for permanence
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Limited runs, reflecting the physicality and rarity of pause tape dubs
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No surplus, no seasonal waste—only what’s necessary, nothing more
Wearing the Loop
The Pause Tape Collection is a salute to the resistance inherent in sampling culture—a way of creating from constraint, and remembering through repetition.
Every garment holds a loop: a fragment of history, a system of care, a design in conversation with sound.
This is music-inspired streetwear, built for those who move through time with intention.