Aimé Leon Dore
Design by Rachel Liu
Brand Overview
Aimé Leon Dore is known for its sleek streetwear influenced by classic hip hop and basketball as well as founder Teddy Santis’s childhood, split between Greece and Queens in the 60s. The sophisticated blends of everyday basics elevated to refined streetwear are further inspired by 90s hip-hop culture, contemporary architecture, and artful photography.
The brand’s collaborations with Puma, New Balance, Woolrich, Timberland, and Porsche have all been highly coveted and are a strong predictor that more show-stopping collaborations are yet to come.
Teddy Santis by Andrew Jacobs
Designer Bio
With no proper fashion design background, Teddy Santis was one of the least likely contenders for the birth of elevated, 90s hip-hop, streetwear. Perhaps that is why everything produced by ALD has such an authentic, feel-good aura. Santis, born and raised in a Greek home in Queens, NY, first arrived on the scene by opening an optical store with his childhood best friend while working at his parent’s diner in 2010. Now he is set to define the next chapter of menswear with Aimé Leon Dore.
Teddy Santis has gained much respect in his field through collaborations and other seemingly impossible projects, like getting Porsche to endorse and support his restoration of a 1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera for the first time ever. His achievements with New Balance landed him as their Creative Director of MADE in USA starting in 2022.
Inspiration
“That’s what I believe creates authenticity and longevity in a brand like ALD. The name means nothing if we aren’t staying true to why we are doing this. I believe we are storytellers more than anything and the product comes second to that. Nobody wants to wear anything today unless they believe in what it represents.”
Collection/Designer Career Highlights
Aimé Leon Dore and Porsche first joined forces in February of 2020 with the restoration of a 964 Porsche Carerra 4. The ALD 1978 911 Super Carerra Porsche, released in May of 2021, is the continuation of this timeless collaboration.
Aimé Leon Dore’s Spring/Summer 2021 Uniform II collection is full of lux streetwear staples.
Collabs are the real genius of Aimé Leon Dore. ALD has been been working with New Balance for the past couple of years producing sleek, authentic streetwear.
The ALD x New Balance 1300 project drop sold out immediately on May 28th, 2021. Yes, even the gardening gloves.
The ALD Spring/Summer 2021 look book is full of preppy meets sporty with splashes of color and texture.
For the past five seasons ALD has dropped a highly curated playlist of 100 songs to accompany their collections.
Model Ama Lou showing off ALD Spring/Summer 2021 as well as ALD x New Balance.
Another timeless collaboration: ALD x Timberland.
Long sleeve tees from Aimé Leon Dore’s Spring/Summer 2021 Uniform, clean basics for any mood.
Baseball hats: an alive and well part of hip-hop culture and therefore ALD.
Edited by Kieryn Alexander