DeadMall
An independent jiu-jitsu apparel brand built around the idea that performance gear doesn't have to look like performance gear.
Building the Brand
DeadMall started from wanting something I wasn't seeing in jiu-jitsu: performance gear with a stronger point of view. Most of the space leaned heavily into traditional fightwear aesthetics, while I wanted to approach it through fashion, art and culture.
The brand pulls from Y2K nostalgia and the visual world of the mall: an era when shopping, music, magazines and subcultures all existed in the same physical space. The name DeadMall plays on that nostalgia while giving it a darker, more contemporary edge.
From the identity and apparel to photography, packaging and social content, I built DeadMall as a fashion-forward jiu-jitsu brand that could exist beyond the mats.
Visual direction inspired by Y2K technology, alternative fashion, music culture and the fading American mall.
Identity
The DeadMall identity pulls from early-digital graphics, distorted typography and Y2K visual culture. I built the system to feel recognizable without being overly polished, allowing it to shift across apparel, campaigns and physical applications.
Brand Applications
Apparel Design
I approached the apparel as an extension of the brand rather than traditional performance gear, pulling references from fashion, music and visual culture and adapting them for jiu-jitsu. Each piece was developed from concept through production, balancing the visual direction with the technical requirements of training.
Bombed
Bombed began with a series of DeadMall tags hand-drawn by a friend. I digitized, layered and reworked the marks into an all-over composition, translating the original graffiti into a print that could move across multiple performance pieces.
Collection Development
I developed a wider range of concepts to explore how far the DeadMall visual language could stretch while still feeling like one brand. The designs pull from fashion, music, early-digital graphics and familiar patterns, reworked for performance apparel.
From the initial concepts, six designs were selected for the first release. The final assortment balanced visual range with production and budget considerations, while allowing the collection to expand across rashguards, shorts, spats and long-sleeve silhouettes.
Six designs were selected from the initial concepts for the first release, balancing variety with production and budget. The final collection expanded those designs across multiple silhouettes built for training and everyday wear.