Not long before Brooklyn was plunged into a wintry snowscape, I was sitting outside with my wife and our toddler when a guy took up a perch on a bench about ten feet away. I immediately locked onto him—well, onto his pants. I knew them. The 3D-looking jacquard fabric. The easygoing cut and the cinched ankles. The pockets. They could only be a pair of “Gorecki” cargos from 18 East, the NYC-based brand of off-kilter casualwear from self-described “old dad that skateboards by himself on the weekends” Antonio Ciongoli.
Over the past couple of years, 18 East has developed an absolutely rabid fandom. Log on for one of its Thursday drops and you’ll witness a feeding frenzy, with styles going live and selling out seemingly in the same instant. Whole forum threads are devoted to the brand, parsing everything from styling to sizing. Fans of the podcast Throwing Fits, the hosts of which are big fans of both Ciongoli and his brand, will go back and forth on their subreddit trying to figure out whether they’re a medium or a large in the “double knees,” 18 East’s in-house version of the classic workwear pant.
But the honor of being “the best-selling style, for sure” belongs to the Gorecki cargo pant. And though they’re “proudly made in India,” as 18 East declares on the product pages that invariably populate with little “SOLD OUT” badges mere minutes after they go live, spiritually, the Gorecki cargos hail from Philly. “That pant was my ode to Love Park,” Ciongoli says. “When we used to skate Love, we all skated in huge cargos.”
The Goreckis look a little different from those old-school, surplus-style pants, though. They’re made from a hand-loomed jacquard fabric, and finished with a crossover waistband that was inspired by traditional Thai fishermen’s pants. “Everybody knows what cargos look like, but it’s its own thing,” Ciongoli says of the design. “It really is a distinct thing that is familiar, but definitely different enough to feel special. And when I was thinking about what we could do with it, I was like ‘Well, it’s Philly. It’s Jimmy.’ Because it’s my friend, Jimmy. Right?”
The Jimmy in question is Jimmy Gorecki, who came up during Philly’s heyday and skated professionally for brands like Aesthetics and Ice Cream before moving out to the West Coast and starting Standard Issue Tees with Jarod Lee. Back in the day, Ciongoli and Gorecki met when the latter was a judge for Street League Skateboarding. They hit it off, and stayed in touch. Later, when he was in India developing products, Ciongoli “sent him a picture of the sketch and it just said ‘Gorecki cargo’ on the top. And he was so hyped on it.”
“For him to take the idea of the army/navy, surplus-style cargo pant we both grew up skating in, and recreate it with the DNA of his brand, and title it after me, is a massive honor,” Gorecki says. “One of the most flattering gestures anyone in fashion has made towards me personally, especially someone as seasoned in true menswear design as him.”
That appreciation goes both ways. Over the years, 18 East has tapped Standard Issue for everything from sweatsuits to thermal pullovers, putting its own spin on the California brand’s not-at-all-basic wares. And now, for the first time, the friends are flipping the script. Standard Issue released its own version of the Gorecki cargo pant today. It’s done up in a muted army green, still in the hand-loomed jacquard fabric that’s become a signature of the style. In fact, the only difference from the non-collaborative versions is a small logo embroidery on the left cargo pocket flap, an intentional reference to the versions made by brands like Drawers that skaters would have worn at Love Park way back when.
“After a couple years of him putting his twist on items outside of the cargo, it seemed natural to seek the opportunity to put our own twist on his items,” Gorecki says. “Keeping it simple in the branding and placement, and going easy out the gate with army, and something a bit bolder on the second color, which will release late spring.” Like all Gorecki cargos, the first one sold out in minutes. The second is sure to do the same. But the customers that do get ’em will have their hands on a cult-favorite pair of pants with a stamp (well, embroidery) of approval from the guy who they’re named after. It’s the ultimate insider nod, in pants form.
Speaking of nods: You know that guy I noticed in Brooklyn? He noticed me noticing. I nodded, and he nodded back. When you know, you know.
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