Ropeadope Clothing, by Sarah Jaffe.
B. Informed Magazine, 2005.

In the course of twenty minutes, David "Words" Wurtzel of Ropeadope Clothing compares himself to Tom Sawyer, Forrest Gump, and Rain Man.  I doubt any of them are responsible for a colorful, fun, and self-aware clothing line that pays tribute to everyone from Gandhi to Barry White, Nina Simone to ancient Egypt.  

"The whole 'stand strong' vibe at Ropeadope is not defiance or anything, it’s a comfort. It’s finding the comfort within your own skin. And it’s a very inclusionary thing—being real, not being cool," Wurtzel says of his line, which got its start about a year after the inception of Ropeadope Records.  The apparel line sprang from the desire to create something of substance, and builds on the same collective individuality that the record label strives to promote. "The stronger everyone else in the collective is—it always benefits you," he continues.

Ropeadope's current lineup of shirts includes the "Respects" and "Worldwide Respects" lines, all of which are printed on American Apparel sweatshop-free T-shirts. "Respects" pays tribute to what some people might call heroes, people to look up to. Soccer player Pélé is on a shirt, as are Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, and Gandhi. Wurtzel explains, "One guy says, 'Dude, you GOTTA put Pélé on a shirt.' And someone else says, 'Pélé? You’ve got to put Marvin Gaye on a shirt.' And I’m like, 'You gotta put Gandhi on a shirt!' And they’ll be like, 'Gandhi? Who would want Gandhi on a shirt?' and I’m like 'Who wouldn’t?' All the people that work for us are very respectful of the different images. Nobody wanted to put Gandhi and slap Ropeadope across his head. So I think the key to it was that these guys are presented in a really artistic way."

This theory was expanded to add the "Worldwide Respects" line, using the same respect and design aesthetic to create paeans on fabric to Egypt, Cuba, and England, among other locales. "I think it was really cool to turn people on from the individual to the collective," Wurztel says. In the future, Ropeadope plans to turn this idea inward and look at different aspects of Americana through the same lens. "We’re not indigenous to America, so somewhere along the way your ancestors, my ancestors were like, 'Things where we are are not really going so well, so let’s go there and really live our dreams.' So I think America’s a really good place, and we wanted to draw back to some of those times when people really felt that way, and take ownership of it."

Ownership is a theme for Ropeadope, as is collectivity, free-flowing, organic design, and most importantly, fun. "Fun is like a food group for me. If something’s not fun, it ain’t worth doing. And I’ll make it fun, some way, somehow. That carries over and we all get to have our own little fun, and that’s the key to what we do. If everyone feels like Ropeadope is fun and fresh, then they put their all into it."