KidSuper

Colm Dillane a.k.a. KidSuper is a New York designer whose boundless creativity can’t be contained in a single tag. His creative collective of people, ideas, and mediums not only makes clothing but also produces films, art shows, and music videos. 

It all started when Dillane, the son of a Spanish artist and an Irish fisherman, launched a t-shirt company with his friends, screen printing the goods in his parent’s basement and selling them out of his high school cafeteria. In college, the NYU sophomore expanded his grassroots operations, converting his dorm room into a shop and selling his KidSuper branded clothing to fellow undergrads. It didn’t take long for the fresh streetwear brand to take off.  

KidSuper the brand (and KidSuper the guy) now live and breathe at the cross-section of high fashion, music, and art. Some statement pieces look as if they were ripped directly from an abstract painter’s raw canvas or sketchbook. The label is known for bold patterns, wild graphics, and whimsical designs. Take a denim work jacket constructed like a piece of folk art—each color of the farm landscape patched together with separate pieces of fabric. Or an oversized coat completely covered by the faces of two people kissing but with the KidSuper twist; the jacket opens up on the kiss. 

Always innovating, for Paris Fashion Week Dillane embraced the digital event with a stop motion animation catwalk of his Spring/Summer 2021 collection. He’s expanded his fashion kingdom, attaining cult status by creating statement pieces that have attracted co-signs from culture hounds like Lil Baby, Young Thug, and Gunna and locked deals with major brands like Nike and Puma. 

You can check out their latest projects on Creatively here.

What is the first creative project you remember?

Wow, that’s a hard one. I grew up with a mother who was an artsy-type. So every morning or everyday after school, I would come home to a project that she made up. In first grade for Valentine’s Day, we hand stamped cards with potatoes for everybody in the class. I remember so many projects, videos, and silly things. 

Describe your aesthetic in three words.

Fun. Vibrant…and…hodgepodge? Yeah, that’s probably not good to say that. Let’s try another word instead of hodgepodge. Ambitious. [Laughs]

What was the most fulfilling collaboration you’ve worked on?

There’s been many. From J. Balvin, from Proera, from Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers–that was a huge one for me because that marked the first collaboration co-sign that I got. 

I think the most fulfilling one for me was PUMA just because I was able to check off so many life goals in one collaboration. I got a global collaboration, I got my own shoe, I got my own soccer cleat, but from there we got Héctor Bellerín, a professional player in the EPL [English Premier League] to wear the cleat and that was a crazy bucket list item. And we’re building a KidSuper x PUMA soccer field which is also a life goal. And then also, the “Scram” cartoon we used to promote the PUMA collection ended up being a 30-minute pilot cartoon for what I think could be a KidSuper cartoon with potential to be on streaming platforms. I’m pitching that out. 

There were so many things I was able to do in that collaboration that I was able to accomplish and finesse a little bit. So yeah, that was fulfilling. I just love the idea of someone coming to you, “Hey, this is a collaboration we should do,” and me being able to come up with different projects outside of what you’d typically think a collaboration should be. 

What’s one creative project that taught you something fundamental about yourself?

Gosh, these are some hard hitting questions. I would say it was the fashion show in Paris. It was such a big undertaking and I was a little bit unprepared and really didn’t know what to expect. [It was] a financially, physically, and mentally draining project. 

It was just cool to have so many of my friends figure it out and be on the same stage, same platform as Louis Vuotton and Hermes. What I found out about myself was that having good people around you is always important, no matter if they are the most skillful or not, just having a good team and a good group of friends. And I guess I also learned that things are possible, so shoot for the stars. You can compete with Hermes and Louis Vutton. 

Do you think creativity is something you’re born with, or something you’re taught?

I say this all the time: I think creativity is inherent. I think humans have that; humans are born with problem-solving skills. The term “creativity” makes problem-solving seem like it’s this blessing from another power whereas I think creatives are people with problem-solving skills that have been nurtured and supported. And I think everybody can be creative if they’re not only always asked questions and asked for solutions but also are supported. I think a lot of times people don’t have the confidence to say they are creative. I think most creatives are egomaniacs because to be creative you just need to be confident in your ideas. 

What’s the last dream you had?

[Laughs]. My dreams are worse than my reality. The one I had the other day was I had sex with my highschool girlfriend who currently has a boyfriend and I felt so bad about it because I ruined their ten-year relationship and I was just devastated and didn’t know what to do. My dreams are always worse than my reality.

One hundred years from now, what do you hope people write about your work?

100 years from now? I hope people go to my work as inspiration to channel their optimism and freedom and they look to my work as a guiding light to think without any bounds. Like, “Oh man, [KidSuper] has inspired me to be boundless.” 

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