Word on the Street: Pop-up shop brings youth-oriented clothing to Chinatown

Two friends and fans of streetwear clothing are bringing a little bit of Los Angeles culture to Fresno’s Chinatown.

Gabe Melero and Andrew Franco have opened a pop-up shop at 1429 Kern St. where they sell their own line of T-shirts, tote bags, and Reebok sneakers customized with their brand: Stolen Youth.

Inside their small store, the two 25-year-olds are trying to create a vibe similar to that found on Fairfax Avenue, a well-known shopping district in West Hollywood. The street is home to clothing makers, including Supreme, The Hundreds and Huff.

The brands have been popularized by everyone from skateboarders to hip-hop artists.

“We want to bring Fresno something that is unique, something you are not going to find at a store in the mall,” said Melero.

The clothing features the Stolen Youth name in different designs. One shirt has the words Stolen Youth on the back along with a red dragon and the words Chinatown.

Franco, who is working on his graphic arts degree, said that they work hard to produce clothing that pays attention to small details, including quality of fabric, hand-sewn labels and clothing tags with their brand name.

“We want to be able to continue to make the nicest stuff we can,” Franco said.

The Stolen Youth shop is open on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pop-up store will be open until February.

For more information you can find Stolen Youth on Twitter @stolenyouth and Instagram, @stolenyouth.

This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Word on the Street: Pop-up shop brings youth-oriented clothing to Chinatown."