SEOUL TACO COLLABORATES WITH STREETWEAR DESIGNER LEADERS 1354
Seoul Taco a new Korean/Mexican restaurant in Chicago’s River North, has teamed up with Chicago streetwear brand Leaders 1354, to create an exclusive line of t-shirts for the fast-casual restaurant. Owner Choi teamed with Leaders Founder Corey Gilkey and Designer Eddie “Edo” White to create the collaboration that showcases the restaurant’s urban vibe.
On Friday, July 15, Seoul Taco will host a Hip Hop Happy Hour event at the restaurant from 5-8 p.m. with leading Chicago DJ, Jayilla (@jayilla), giveaways, and more. For every guest that purchases a t-shirt, they will receive a free taco. Although the event is open to the public, guests are encouraged to RSVP here.
Seoul Taco is known not only for their addictive Korean tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos, but their work with local artists and designers. Choi explains, “It’s important for me to bridge the gap between creatives across a number of industries. We started as a food truck so the streetwear culture is part of our DNA. When I met Corey, we hit it off right away. His team is super talented and captured the style of Seoul Taco, but we also share a passion to connect people in the arts.”
For example, Choi commissioned local Chicago artists Erik DeBat, Won Kim and Mario Castaneda to create street art murals for the new restaurant. He’s also working with a 3-D printing tech start-up to develop signage and packaging for his restaurants. In its 14-year history, Leaders 1354 has become the epicenter of Chicago streetwear culture for fashion, art, music and entertainment. Gilkey has helped up-and-coming music artists sell their CDs and host listening parties in-store to mentored many of the big streetwear bands that have come out of Chicago. See more on the store’s blog.
For the t-shirt designs, Edo White’s take on taco art had been mulling for quite some time. “I wanted to somehow represent the food at Seoul Taco without it being super cheesy or cartoon-like,” he states. “I wanted it to be bold and fresh, but not super detailed. I’m really happy with how it turned out. We can’t keep them on the shelves at our stores.”
Edo is an example of Corey Gilkey championing of local Chicago talent. After starting at Leaders two years ago, White was given a chance to dabble in design. This spring, he released a full collection of his streetwear clothing. “Art kind of fell into my lap. It is always something that I’ve loved to do, but I’m all self-taught. Corey gave me the opportunity to pursue this as a career.”
The shirts are available for purchase at Leaders locations as well as Seoul Taco for $30. To learn more about Leaders 1354, visit www.leaders1354.com. To learn more about Seoul Taco, visit www.seoultaco.com.
