Will Brain Dead make Brooks Brothers cool?

Brooks Brothers California? No, that’s not the name of a clothing line from Brooks Brothers with the Hollister code. Rather, it’s the title of a surprising collaboration between the old-fashioned American luxury label and Brain Dead, the Los Angeles-based brand known for its streetwear that looks like it was designed on LSD tablets.

This appears to be not just a one-time collaboration, but (possibly) a long-term partnership that will see Ng oversee his own line, similar to his ongoing partnership with Oakley.

In June 2024, Brain Dead founder Kyle Ng started posting hints about this upcoming collaboration on Instagram. Of course, there’s a cute co-branded logo that connects Brain Dead’s head with floating sheep from Brooks Brothers. And honestly, I was just counting sheep in my head while waiting to see what Brooks Brothers will bring with its first streetwear-focused collaboration since teaming up with Supreme a decade ago.

The first teaser for Brain Dead x Brooks Brother was titled “See you in Paris,” but there were no signs of life from the collaboration during the Spring/Summer 2025 shows at Paris Men’s Fashion Week.

Ng’s caption was likely referring to his overall design presence there, as his work with the Oakley Factory Team resurfaced in the form of futuristic dad shoes on Junya Watanabe’s runway.

However, a lookbook teaser Ng posted gives us a better idea of ​​what this radical collaboration really looks like, and it’s certainly not, for lack of a better word, brain-dead. It doesn’t look like the Los Angeles-based brand is making T-shirts with Brooks Brothers. Instead, it’s setting its bloodshot eyes on one of Brooks Brothers’ groundbreaking menswear pieces, a classic button-down shirt made from oxford fabric.

Brain Dead took the six-button Oxford shirt we all know and combined it with a button placket from Brooks Brothers’ original Oxford popover.

This pullover shirt was actually the first button-down Oxford shirt Brooks Brothers ever offered. It’s as if Brain Dead put the Oxford shirt through a wormhole that stretched its cotton fibers between past and present.

Already, this collaboration between Brooks Brothers and the company feels more daring than the previous streetwear collaboration with Supreme in 2014, which simply delivered a seersucker suit with a matching bucket hat.

Admittedly, this accessory was right on the pulse of streetwear trends at the time, but to be honest, I didn’t even remember this collaboration with Supreme until I saw the Brain Dead teasers.

I guess that’s because my 16-year-old self would never have thought of wearing a suit or choosing a Supreme x Brooks Brothers bucket hat over a tie-dye Milkcrate hat from a oxymoron-Era Schoolboy Q.

But now let’s get to the meat of this collaboration. Despite being the oldest American fashion label with over 205 years of experience in the fashion business, Brooks Brothers has been getting itself back together since filing for bankruptcy in 2020. Aside from being part of a line of collaborators that were part of Junya Watanabe’s 2024 men’s collections, nothing as exciting has come out of Brooks Brothers as this Brain Dead collaboration. So it’s refreshing to see someone at this heritage label unbutton the collar and get this Brain Dead collaboration rolling.

It’s worth noting that the owner of the Brooks Brothers brand in Japan is tastefully embracing the “Take Ivy” movement that propelled the old guard of American menswear brands to the top in the first place—as evidenced by collaborations with fashion-conscious Japanese retailers like Urban Research.

But seriously, this Brain Dead collaboration is the first time I’ve thought about Brooks Brothers since the company filed for bankruptcy. And honestly, when I’m shopping for formal wear these days, I browse through Thom Browne’s latest offerings before I even glance at this storied American label.

Imagine how devastated I was when I saw a headline about Browne’s Black Fleece line being relaunched in May 2024 and then found out it will only be high-end formal wear with no Browne involvement? Well, face it! At least this Brain Dead Oxford gets me high, not dry.

Brain Dead’s collaboration with Brooks Brothers also comes at a time when streetwear is embracing classic preppy style. Kids who grew up wearing Supreme are now wearing Aimé Leon Dore blazers. Designers who studied under James Jebbia, like Brendon Babenzien, have left the streetwear space to bring some Nolita swag to J. Crew, aka your parents’ favorite polo shirt brand. Even young streetwear brands like Fugazi have moved away from making parody sneakers to create bizarre versions of loafers that resonate better than most SNKR products today.

All of this goes to show that a fresh perspective is needed at Brooks Brothers. And if Brain Dead’s previous collaborations with The North Face and adidas have proven anything, it’s that Ng’s brand knows how to reimagine a heritage brand’s most iconic products with a cheeky twist. Think of the hippie take on a ’70s North Face work coat or the adidas Superstar-inspired take on bowling shoes. While this Oxford shirt is just a small taste of what’s to come, I think I’m already starting to feel it.