Hello, I’m Ray 2wice Abad!
I am an enthusiastic and creative art director living in the San Francisco Bay Area with 10 years of learning and development and entrepreneurial experience.
Click play to check out my promo video
BEN DAVIS VINTAGE COLLECTOR
My parents both drove Impalas in the 70s and 80s and their circles all wore Ben Davis and Derby jackets. I Inherited my first hand-me-downs in the early 90s and I was instantly hooked. In the 90s workwear was ubiquitous with West Coast culture. At that time Ben Davis clothing could be found at department stores like JC Penney and Montgomery Wards but I preferred to shop at the original SF stores like Ariks, Kaplans, Siegels Acme and Cal Surplus.
Ray 2wice circa 1996
My Dad, Ray Sr. circa 1976
VINTAGE HOMECOMING
In accordance with the changing times, most of the San Francisco and bay area retailers that once kept shelves full of Ben Davis gear have closed their doors over the last fifteen years, including San Francisco’s Arik’s, Siegels and Kaplan’s and the East Bay favorite, Pacific Apparel. This mass exodus sent me to the internet to continue my decades long treasure hunt, now focused primarily on vintage pieces from the 1960’s to the1990’s.
With the advent of social media, I discovered that there is a worldwide following of Ben Davis peaking in popularity across the Pacific in Japan. The Japanese affinity for vintage American workwear has led to a reality of an island nation ripe with vintage collectors that have preserved these timeless pieces of history for generations. For the last eight years, I have been importing vintage USA and Japanese made Ben Davis pieces back to their motherland of San Francisco for the remnant of local natives who hold this brand near to their heart.
INTERSECTIONS: A BEN DAVIS LOOKBOOK SERIES
Intersections is a series of Ben Davis themed lookbooks I designed and directed. Shot on location, in a variety of San Francisco landscapes, both urban and natural, the series features models wearing Bens in a variety of settings, meeting at the intersection of fashion and function.
Click Here to view the Intersections series in my portfolio.
