Ludwig: Streetwear with an Iconoclastic Streak

Designer Mike Dytri has found an unusual muse for Ludwig Van the Man, his new line of grown-up streetwear. Inspired by the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who wrote his best work after losing his sense of hearing, Dytri strives to make streetwear in a similar vacuum. “We don’t want to be influenced by whatever else is going on in streetwear or whatever the trends are. I want Ludwig to be different than everything that’s out on the market. Everyone seems to be doing the same thing,” Dytri said. “It’s all noise and clutter.” In contrast, innovation, creativity and a clean aesthetic are Ludwig’s main goals, Dytri said.

Spring 2008 saw Ludwig’s soft launch, which focused on T-shirts with Dytri’s spare, pop culture–inspired graphics. Dytri, who last worked as an art director in the action-sports market for brands such as Matix and Mosh BMX, got his start instreetwear with Subfreakie, a men’s cult Tshirt brand he shuttered in 2003. Business partner Willard Ford, son of actor Harrison Ford and partner in the Ford Brady furniture showroom, brings a grown-up modern aesthetic that is visible in the Ludwig office showroom space, which is housed in Ford’s downtown Los Angeles compound.

Ludwig’s logo is a portrait mash-up of Beethoven and Alex DeLarge, the milkdrinking delinquent in Stanley Kubrick’s classic film “A Clockwork Orange.” According to Dytri, it is the perfect illustration of the brand’s classic yet subversive message.

For Fall 2008, Ludwig expands with hoodies, woven shirts, jeans-style twill and canvas pants, outerwear, vests, rugby shirts, and accessories. Graphics are spare and limited to Ludwig’s 10 T-shirts, and silhouettes are lean without being too skinny. Colors are somber, with a few hits of red and mustard. “We’re targeting a more sophisticated streetwear guy. He’s a little older; he’s outgrown the really bright, loud stuff,” Dytri said. “If you wanted to buy something with a similar aesthetic, you’d have to spend a lot. We offer an accessible price point but with the same sort of details and level of design you’d expect from a high-end streetwear brand.”

Standout pieces include a long-sleeve shirt with a jersey body and dip-bleached plaid poplin sleeves, a French-terry hoodie styled after the classic M-65 military jacket and a long-sleeve cotton shirt with contrast fabric sewn on the bias. Wholesale prices for the line—which sells at Fred Segal Santa Monica; Proper in Long Beach, Calif.; and online at Digital Gravel—range from $15 for T-shirts to $36 for slim-cut flannel shirts and $72 for a preppy-meets-Mod shirt-style jacket. For more information, visit www.ludwigvantheman.com or call (213) 249-3660.Erin Barajas