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- Bobby Hundreds Joins Disney: The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Kim has taken on a new role as vice president of creative for Disney Consumer Products, overseeing retail and licensing.
- Shift from Streetwear to Corporate: After stepping down as The Hundreds’ creative director, Kim’s move aligns with his history of exploring diverse ventures that have spanned fashion, writing, food and Hollywood.
- Embracing Change: Kim sees his career shift as a natural extension of his life-long pattern prioritizing curiosity over conventional success.
The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Kim is trying his hand at something new.
Kim, who is better known within streetwear as Bobby Hundreds, announced earlier this month his decision to accept a vice president position at a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary.
The corporate jump is the latest in a slow trickle of information that began with February’s news of The Hundreds closing its long-time flagship store in the Fairfax District. A few days later, Kim confirmed to GQ that he’d be handing the reins of creative director to David Rivera. All that cleared the way for Kim to reveal news less than two later he’d accepted a position as vice president of creative for Disney Consumer Products.
The subsidiary handles retail and licensing for the mouse house. That’s not too unlike his oversight of the collaborations and licensing he did throughout the years at The Hundreds.
The new gig, while a departure from the industry he had been operating in the past two decades, isn’t entirely surprising. It’s just the latest in a series of interesting moves made by Kim dating back to 2003, when he and Ben Shenassafar made the decision to start The Hundreds.
Staying Curious
Over the years, Kim has authored books, opened a restaurant, launched a food festival and turned to Hollywood as a writing outlet. He more recently launched his Substack, called Monologue.
“My entire life, I’ve been sitting at the wrong table, dressing the wrong way and breaking expectations of what I should or shouldn’t be,” Kim wrote in a Sunday piece for his Substack on the thinking behind his move. “I was the Asian kid who was into non-normative subcultures like skateboarding and punk music. I was the streetwear guy with a J.D. The writer with a design background. Along the way, I’ve been met with curiosity, scorn and doubt.”
Much of his previous experiences will inform what he’s set to do with Disney, most notably his studying intellectual property in law school.
In his new role, Kim will be responsible for overseeing the products that will be sold at company-owned retail, inside Disney theme parks and Disney retail partners.
“If I stayed in my lane as a clothing designer, I wouldn’t be able to fulfill this role,” Kim wrote.
He went on to say he was met with questions his latest decision from some who couldn’t wrap their heads around such a departure before pointing out that’s been his M.O. all along.
“They couldn’t follow what I’d prioritize curiosity over prosperity,” he wrote. “But then, I remembered that my moves have been making people uncomfortable for years.”
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