I hadn’t seen a firefly since I was a child.

I would take a mason jar into the yard and try to predict where one might appear. Every once in a while I was right, and a light would blink on just in front of the mouth of the jar. Usually I wasn’t. A glow would appear ten yards over the wrong shoulder & disappear into the night.

There are fireflies in the Berkshires. We didn’t see any that weekend, but I know they’re around.

It was the last weekend of summer, though we decided it was the first weekend of fall. Mostly because we were cold.

Instead, we threw a baseball around until one sailed over a shoulder and hit a tree. We whittled sticks for marshmallows. Some chose long branches that kept them safely outside the smoke. Some of us chose sticks barely longer than our hands and singed the hair off our knuckles.

In the morning, the dew soaked through everything.

The cold grass reminded me of Trout Lake. Learning that an over-easy egg is better with the right breakfast sausage beside it.

None of it was remarkable enough to plan a trip around.

That was probably what made us appreciate it as we did.

As a kid, catching a firefly was about being quick enough to get the jar over the light. I didn’t understand that the best part was watching it fly away & the rush of seeing another to chase after.

Portland has no shortage of art shows, but very few feel like this one. For the past three years, Sakura Chino, Finn Donnelly, and Buck Chapman have been throwing one-night-only group shows around the city. The Junk Show, The House Show, The Smoke Show. Each one is built around a single theme and a lot of favors from friends. What started as an intern project has turned into one of the more exciting recurring things happening in the city, and every dollar it makes goes straight back into the next one. Collaborating on a BK art show was an easy yes.

On the last Saturday of August, 22 local artists filled the Plink Room on SE Belmont with their own takes on the dog days theme. Paintings, sculpture, prints. We made an exclusive graphic for the night and printed it on our Pearl Black Kelley tees. After Ours handled the food, our friends at Ardor showed up with natural wine again, and the beer was free.

What we love most about these nights is that there's no barrier to entry. Some of the artists on the walls have been part of Portland's scene for years. For others, it's the first time their work has ever hung in public, and we are just happy to be apart of that environment. That's the same feeling we chase with our own events: open the doors and let people find their way in. Thank you to Sakura, Finn, and Buck for having us, and to everyone who came through. More to come.

Organized by Sakura Chino, Finn Donnelly Buck Chapman

Venue - The Plink Room

Food - After Ours

Wine - Ardor

The flyer said it best: Home Sweet Home. Since last summer, we've taken BARE KNUCKLES to LA, Paris, and New York, and every trip made coming back feel more important. Portland is where we were born and raised, and we wanted the city to get first crack at everything that was going to be for sale. We took over Union/Pine on SE Pine Street from 10am to 4pm and filled it with samples, b-grades, and deep discounts. We also brought out some of the vintage reference pieces that shape how we design.

We wanted the day to feel like more than a sale. Shane from ChainPDX set up his chainstitch machine, and the Suaps homies ran live printing throughout the day with a custom BK graphic. Slow Haste kept everyone caffeinated, and our buddies Nick and Mike were back on the grill with Nick & Mike's All Beef Burgers, same as last year.

These days are some of our favorites of the year. Watching clothes find a home in our local city never gets old. Thank you to everyone who came through, and to the friends who helped make it happen. Portland, it's always good to be from here. More to come.

Venue - Union/Pine

Coffee - Slow Haste

Burgers - Nick & Mike's All Beef Burgers

Chainstitch - ChainPDX

For the release of our two new Javier washes, we had the idea to tap into the Lampkin twins to model both colors. The new Javiers are a midweight stone washed wide leg jean with a generous, untapered fit and a high rise. The pant is assembled PFD white, garment dyed mocha brown, and then stonewashed for a broken in wash and hand. It was super fun to showcase the new washes in the neighborhood around our office and play into the twin theme.

Talent
Andy Lampkin
Rudy Lampkin

Photo
Gilbert Terrazas

"We drank and bit our tongues. We stood in the water. We threw sticks. Smoke circled back and burned our eyes. We laughed at things that will not sound funny later.

 
A gray dog does not know he is gray.

 
He only knows the stick was thrown.
The water is cold. His people are near.


And for a weekend, everyone is young enough to run.

 
A gray dog is only old if you knew him when he was young."

How Old Is a Gray Dog, photographed by Drew Fishburn, follows a few friends and his dog through a weekend on the Oregon coast.

A mix of old and new BK items styled and shot over the weekend.

Produced & Directed by Drew Fishburn

Talent
Max Quinn
Josh Fernando
Nate Bell
Mitchell Fies

Art Direction Assist
Hazel Cabler

Production Assist
Ben Brickle

When we said more events to come, we weren't lying. Over the last weekend of April 2026, we held a three-day pop-up in the LES of New York City. For months, we knew we wanted to find a way to get to our second biggest market (LA #1) and be in person with the people who have been supporting us.

We decided to go back to our roots and use the trip as an opportunity to properly debut our S/S 2026 collection. Prior to this season, we hadn't done a real collection in years. Since 2023, the brand had settled into a weekly or bi-weekly drop schedule — releasing clothes in increments rather than building toward a unified moment. For the NY pop-up, we wanted to flip that. We gathered everything that would have normally rolled out over a few months and styled it together into one cohesive collection. It felt right to do it that way so that the event felt meaningful.

The response was incredible. NY really showed up. We heard over and over that being able to touch and feel the clothes in person made a real difference. Hearing that just reinforces something we already believe: we're a community brand first. Getting to talk and actually listen to every single person who came through that door was the whole point. We understand that what we do isn't revolutionary, we make clothing. But if we can build a community of people who genuinely connect with each other through what we're doing, that's the difference maker. We felt that in New York. We saw so many people who had known each other through social medai actually meet each other in person for the first time.

None of it happens without the people around us. We had an exceptional group helping throughout the entire week — from setup to the last day — and we're genuinely grateful for every one of them. More to come.

Some collaborations are manufactured. This one wasn't. We were first introduced to VINNY's on a business trip to LA. We walked into a store, slipped on a pair of their Yardee loafers, and that was it. The most comfortable loafer either of us had ever tried on. A year later, Jacob took a personal trip to Copenhagen, and the one piece of business he knew he had to handle was visiting Virgil and the VINNY's showroom. Jacob walked in and was immediately struck by the warmth of the team and the care behind everything they do. By the time he left, the conversation had already started. He called Cole on the way out and told him we had to do something with these guys.

The collaboration made sense because we share a similar philosophy. At BARE KNUCKLES, we obsess over quality, craftsmanship, and the kind of detail that most people won't immediately notice but that matters anyway. It was clear that VINNY's operates the same way. We are two brands from opposite sides of the world but built on the same values.

From the start, we knew what we didn't want to put our name on something that already existed. The point was to create something where both brands identity actually lived inside the shoe. The Yardee was the clear choice of model for us. The proportions, the attitude, and the construction all felt central to both teams. What we needed was to find a leather that felt like BK. Something that would break in, develop texture, and feel rugged and lived in rather than precious. We went through five or six iterations, making small adjustments each time. The first samples were too clean. So we started working the leather, washing it, drying it, letting the process shape the surface and the feel. We worked with the factory in Portugal to pull back on the finishing so we could get that irregular, perfectly imperfect result.

The studs came from an unlikely place - an unreleased BK denim sample. Moving that design language from denim onto the loafer felt natural. It's a subtle shift, but it's the kind of thing that takes a shoe from good to iconic without ever being loud about it.

This collaboration was nearly two years in the making. It's a combination of two brands from two different continents who both care deeply about what they put out into the world. We don't try to reinvent the wheel, we find silhouettes we love and give them that slight twist that makes them unmistakably ours. The Yardee is exactly that. We hope you love wearing it as much as we loved building it.

Our first Paris Fashion Week as a brand was everything we hoped it would be. The trip was anchored around the launch of our loafer collaboration with VINNY's, the Copenhagen-based footwear brand founded by Virgil Nicholas. He built the brand around what he calls "the classics of tomorrow": handcrafted leather loafers made in Portugal that have quietly become one of the most coveted shoes in menswear. To celebrate the collab, we hosted a friends and family dinner with Virgil and the VINNY's team at Cendrillon, and it set the tone for the whole week.

From there, we linked up with Cole Young, founder of Metalwood Studio. Cole built the LA-based brand around the nostalgia of 90s golf culture and modern streetwear, and his approach to building a brand is something we respect. We also got time with Chino and Jonathan, both runway models for Willy Chavarria, whose Paris debut that season was one of the most talked about shows of the week. Getting face time with people in that world felt meaningful as we don't usually get to be at the forefront of fashion being in Portland.

We stopped into the Basketcase Gallery showroom to see Henry. The Southern California cult streetwear brand made their inaugural Paris showcase that season, and seeing them bring that energy to Fashion Week was very exciting. We also spent time with Kyle from Notre in Chicago, one of the best menswear retailers in the country and a brand that shares our sensibility in a lot of ways. We are now carried in their Chicago location and couldn't be happier to be stocked in the Midwest.

On the personal side, we treated ourselves to a visit to Jacques Marie Mage and spent time shopping for ourselves and pulling references, which is one of the most valuable things you can do in a city like Paris during Fashion Week. And we made sure to get to 24 Process, our favorite store in the city, to hang with Louis and the Constant Practice guys. One of the most respected archive menswear destinations in the world, run by people who genuinely love clothes at a deep level.

The whole trip reminded us why we dove into clothing as a business. Paris during Fashion Week is a rare window where the entire industry is in one place, and if you move right, you come home with relationships and references that last well beyond the week itself.

Fresh off our first ever LA pop up, we wanted to bring the momentum back home. Portland is where BARE KNUCKLES started, and there's something important about showing up for the city that showed up for us first. We connected with the team at Frances May, one of our favorite stores in the city, and they welcomed us in to build out a larger brand presence in their menswear section. The pop up was a chance to celebrate that relationship and debut a new collection in front of the people who matter most to us.

At its core though, it was really just about getting good people in a room together. We reached out to Ardor, our favorite natural wine bar in Portland, and they showed up with bottles to keep the evening going. The turnout was everything we could have asked for. A mix of familiar faces and new ones, and the kind of easy energy that only happens when a community actually means something.

We say it a lot, but we mean it every time. BARE KNUCKLES is nothing without the people around it. Nights like this one are a good reminder of that.

This past October we held our first ever pop up in Los Angeles, and it gave us a whole new appreciation for the people who do these things repeatedly. It was one of the most fun things we've done as a brand, and also one of the most involved. We had a producer help us plan the whole thing, and we'd never attempt it without one again.

We rented a spot in Silver Lake on W Sunset Blvd and opened for the weekend. Getting there was half the story. We had the Lampkin twins drive a U-Haul over 16 hours from Portland loaded with Turkish rugs, mid-century furniture, plants, books, and trinkets. All the pieces from our world in PDX that we wanted to bring down and make the space feel like us. The goal was always for people to walk in and immediately understand what BARE KNUCKLES is about without us having to say a word.

And they showed up. California is our number one market by a wide margin, and it really showed that weekend. There was a constant, enthusiastic flow of people from open to close both days. What meant the most was being able to have the clothes there in person, to let people who had heard about us but hadn't pulled the trigger yet actually have a chance to touch things, try things on, and talk with us directly about how and why we make what we make. Those conversations and connections are something you simply can't replicate online.

It was exhausting in the best possible way. We couldn't have done it without our team, and we wouldn't change a thing. More to come.

We have built a friendship with Justin, the man behind JoJo, over a mutual love for fashion and food. It wasn't long in our friendship before a collaboration started to feel inevitable. Justin loves BK, we love JoJo, and great things came from that mutual respect.

The collab concept was for Cole and Jacob to each create their own sandwich and let the people decide. Cole went back to his Italian roots with the Gabacole, a focaccia loaded with arugula, hot peppers, provolone, pesto, and mixed deli meats. A classic, confident sandwich. Jacob went in a different direction entirely with J's Knuckle Sandwich, a bánh mì baguette loaded with braised brisket, provolone, fried onions, chili mayo, and chimichurri. Justin ran both as specials for the night and kept them on through the rest of the week.

We've always believed that fashion and food aren't that far apart. If you're thoughtful enough to care about where you eat, the ingredients, the craft, the people behind it, you're usually the same kind of person who cares about what you wear. This one was a natural fit, and it won't be the last time we blur those lines.

When you're making apparel at volume with rigorous wash and garment treatment processes, b-grades and damages are simply part of the equation. A small hole, a minor sewing irregularity, a wash result that didn't land exactly where we wanted. Our QC process flags all of it, and that inventory adds up over time. Rather than let it collect dust, we decided to do something with it.

We took over a wedding venue in inner Central Eastside Portland and filled it with damages, b-grades, samples, and archive pieces. Essentially, everything that never made it to the floor at full price. The goal was to get great clothing into the hands of the local community at a price that was hard to say no to.

What we didn't fully anticipate was the turnout. We opened the doors to a line of hundreds of people, and by the time the dust had settled, we moved close to 1,000 pieces and closed up shop hours ahead of when we had planned. Our buddies Nick and Mike set up outside and grilled smash burgers for the crowd, which felt right for the energy of the day.

These events mean a lot to us. There's something inherently satisfying about seeing clothes find a home in the local scene, and knowing that someone walked away with a piece they love at a price that worked for them. We'll be doing it again.

For a brand nearly eight years in, it's a little surprising that leather accessories had never been part of the picture. Then again, maybe we were just waiting for the right partner. HTC has been a cornerstone of the leather and studded goods world for decades. Their name carries real weight in the industry, and the craftsmanship behind their work is about as good as it gets. We didn't hesitate when the opportunity to collaborate came about.

We came in with a clear vision of a black cowhide belt with a hair-on-hide variation, cut at 1.75 inches wide. Substantial enough to feel locked in and intentional on the waist. From there, we developed a diamond pattern for the hair-on-hide and scattered starburst studs with colorful gems throughout, giving it just the right amount of personality without going too far.

What makes this one particularly special to us is where the pattern actually came from. Jacob drew the whole thing by hand on his iPad, a rough personal sketch that made its way through HTC's production process and came out the other side as a finished product. There's something genuinely surreal about seeing a hand-drawn idea turned into a physical object by one of the best in the business. This one meant a lot to us.

One thing that will never change about how we operate is that we love doing things with people we actually know and respect. Bailey Goldberg is one of those people. The California born, Brooklyn based designer has quietly become one of the most sought after names in knitwear, and we had been personally buying his beanies to wear through Portland winters long before the idea of a collaboration ever came up. When it finally did, it was an easy conversation.

Bailey approaches his work with a seriousness about craft that he balances with a genuine sense of humor and personal reference, and that energy made the whole process smooth and fun. We knew going in that we wanted to put the BK star motif on a beanie, and after working through a few different variations, we landed on a design that wraps the star pattern all the way around. For colorways, we went classic black, and then pushed it with lime green and royal blue to give the collection some personality.

Bailey's signature 85% wool, 15% mohair blend with the built-in cuff was a given from the start. It's what makes his beanies feel the way they do, and we weren't about to change it. The result is something that feels distinctly Bare Knuckles and distinctly Bailey at the same time, which is exactly what a good collaboration should be.

Since the summer of 2023, we had been quietly working on something a little different for BARE KNUCKLES. Our own signature scent. It was something we had wanted to do for a while, and when we finally committed to it, we knew we wanted to do it right. For this we turned to Maak Lab, a Portland-based perfumer just a few blocks from our office, and the nose behind many of the candles and fragrances you'll find in some of the city's best-known spaces. Working with someone local felt important to us.

The process was more involved than we anticipated. We spent time in their lab working through notes, pulling together a list of our favorite smells, and letting their team find the through-line. There's something almost overwhelming about being surrounded by hundreds of scents and trying to articulate what you're drawn to and why. After about five iterations, we landed on something we were happy with. A guaiacwood-forward scent with musky and peppery undertones that felt distinctly us. We called it A Certain Someone.

The campaign was just as enjoyable to put together. The concept was a nod to those over the top luxury car commercials, the ones with the gravelly voiceover and sweeping visuals that you used to watch as a kid. We leaned into that fully. We hired a voice actor to read our script and laid his audio over clean studio footage of the fragrance. It was one of the more fun things we've done as a brand. Low pressure and playful.

In April 2024, we officially launched the BARE KNUCKLES Basics Collection and it's been one of the most rewarding things we've built. The concept was to create a collection of foundational pieces that earn a permanent spot in your wardrobe. T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, sweat shorts, thermals, zip hoodies. The items everyone reaches for without thinking about, and making sure ours were actually worth reaching for.

We spent months on developing the fit of our t-shirts and hoodies and went through six samples each before we felt good about where they landed. We were looking at everything. How they fit fresh out of the bag, how they held their shape after a hundred washes, how the fabric aged over time. The fabrics are custom milled, chosen specifically for their weight and durability. They are not only built to last, but are meant to get better with wear.

We launched in classic black and white, and have since expanded to nearly a dozen colorways. But the foundation has always stayed the same. Everyone needs a great t-shirt and a perfect hoodie in their rotation and this is our version of that.