100 Thieves was founded by Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag back in 2017 with a mission to push gaming culture to new frontiers. In collaboration with Crunchyroll, the premier lifestyle gaming brand is now releasing an official Attack on Titan collection.
The 13-piece collection includes a range of hoodies, tees, jackets, and accessories adorned with stunning graphics based on the popular anime and manga franchise created by Hajime Isayama. Fan-favorite characters such as Levi Ackerman, Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and, of course, the titans, are depicted across the pieces. A couple notable standouts include a signature Survey Corp-green hoodie featuring Captain Levi and the jacket with an outline of Eren flying through the air overlaid atop graphics of his titan form.
To celebrate this collaboration, 100 Thieves is opening its Los Angeles Compound to the public for a special pop-up experience. Holding nothing back for their first pop-up in over two years, a surreal life-sized Colossal Titan display has been installed on the outer wall of 100 Thieves Compound.
The 100 Thieves x Attack on Titan collection is set to release on Saturday, March 12th at 12pm PST on 100Thieves.com. The pop-up is open on Friday, March 11th from 10am to 3pm at the 100 Thieves Compound, located at 6050 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.
Modern Notoriety was able to get a sneak peek at the pop-up in Los Angeles and an exclusive interview with 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag. Check out our photos and interview below (edited for length and clarity).
Modern Notoriety: How did this collaboration with Attack on Titan come about?
Nadeshot: We were going through a lot of discussion with our team about what potential collaboration we can have in the future. If you look at the history of our company, our first couple of years we avoided working with any other brand because we were so new in not only the gaming industry, but the apparel arm of our business. We didn’t have time to build a history and legacy that was our own. We actually had a lot of brands approach us in the first few years about potentially working on clothing together in some collaborative way or another. We really held off because we didn’t want someone else’s story to embody how people would perceive 100 Thieves — what it feels like, what it looks like, the themes, the tone, the style — so when it finally made its course and we felt like we had put our roots within gaming and even broader than that, anime and just this entire world and culture just seemed so synonymous with gaming. I think if you talk to 9 out of 10 kids that are queueing up in Valorant or Warzone how they’re spending their time outside of the video games, more times than not I bet they are watching anime, whether it’s on Crunchyroll or Funimation. It’s just a world that you can get lost in, and that was important for me when I was younger. With Attack on Titan, it just felt like perfect fit for 100 Thieves. It’s a little bit more visceral, a little more gritty, and I felt that it really lined up with our mindset and the culture we’ve built with 100 Thieves more broadly. It just seemed like the perfect storm at the perfect time.
100 Thieves has a certain level of versatility with its projects, whether it be gaming, fashion, or anime. How do you navigate within the different worlds you find yourself in?
I think what’s beautiful is all the things we do really stem from trying to serve our community as best as possible. We have built such an unbelievable team… everything we do — whether it’s in our apparel or whether it’s in our content — everything funnels back to our community and how we can engage them and service them in the worlds that they are passionate about. Overall it’s not as difficult to navigate as you think. At the end of the day, we are doing what we are passionate about and what our community is passionate about. It’s really easy to make decisions about the course of your business and what directions and avenues you’re gonna go down when we are as core-facing to our consumers as we are. It takes the pressure off and you’re not really navigating in the dark. It all stems down to the incredible community we’ve built around our creators, our players, and our brand in general.
Can you describe your personal relationship with anime? When did you first discover the genre?
I can talk about this all day. I grew up with an older brother, he had SportsCenter on repeat. When he would leave the room, that’s when I was turning on Toonami and Cartoon Network and Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball Z. From an early age, just getting lost in these fictional worlds that seemed so magical when you are a young kid that doesn’t have a lot of experience outside your parents house and the school you go to. As I got older, in high school the internet became a lot more accessible. You had access to a lot of information, a lot of shows that you hadn’t seen before. That’s when I started chasing after shows like Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, and Death Note.
Attack on Titan was so different than a lot of the shows that I’ve watched in the past. The character development and depth were completely different from anything that I’ve ever experienced. That’s just how I spent my time as a kid. In general, I was very introverted, so for me, sitting at home playing Call of Duty and then at night, staying up till the crack of dawn watching some of my favorite shows, it was a lifestyle you didn’t really understand and realize other kids are experiencing. In a lot of ways, you felt like you were on your own. Now communities have been built around the internet, especially in gaming. It’s almost like a safe haven for all these things you thought you had to keep to yourself but now you can share it with so many people from so many different walks of life. I don’t want to be too dramatic, but this shit was imperative to me for growing up and feeling like a normal kid. The fact that we’re bringing the best of both worlds with this collaboration with Attack on Titan is just something special.
What’s in the future for 100 Thieves?
Over the next few months and the next year or two, our community is going to see a really big step up in the quality, the direction, and the intricacy of the actual garments. I feel like we’ve finally gotten to the point where we have the right people working on the apparel team to now bring some complexity and some progressiveness and some innovation to what people will see from us in the future. We have not gotten complacent. We’re tremendously excited to take some of our favorite IP with Attack on Titan and deliver a collaboration, but what people should be looking forward to is taking this experience and blowing that out of the water for months and years to come. We are not stopping here. I think we are really going to blow some minds in the second half of this year and I am just really excited for all the things to come. I think people will be really impressed if they stick along for our journey.
Lookbook photos:
