FOUNDED IN 2015: MASSIVE YEAR FOR UK STREET CULTURE
With the momentum behind UK street culture at an all time high, it is no surprise that 2015 was the year in which a 22 year old named Armani Juke decided to create his own clothing line: Take Risks & Prosper (or simply Take Risks). The UK Drill genre was quickly becoming a unique and distinctive sound, tearing away from Chicago's style and cadence, developing a lane of its own with groups like 150, 67 and 410 leading the way. Grime experienced a resurgence led by Skepta, who dropped the now classic song "Shutdown" and went back-to-back with Hip Hop icon Kanye West at a surprise show in London.
Check out this 1 minute clip from "Merch?," which describes the "UK urban music renaissance."
As far as up and coming talent goes, Birmingham rapper Mist had just been released from prison and immediately got to dropping heat, most notably his P110 "1Take Freestyle" which currently sits at over 20 million views. J Hus dropped his groundbreaking mixtape "The 15th Day" and a baby-faced Santan Dave was killing every beat he freestyled on, in time drawing in millions of views to Youtube channels like Bl@ckBox, SBTV and Street Starz TV. When mentioning Dave and J Hus it's impossible to overlook MoStack , coming through that year with big tunes like "So Paranoid" and featuring on street bangers alongside J Spadez and Sneakbo. Section Boyz were on a run, dropping "Trappin Aint Dead" and "Lock Arff", while Stormzy dropped viral hits like "Know Me From" and "Shut Up", which currently have 29M and 121M views respectively. England's street music scene was on fire and UK streetwear brands were becoming more and more visible in music videos and across social media.
EARLY DAYS
Funnily enough, Armani did not know any of the members personally. He simply made a Snapchat account for his new brand and began to add people, one of these people being ASAP. To his surprise, ASAP followed him back! In a 2021 interview on Conversations With a Risk Taker, Armani asked ASAP if that was an accident or perhaps a result of not knowing how to use Snapchat. While ashing his zoot, ASAP responds "I don't know, I must have been high that day or something and then I just added you back. Might've been a dat ting." In hindsight, the unlikely social media friendship begins to look a lot like fate when considering all that came from it. ASAP liked the apparel and asked for a Take Risks cap for himself. Excited about the opportunity and the genuine appreciation being shown, Armani promised to get a cap to him once he got back from holiday. However, by the time Armani got back, ASAP's request had grown from one cap for himself to hats for the whole squad. Armani admits on The Chop Shop Podcast that he did not have many caps at the time but managed to round up enough to fulfil the order.
He insisted on personally bringing the caps to them himself, which meant leaving the comfort of his home town in Birmingham to trek the unfamiliar trenches of South London. When running the thought by his friends they cautioned him and expressed suspicion. "Man were saying 'I don't know about that bruv, these youts are looking wild!' This is when they're on the net", he says to Choppa "Gangbangin'! Road youts! That's how it looked to the net. Wildest youts in London." Despite everyone's anxieties, Armani proceeded with his plan to personally gift the caps to 67 in person, casting all doubts to the wind in the true spirit of "take risks and prosper". He managed to gather a good number of people to go to London with him. "Man rounded up two cars on a protection ting so man's good in their hood, you get me." smiles Armani. Once he arrives in the neighbourhood, two younger members were sent to meet him to collect the hats. But just as he starts heading back home, he receives a call from 67. They thank him for the caps and tell him if he wants to take some pictures they could meet up later. Looking to make the most of the trip, Armani agrees to hang about and they ultimately take the pictures.
He could have very easily just shipped the caps to 67 but he clearly saw the value
in building rapport with the rising stars. Touching base with them on a personal level led to them shouting him first when the group needed some exclusive drip for their "Let's Lurk" music video, featuring Giggs; their biggest song to date. Armani supplied 67 with the now iconic Take Risks reflective lightweight jackets and as interest grew around this new brand, Take Risks and Prosper clothing quickly began to become a UK streetwear essential.
TRENDSETTING
Armani has spoken of his brands influence within fashion on multiple platforms. Take Risks' perfect entry point into the street fashion scene surely led to many companies, some well established, some up and coming, closely observing its styles and marketing approach. The brand's innovation and early exposure separated it from much of its competition at the ground level, effectively making Take Risks a tastemaker for brands on the streets all the way up to the biggest high street retailers, like JD Sports and Footasylum. Here are just a couple examples of how Take Risks may have influenced Britain's street fashion scene.
Reflective Outerwear
The reflective material of the jackets worn in 67's "Let's Lurk" music vid quickly began to inspire other streetwear brands to incorporate the style in their outerwear, and is still a commonly applied feature we see till today. While Take Risks cannot take credit for inventing the hyper-visible material or even being the first to use it for outdoor clothing, the brand certainly popularised the iridescent look in the UK streetwear scene. Before this, hyper-visible jackets were generally sold as an "active jacket" allocated to the running, cycling and adventure departments of sporting goods stores, more for practical use than fashionable appeal.
Paint Splash/Splatter Detailing
Brand Affiliation with the Streets
Along with certain styles, Armani has mentioned that he believes companies were not interested in associating their brands with "street youts" before his success in early 2017, seemingly taking credit for this change. On The Chop Shop he says "Let's think about '016. Was man really tryna promote with street youts and dat? Realistically? Was all these companies tryna push p's and advertising money on to all these street youts and dat? That's where I feel like the 'Let's Lurk' ting changed the game. That's where I feel like man continuing to use that as a marketing strategy changed the game."
There definitely has been a noticeable attitude adjustment in recent years in respects to how businesses in general view and work with the UK street scene. Take Risks was a part of that process, but certainly not the only component. A number of earlier streetwear brands had the same marketing model as Take Risks, but were less successful due to UK street culture as a whole being less commercially viable according to the standards of the the time. These brands also had no blueprint for independence to refer to. For instance, streetwear brands like Boss Status and Swag LDN kept their brands visible on the UK street scene, but the reach and climate at the time was not conducive to the kind of outcomes Take Risks was able to produce and benefit from.
As mentioned earlier, Take Risks entered the scene at a prime time, right when things were really beginning to take off. To artists and brand owners coming up during this time it may have seemed as though they literally created the tidal wave everyone was riding, when in fact that wave was built up over years of door-kicking, barricade-breaking, trial and error, and for many complete failure in their endeavours. Now UK street culture and Black British culture overall (not to be confused) can be seen and heard everywhere. Take Risks was a part of this turnaround and may have inspired other brands to embrace the culture more, but in all fairness the foundation Take Risks & Prosper was built upon was under construction well before the brand's conception.
What's Next for Take Risks & Prosper?
With much success within a reasonably short space of time, the million dollar question is "What comes next?" When it comes to keeping Take Risks clothing visible within the culture and successfully selling online, Armani seems to have these aspects well under control. However, being the visionary he is, Armani has made it clear that Take Risks is more than just a clothing line; it is a brand in every sense. The connections he has made within the culture has led to an abundance of artists naturally making appearances on his "Conversations with a Risk Taker" podcast, with each episode comfortably bringing in five and six figure view counts on Youtube.
Armani has also announced that he will be opening up a physical shop at Birmingham's most prominent shopping location, Bull Ring & Grand Central. (No updates have been posted about this since November 2021 but the post is still displayed on the official Take Risks instagram account, so hopefully this major move is still underway.) By all indications, Take Risks & Prosper will be cemented in UK streetwear and street culture on a whole, and the potential to outgrow some of its older and more established rivals within the industry is very real. Only time will tell.
