Generic Youth

Generic Youth designs and makes t-shirts, hooded jackets made of towels and other clothing. When I visited owner Jeff Yokoyama, he was wearing a hoodie made out of a Coke beach towel.

What makes the store interesting is it’s a hub of ideas, many of which are coming from the local kids. They come up with t-shirt designs and he pays them for their drawings and transfers them to t-shirts. Local filmmakers are working on enhancing the Generic Youth website.

Jeff designs in one corner of the store, where there is a sewing table set up and lots of fabric in cubbies. On the other side of the store, are the tees and jackets. He’s got some new plaid hooded jackets in the store. He also brings in designers to set up “pop-up” stores in his store. Now, he’s adding a hair salon. He used to be a hairdresser in his 20s.

The store began as a summer project for his daughter, Coco. She came up with the name and her shadowed sillouette is used as the logo. She also came up with the key on the zipper pulls, which stands for individuality.

The store is at 1609 Pomona Ave. in Costa Mesa.