BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — You can call it a match made in Buffalo.
Buffalo-born lifestyle brand "Cafe" is teaming up with New Era Cap Company on an exclusive new collection of hats and clothing that will drop at the end of June.
"It's a long time coming, I would like to thank New Era for taking an opportunity with a person like myself from the community where New Era started," Billie Essco, Founder and CEO of Cafe tells 7 News, "For me it was very prominent that I work with someone of this magnitude first from my own city."
Essco says his new Cafe collection will include 10 hats and a hoodie that will be exclusively sold at New Era headquarters in Downtown Buffalo starting on June 30th.
The partnership with New Era is another impressive milestone for Essco and the Cafe concept which has been years in the making.
"This wasn't a money grab, this wasn't a way to promote myself, but more so to show the community that I'm a kid from the East Side of Buffalo and I landed a partnership with a multi-million, billion dollar conglomerate from my own city.", says Essco, "I just wanted to show people that it's possible."
What is the Cafe Brand?
The Cafe concept was born in 2015 out of a response to a community-based issue. Essco tells 7 News that he noticed that many local cafes "felt old and mundane" and didn't promote contemporary taste.
"I felt like Buffalo deserves a place, especially for my community and others, a place you can go and dwell and you can learn, get cultured, get taste, create things and promote that. Cafe started from there as an idea," says Essco.
"As we like to say, we're refreshing," says Essco, "The modern taste is a space metaphorically and physically that you can come to adore. You can learn things not only about the brand but about yourself."
Who is Billie Essco?
Billie Essco is a musician, designer, and creative consultant that also goes by the name Uptown Chase.
"I'm a kid from the East Side of Buffalo, New York who is adamant about showing the world that Buffalo has talent, and it has culture," says Essco, "A person that has taste, and wants to articulate that taste into the world." "In a nutshell, I'm just a kid who comes from a small place with big ideas."
Essco tells 7 News that his love of design and fashion started at an early age.
"I have to attribute it to my mother. Watching her reupholster couches, turning things from leather to suede, painting walls. We had a leather wall in the house. Seeing the possibility of things changing with your own creativity kicked it off for me."
Evolution of the Cafe concept and creation of the logo
Essco says he built on the Cafe concept by creating a logo for the brand in 2017 while studying as a student at Buffalo State University.
"When I created the logo that's when I knew I had something," says Essco, "I had studied brands like Apple, Microsoft and Google, one-word names, very straightforward, mostly you can interpret in any language."
Launch of the Cafe trucker hat and merchandise line
Essco introduced his Cafe logo to the world in 2020 when he designed and released a Cafe branded trucker hat during his final semester at Buffalo State. The hat instantly demanded attention and is now sold across the country.
"I've had a multitude of many successes that have led up to where I am now. I believe that during the pandemic we were all faced with a decision to either grow or to kind of stay the same, which really wasn't an option for me," says Essco, "I saw the world changing, the trucker hats, we called them the thinking caps, was just a symbol of change."
"I noticed that the colors really brought people in. The colors represent the community. So there are multiple colors in the hat and that represents the different communities within one. The pink around it represents women, because no matter what women connect everything. Whether you are interested in them, work with them, or learn from them, women run the world. Then the gold is there to bring it all together. It's the royalty to make us all know that our community is gold."
Cafe collaborates with other Buffalo brands
In 2021 Essco and Cafe began collaborating with Griselda Records and Buffalo Kids Gallery. He says it was a partnership that evolved over time.
"We were big on raising the culture of Hip-Hop within Buffalo. Creating spaces and events for other artists to see themselves growing. I worked along side Griselda Records since the beginning of that. I did a lot of work with Westside Gunn, creative direction, creative artwork, and just a friend with a good opinion."
Essco says it was a trip to Paris in January of 2020 that prompted his move into the space.
"Long live Virgil Abloh who was the creative director of Off-White and also the men's director of Louis Vuitton. He invited us along with Westside Gunn and a few other people to Paris. That experience prompted me just to hone in on all the ideas that I had. And really double down on who I was as a multifaceted person. Really embrace that and give that to the world"
What does the future hold for Cafe?
"I really want to open up a cafe´ and we have plans. We have been looking at different spaces and things like that. We are taking our time. You know the world is changing, logistics are changing, food is changing. So we want to make sure that when we do this, we do it right, not rush," says Essco.
"The next big step is to continue to collaborate with other brands that have a prominence in their own right, but then also grow our relationship when we continue this, who may open doors for larger things to come and then open up that cafe´"
Having success in Buffalo and reaction to New Era collection
"You know, I've seen a lot of people say this was a win for the city. And that makes me the most happy because it's not just about me. A lot of times I could have been selfish, but I was never that person, even when I should have been for my own right. You know, sometimes you have to take care of yourself first," says Essco, "I've always been a Buffalo kid who cared about Buffalo kids. And it don't matter the age range, color or creed, it just matters that we are all on the same mission to make this place we adore better and make ourselves better, you know what I mean? I think that this collaboration is just another step in that direction, but it is a big step."
