Biography
Fusing Californian rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia with streetwear, Mike Amiri has grown his namesake label into a luxury brand with a large international distribution, sales of over $40 million and an investment from Renzo Rosso ’s OTB in 2019.
Born in Los Angeles, Amiri began his fashion career handcrafting unique stage pieces for iconic hard rockers such as Axl Rose and Steven Tyler. His flair for tapping into this rock ‘n’ rock aesthetic led him to design a capsule collection for LA-concept store Maxfield, marking the launch of his eponymous luxury fashion line in 2014.
Amiri’s upbringing in the heart of Hollywood, surrounded by graffiti artists, skaters and musicians, formed the basis of the brand’s aesthetic, a blend of Californian culture and streetwear. His first collection was based on vintage items and featured embellished jeans, sweatshirts and T-shirts holed by shotgun fire. Distressed jeans are a big part of the Amiri business. Each Amiri collection is centred around local manufacturing, with ready-to-wear produced in the LA Arts District using materials sourced in Italy, Japan and France.
The brand expanded distribution in 2015 and added women’s ready to-wear, footwear and accessories a year later. In 2017, Amiri sold $275,000 worth of clothes in the first three hours of a six-week pop-up at Maxfield. In June 2019, Renzo Rosso’s OTB, which owns Diesel, Marni and Maison Margiela , took a minority stake in the Amiri brand.
Amiri has been a member of the CFDA since 2018 and was nominated for the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent in the same year. In 2019, he was nominated for Menswear Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards.