A resounding set of traits is visible when analyzing the history of any accomplished business. But, the naíve commoner might say that being in the right place at the right time is one of them. Although this occurrence cannot be overlooked as the definitive source for many businesses fortunes, other key attributes are far more critical to the fundamental success of any venture. All lucrative businesses have a definitive goal, a superior product, knowledge, expertise, foresight, and strategy. An example of these phenomena is the design, research and strategist conglomerate known as the Keystone Design Union (KDU).

The KDU, a private creative collective, is the brainchild of Strategist and Designer, David Gensler. The genius has worked fifteen years as the strategic branding authority for a number of Fortune 500 Companies including Adidas, Reebok, and Universal. Years of practical practice and his business education have helped, this loyal Freemason, catapult brands like Rocawear and Roc-a-fella Records into the spotlight of youth culture and its fashion. But as the 21st century began, a new street wear trend emerged. The baggy jeans and boring white sneakers were left behind for a new vibrant look inspired by sneaker culture and the 80′s. Gensler spoon-fed the entire street wear genre from its infancy while continuing to have his hand on the pulse of the whole apparel industry. Around five years ago Gensler took his real world experience and put together the KDU; simultaneously, he began the construction of his own menswear line, Serum Versus Venom (SVSV).

One of the creative powerhouses Gensler has integrated into the KDU and SVSV, is the current creative director and senior partner, Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic. It takes only one glance at his works of art to understand why he has been conferred the title of creative director. Lex is the true manifestation of “artist”. While in Japan, he developed his own calligraphic style of writing whose characters are reminiscent of ancient Islamic scripture.

Lex’s design influence is seen throughout every piece of the SVSV line. His brilliance has led to branding and editorials for clients including MTV Japan, Sony BMG, Apple, and Nokia. His projects have made the impact of the Keystone Design Union seen everyday throughout the world. Gradient Magazine had the privilege of catching up with Gensler and Lex only days before the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, at the KDU headquarters nestled in the hipster-doofus capitol of the U.S. – Williamsburg, Brooklyn. However, neither Gensler nor Lex could ever be classified as a hipster let alone a doofus.

Their involvement in this momentous occasion went deeper then just casting a vote back in November of 2008. Preceding the Presidential Inauguration, Gensler and Lex were commissioned to create exclusive pieces of art for the exhibition MANIFEST HOPE in Washington, D.C. The presentation rallied a diverse collection of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one gallery to note this monumental triumph in our nation’s history. It encouraged artists and activists to uphold the ambition to bring about true change in the United States. Lex commented, “I really believe that the design of Barack Obama’s campaign is what helped to get him into office.” After taking inspiration from Barack’s signature “O” and slogan “YES WE CAN,” Gensler rewrote The Preamble to the United States Constitution. Lex used his signature calligraphy for this piece, and then spelled out “YES WE CAN” using the currency signs from various countries for a second piece of work. The artwork was awe-inspiring. Maybe that’s why the mood of the KDU was in such high spirits?

The aura of this creative collective is unlike that of your typical business. As we enter through the captivating SVSV showroom, the gallery exudes a minimalistic chic energy – yet, it compels us to touch the garments. After ripping ourselves away, we enter what feels more like someone’s home rather than an office.

The atmosphere was more like that among friends rather than business colleagues. We weren’t there for more than ten minutes before David Gensler ended up in a wrestling match with Laurence, from Tribeca based printing house, Proof 7. Nikes flew across the room and New Era hats were crushed. Needless to say, we felt right at home.

Gradient sat down with David Gensler to discuss the KDU and capture the future vision of design, marketing, and fashion. His provocative farsightedness gave us, not only a new understanding of the KDU and its function, but a look into the imminent fate of street wear fashion and a dissection of today’s youth culture in America. He equates the KDU as a tool for the people involved in this partnership. Gensler observes, “Most of these people have never met, but all of them have a reason to come together more than just knowing each other on Facebook. They participate in projects and collaborate together. Each helps one another with their businesses and they share resources. But, you can’t do this publicly – you have to do it privately.” The fact of the matter is that this group of people is the largest private creative collective in the world. It boasts 720 members but Gensler explains, “We don’t just have illustrators, photographers, and graphic artists in the KDU. We have an army of MBAs and a battalion of attorneys that are in entertainment, fashion, and finance. These are people that specialize in all the elements necessary to keep us on track.” Gensler and Lex have focused the KDU to serve as a function in business. Whether it’s their brand or someone else’s, the organization acts as a catalyst to make a business more profitable. Gensler describes this process by a number of means, “Design. Research. But primarily, the main thing we do is strategy. We’ll develop competitive strategies to figure out why something works better than something else.” In order to facilitate the best possible product, The KDU constantly tear apart their designs and rebuild their strategies. David Gensler stresses, “Our design facilitates the strategy – but everything is driven by our

strategy.” There is a savory morsel of terminology that both Gensler and Lex use repeatedly to illustrate their methods of marketing and brand development – STRATEGY. Gensler believes they are designers, “but the core team here is about strategies first. And that sets us apart. I have a lot of friends that run design shops that make clothing, run retail stores, and consult for clients and the solutions that they offer are very predictable. You can very clearly understand the trajectory of their brand and the way they think which makes them vulnerable. If you’re predictable then you’re vulnerable to attack.” When dealing with a new brand or one that is trying to reinvent themselves, the KDU consistently strives to ripen their tactics and dissect their past accomplishments. The age of ubiquitous computing mushrooms about us; ultimately, David Gensler takes this into consideration when he’s made decisions regarding the KDU or his own brand SVSV by not, “ignoring any
thing new. You have to take advantage of any new delivery mechanism or technology. If you want to make a sound business decision you can not ignore anything.”

As the discussion shifted towards the Serum Versus Venom line and the current state of his child, the street wear industry, a particular air reverberated from Gensler’s demeanor, like that of a military general in a game of chess. For lack of a better word, he unveiled his maneuver to play the role of ‘possum’ and proclaimed that it would be all out in the open by time this article was published. He informed us, “When everyone was sort of at their pinnacle of street wear design culture and they were launching their sites – we pulled all our sites offline. We basically held our breath, went under the radar, restructured, and re-strategized the entire global concept of what we are.” Over the last two years, the street wear market has become inundated with so many new brands that the bubble reached the point of its inevitable burst. Gensler didn’t want to grow and grow and then blow up

with everyone else. Instead he, “took a step back”. “We were still very active but just publicly we were in the shadows. It was a rouse – its called strategy. When everybody else was putting out their limited edition t-shirts and trying to figure out how to get a Japanese distributor we were investing properly.” Gensler explains that never have they considered themselves part of the street wear market. It would be a mistake to categorize them in any one genre as he explained, “we have focused on making a modern design brand.” The gamble paid off – especially when you take into consideration the current condition of the world economy.

Street wear businesses have suffered throughout the current financial crisis. But on the contrary, the KDU and SVSV have dealt with multiple opportunities presented to them because they were very careful. Gensler felt that the saturation of this market combined with a recession has, “killed off the weak. If they’re not dead they’re dying – they’ll be dead soon and that’s fantastic for us and the other brands that represent true design, not fads! It’s hard because a lot of these people are my friends. I am not being a pedigreed snob, but most of them are not formally educated in design. Lets say half the time they’re not formally educated in any design or business. I would say that 98% of the time they have no formal education in business.” Most of these companies have never formulated a proper business plan or invested the time in business development. According to Gensler, these companies have failed because they, “have no strategy. Their strategy is to react quickly to the fads that are taking place on a weekly basis. They try to take advantage of them and sell a fad, sell a fad, sell a fad. That’s not how Macys was built if you’re a retailer and it’s not how Ralph Lauren was built

if you’re a brand.” Unfortunately, the ignorance of American youth today stretches far deeper then just their fledgling attempts in business.

Buzzwords resonate throughout the country including, “global warming”, “down-sizing”, and “war in Iraq.” Most recently, the financial markets around the globe have imploded. However, the majority of American youth today have had only materialistic pleasures on their mind. Gensler commented, “It was way more interesting to go onto your favorite blog and to pay attention to that new limited edition shoe. It’s more interesting to spend a $1000 for a shoe because there were only one hundred them released. We’ve become so numb by consumerism that we don’t even give a shit about the world we live in. They’ll be like, “Yo, yo, yo – I’m gonna take off work today so I can go down to that hot boutique in SOHO. Then, wait in line for twelve hours to get that limited t-shirt or limited edition sneaker.” He explained that over history it’s always been the responsibility of the youth generations to be the “checks and balances” for what the generation before it has done. I guess the trait must have skipped this generation.

David Gensler and Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic have created a private entity that cannot be rivaled by any company. Their goal is to remain private and to not tell everybody everything that they are doing. They will always strive to have the KDU and their own brands on a constant competitive level. There is a key request that David Gensler requests from his industry though, “more brands pushing real innovation and value and less junk brands cluttering the market.”