The legendary fashion icon ALIFE got its start in 1999 at the now legendary 178 Orchard Street boutique store in New York City. With a humble storefront like this, it might have been easy to mislabel it as another fly-by-night boutique or sneaker shop, but with roots firmly set in the NYC community, ALIFE quickly established itself as something special. Rather than let their style define a lifestyle, the owners chose instead chose to let the lifestyle of artists from LI to Bronx, Brooklyn to Queens define the style of their gear. After meeting with these creative wizards, the 178 Orchard Street store transformed itself from a sneaker boutique into a workshop where artists and dreamers alike could collaborate and create something that was true to their lifestyle. The doors were open to cultural influences throughout the hip hop, skate and artistic communities. The boutique become as much an art installation as it was a retail store, and soon, ALIFE boutiques began to spring up all over the world, from the famed Rivington Club in New York to shops in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Tokyo.