Showcasing the strength of Rip City pride

Keith Kunis

https://twitter.com/trillblazin/status/897963608113520640

Co-creator of the most swag-tastic customized Trail Blazer-related merchandise on earth, Keith embodies the people of Portland: creative, ambitious, humorous and downright loyal.

TRILLBLAZIN was built from the ground up, and has become vital to the culture of Blazers fans.

Head to TRILLBLAZIN.com to see for yourself all of the amazing clothing items that will make you the talk of any party. Take it from me, an owner of many TRILLBLAZIN products.

Keith is a lifelong fan of the Blazers and everything Portland. He operates behind the scenes, but his extraordinary work should not go unnoticed.

Events such as ICYMI PDX and “Throwback Thursday’s” featuring the likes of Qyntel Woods set Keith and TRILLBLAZIN apart creatively.

Follow Keith on Twitter (@PDXKeith) where you can find out about his other endeavors. Follow @TRILLBLAZIN on Instagram and Twitter for event/clothing updates and incredibly dope content.

Most importantly, don’t forget to cut the check.

How long have you been a Blazer fan?

I’m going to say since birth. My parents are born and raised Portlanders like myself. Once I got to a responsible age my dad gave me his 1977 Blazer NBA Championship wall clock.

What is your first/earliest Blazer-related memory?

Wow, this is a tough one. I have several from the same era, but let me go with my grandma’s house. Like any unfinished basement, it’s dusty and a little grungy.

The beacon of light was the “Cliff Hanger” Cliff Robinson poster (you remember the one) hanging on the door of a basement bedroom.

It was like any “grandma’s basement bedroom” filled with 70s decor, wood paneling and glass lamps, but the pièce de résistance were the Blazer posters on the walls. For that reason, it made it a great place to hang out. The cookies were dope too.

What does it mean to be part of Rip City?

Rip City has changed over the years just like Portland has. It hasn’t gotten worse, just different.

The fandom is still there, but Rip City will always be the 90s for me. The era where you roll into Sam Goody at Lloyd Center and scan through the latest rap cds while Rasheed Wallace is right next to you doing the same.

It’s demanding the fam get Franz bread because of the Blazer basketball cards first, and second, the smell when you drive by the factory.

It was going to the short-lived Rip City Pizza on Hawthorne with my allowance to buy cards, memorabilia and pick up a Rip City magazine. Issa vibe thanks to bangers like “Bust-A-Bucket” and “Can I Get a Headband.”

In short, being a part of Rip City is about making connections from the team to the city and vice versa. Rip City is in this with you.

What makes you a unique fan, while also keeping you within the Trail Blazer fan realm?

I grew up with the Jail Blazers. A lot transplants didn’t get to experience that and some locals just weren’t happy about it.

That era connected with my friends and I. We loved those teams because we were able to relate.

I remember Rasheed Wallace used to host a radio show in Portland and I recorded it religiously because he always dropped the freshest music.

At the time, the only way I could make mixtapes was to sit there and record the program and then go back and make my tapes. I amassed hundreds of tapes and recordings from that era.

I saw the team as more than what was on the court, saw them as purveyors of style on and off the court. That’s probably fairly unique, I don’t know.

How was TRILLBLAZIN started, and what inspires the brand?

TRILLBLAZIN started with my best friend Ira and I, Portland natives. We’ve always been into streetwear, fan gear and the Blazers specifically.

Ira had made it routine to save any fire photos he saw from the Trail Blazers past for several years prior to launching. When we went live in 2013 it was all about bringing our love for those Jail and Trail Blazers photos to the masses.

I was working at an agency doing social media and I wanted to use TB as an opportunity to experiment outside of big corporations.

Next: Damian Lillard's Twitter Q&A features Brandon Roy

Something like a couple months went by and we were like what’s the next steps?

Since we had a history with clothing we decided to do our take on fan apparel. We would combine and subvert our two biggest worlds, streetwear and the Trail Blazers.

And now we’re here, getting ready for our fourth installment of In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) an annual sneaker and clothing event we head. It goes down Sept. 23 this year and more info can be found at ICYMIPDX.com