Dave’s New York x Henbo Henning Collab Recap

It is tough to put into words what happened on Saturday at the Dave’s x Henbo Henning event that we hosted at our shop. However, what we can say is that we are so happy with the turnout and thankful for the support of our customers, friends, and co-workers who made it a great day. What started out as a back-of-a-napkin idea turned into an amazing event this past weekend. Henbo and I started discussing an idea back in February about putting some of his designs on the back of a Dave’s tee, but at the moment it was hard to fathom that the initial discussion would have led to such a great event.

As discussions between Henbo and the team here progressed, we narrowed down the details into two main ideas: After a very long year that was tough on so many people, we wanted to host an event that was live so that people could get together to experience something in-person again. And the second thing was that we wanted to do something that was uniquely New York; highlighting things that are iconic to this city.  This led to the 2 great designs that Henbo created: King Kong and the Rat-Pigeon-Bagel. This also led to working with Matt at Classy Screens (out of Brooklyn), who could bring his screen-printing setup here to our store.

When someone mentions King Kong, there is only one iconic image that comes to mind: scaling the Empire State Building. So with that in mind, Henbo created his own flair and design for the gorilla where his artistic style is shown in the eyes, face, and expression. The Empire State Building finds its way into the background and of course he is wearing some heavy-duty overalls and a Dave’s tee.

The Rat-Pigeon-Bagel design was created to pay homage to the 3 things that are present in everyday city life. Regardless of where in NYC you live, work, or go, you will see all 3 of these things throughout your day. Henbo added such great details to each character that made everyone smile as soon as they saw them. The bagel wearing overalls was a fan favorite!

When the day arrived, we did not know what to expect as far as the crowd goes, or the number of shirts that may be sold. However, from the moment that we opened Saturday morning, we were greeted by familiar faces that came out to show their support, see the screen printing process, and get a t-shirt of their own. One part of the event that really resonated was that you could pick any Dave’s tee that you wanted (any color, any logo) and then you could pick which design you wanted to put on the back. It gave a custom-designed feel and experience for each customer. We were thrilled that so many friends of Henbo and Dave’s crossed over and came together for a few hours on Saturday.

After 6 hours, and hundreds of tees, we sadly had to end the printing event. The guys doing the work on the printing and drying (Matt and Francisco), as well as the Dave’s team that was doing the sorting, folding, packing, and order-taking were all spent. The event was filled with so many smiles and so much good energy, it was tough to wrap it up. In the days after, talking about how much fun it was to see such a great group of people get together, we have a feeling that this won’t be the last event that we’ll host.

Thanks again to everyone who made Saturday a huge event. Thanks to Henbo for his creative ideas, designs, and efforts he put in to get the event noticed on social media. Thanks to the team at Dave’s for promoting the event in the store, running the operations, and making sure the day went smoothly. Thanks to the guys at Classy Screens for doing flawless work on each and every tee. And thank you to all the people who came to support the event, it is truly appreciated! 

Until next time, 

Adam, Dave’s New York