Luca Benini had no real connections to the fashion industry. Surprising, given the impact the 62-year-old has had since starting his cult clothing store and fashion label Slam Jam back in 1989. “I come from a small town in the outskirts of Ferrara, literally in the middle of nowhere,” Benini tells Hypeart. “I have always been naturally interested in clothes and how people dress.” Like an invisible magnet drawing him from afar, music “played – and still plays – a major role” in Benini’s taste and curiosity — from disco and house to electronic and hip hop. For nearly 35 years now, Benini has in-turn become the magnet that now draws in customers and tastemakers from around the globe, as he continues to shape clothing with an “Attitude for the Global Underground,” as his brand’s motto goes.
Slam Jam started as a simple clothing distributor, but quickly evolved into a streetwear gathering point in the busy streets of Milan in the early ‘90s, where the shape-shifting brand, shop and “cultural archive” continues to operate. Collaborations have remained a constant, such as partnerships with Nike, Converse and Salomon, as well as educational ventures that take you down the rabbit hole, emblematic of the graduate degree on Street Culture and Fashion Design that Slam Jam co-initiated at Università Iuav di Venezia (IUAV), as well as an ongoing venture with ILL-STUDIO, dubbed ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER PROSTHETIC MEMORY PROGRAM (ADDPMP).
In an age inundated with images and information, the latter project — started in 2020, came at a poignant time for people to help “classify and organize your thoughts,” Thomas Subreville, ILL-STUDIO’s founder previously told Hypeart. Since then, Slam Jam continues to house labels that move the cultural cognoscenti, from OAMC, Carhartt WIP to mfpen, KAPITAL and District Vision.
Throughout each collaboration, Benini has been able to brush shoulders with a number of meteoric artists and designers, acquiring several of his favorites for his personal collection. Standouts include a pentaptych set of Supreme Last Supper skate decks that is fetching around $12,000 on eBay currently. Other notable artworks include a phallus rocking sculpture by Herman Makkink, as seen in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1972) and an oval parody painting by FUCT founder Erik Brunetti. “All the pieces I own are through working with the artist, people I highly appreciate as artists and as human beings,” Benini explains. Hypeart hopped on a call with the Slam Jam frontman to discuss some of the more memorable pieces he stores in his personal collection, along with discussing some of the bigger Slam Jam projects in the near horizon.
