About

American Classics was established in 1981 on the Kings Road, Chelsea selling American Vintage Clothing which at the time was still an underground market.

When prime American Vintage started to dry up, a new and fresher look begun to attract our attention so we moved into American Surf wear, Hip Hop and what is now commonly known as streetwear. This led to the likes of Shawn Stussy, De la Soul and Keith Haring hanging out in store when they were in London.

As the Acid House Movement began to take hold our sales of Mambo, Body Glove, along with other like minded brands that we stocked began to rise as did the sales of Boys Own Fanzine which Terry Farley, Cymon Eccles, Andrew Weatherall (RIP), would drop off on a regular basis.

As Streetwear started to move into the mainstream we looked back to our roots, although instead of vintage clothing we looked into reproduction American Heritage Clothing and what the Japanese brands were starting to recreate along with the first embers of what was to become the Levi’s LVC Range, all of which we still stock today along with other Heritage Brands that are true American Classics.

We have never set out to conquer the world of clothing, just do our own thing and over the years we have been fortunate to have attracted an eclectic mix of customers who we humbly thank, including the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford and Dustin Hoffman. The list of musicians and film stars who have graced our store is endless and continues to grow and even after 40 years of trading will still get a thrill when a brand appears that excites us and someone new discovers us.