Corteiz Shuts Down West London With Its ‘BOLO Exchange’

The London-based streetwear brand Corteiz sent social media in the UK into an absolute party vibe after shutting down the city with its ‘BOLO Exchange’. Corteiz the streetwear project that has created a name for itself by providing its audience comfortable and quality garments while building an unconventional community with nostalgic film photography and a high level of production and variety.

On a weekend in January, groups of young people were spotted climbing fences and running through a car park in west London, carrying puffer jackets. The event saw hundreds of followers of the rapidly rising imprint exchange jackets from brands such as North Face, Stussy, C.P. Company, Moncler and Supreme in exchange for CRTZ’s new puffer jacket—the ‘Bolo’—in Wormwood Scrubs car park near White City, West London.

Corteiz Shuts Down West London

Corteiz has blown up with the help of social media over the past few years, with the brand now regularly selling out of pieces within minutes. By generating tens of thousands of site visits on release dates from their online site. The brand was co-signed by late Louis Vuitton creative director and Off-White founder Virgil Abloh before his untimely passing, calling Corteiz’s rise “inevitable” in his cover story for skate magazine Sneeze last year.

‘BOLO Exchange’

After envisaging the scheme in October of last year, company founder Clint created the idea by pulling up in a white van with Bolo jackets, which he then swapped with hundreds of Corteiz supporters who descended on the site within minutes of the location being broadcast on socials.

Corteiz refused to accept exchanges from Black-owned UK brands, such as Trapstar, Benjart or PLACES+FACES, instead only taking authentic swaps from bigger-scale corporate brands. The label’s following duly bought into the hype, with jackets such as Nike’s NOCTA puffer jacket—currently valued at over £700 on StockX—happily being swapped for Bolo jackets.

The event showcased Wu-Tang style gorilla marketing and stamped their status. Corteiz claimed their street creed sits as one of the most hyped streetwear brands in the UK. With pieces becoming increasingly harder to get in the brand’s current hype, the exchange was a sturdy power play from Corteiz right in the face of their competitors to kick-off 2022 during Men’s Fashion Weeks. The event was also sustainable!