Advisory Board Crystals: How Two Strangers in an Uber Built a Cult Streetwear Brand

Advisory Board Crystals, known to fans simply as Abc., was never supposed to be a clothing brand. It started as an idea for a crystal shop, dreamed up by two strangers who met by accident in the back of an Uber Pool.

Nearly a decade later, Abc. sells out tightly limited runs of hoodies and t-shirts without paying for a single influencer post or ad, built entirely on an aesthetic and a technique nobody else has been able to copy.

A Six-Minute Uber Ride That Became a Business

Remington Guest and Heather Haber met in Los Angeles in 2015, seated next to each other in an Uber Pool. Both antisocial by nature, neither planned to talk to the other, until an offhand comment revealed they had both worked for the same designer, Scott Sternberg’s cult label Band of Outsiders.

From Band of Outsiders to Their Own Label

Guest had worked as a lookbook model for Band of Outsiders, while Haber, a Miami native who studied fashion design at Otis College of Art and Design, had interned there along with stints at Three as Four. That shared background gave the pair a foundation in fashion, but neither had run their own label before starting Abc. It is a reminder that a strong brand story does not require industry connections, just a clear enough idea to act on.

A Crystal Store That Became a Clothing Brand

On their first date, Guest took Haber to a crystal shop and bought her a lepidolite stone, said to help relieve stress. Over that Thanksgiving, the two drafted plans for what they originally imagined as a contemporary crystal and home goods store, not a fashion label. The clothing side, including the now-signature tie-dye shirts, grew out of that concept almost by accident, rather than being the original plan.

Building Without Influencers or a Budget

Abc. is entirely self-funded, and according to WWD’s reporting on the brand, Guest and Haber have no direct ties to major streetwear names like Kanye West and have never worked with Supreme, despite operating in the same Los Angeles scene that produced many crossover streetwear labels.

The founders have also said they do not seed products to celebrities or pay for marketing. When Justin Bieber was photographed wearing Abc. pants, it was because he purchased them through a retailer called Patron of the New, not because the brand sent them to him. That kind of organic reach is difficult to plan for, but it reflects a broader pattern in streetwear branding: authenticity is hard to fake, and its absence is usually easy to spot.

A Signature Technique Nobody Else Has

Abc.’s dye process, an abstract, psychedelic pattern the brand describes as inspired by crystals, was originally meant to represent rose quartz. The exact technique has never been disclosed, which keeps the look distinct from ordinary tie-dye and effectively impossible for other brands to replicate exactly.

Pieces are also detail-heavy by design, including a signature “pulse pocket” the brand describes as radiation-blocking, a small, quirky feature that has nothing to do with core garment function but everything to do with reinforcing the brand’s wellness-meets-streetwear identity.

Growing Through Real Retail Relationships

Abc.’s early growth came almost entirely from a handful of respected retail relationships rather than direct-to-consumer marketing. The brand got its first major break after Guest and Haber ran into Chris Gibbs, owner of the influential Los Angeles store Union LA, who agreed to stock their pieces after hearing the concept.

From there, Abc. built relationships with Colette in Paris, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Grailed, and Hypebeast’s HBX, retailers known for careful, selective curation rather than volume. The brand also worked with artist Jonas Wood on a collaboration, extending its wellness-and-art positioning into the fine art world rather than the more typical streetwear playbook of sneaker or musician tie-ins.

Expanding the Line Without Losing the Concept

In January 2021, Abc. launched a sub-label called Abc. 123, focused on seasonally appropriate basics like sweatpants, crewnecks, and studio work shirts with more subtle branding than the mainline’s detail-heavy hoodies and graphics.

The move follows a common pattern in business models for growing independent labels: rather than diluting the mainline’s intensity to reach a broader audience, Abc. built a separate, calmer entry point that still carries the brand’s DNA without competing for the same customer occasion as its signature statement pieces.

What Independent Brands Can Learn From Abc.

Abc. proves that a brand does not need industry connections or a marketing budget to build a real following. What it needed instead was a genuinely distinct point of view, communicated consistently enough that respected retailers took notice on their own.

The second lesson is about protecting what makes a brand different. Keeping the dye technique undisclosed turned a production detail into a competitive advantage that cannot be copied by a larger, better-funded competitor. The third lesson is in how Abc. expanded: instead of stretching the mainline thinner to appeal to more people, the brand built a second, quieter label that could grow on its own terms while the original concept stayed intact.

Frequently Asked Questions about Advisory Board Crystals