Perhaps one of the borough’s coolest businesses is in the heart of the south Bronx.
That would be Bronx Native, a clothing store dedicated to the borough and its respective culture.
When walking into the shop at 127 Lincoln Avenue, one of the first things customers see is ‘Respect Women’ spray painted along the store’s back wall.
That’s in addition to many, many more graffiti-esque tags along with photos of famous Bronx icons and pictures of the ‘Burning Bronx’ from the 1970s that help give the place a true ‘Bronx Identity.”’
Each of the products Bronx Native sells has a very direct nod to the borough.
The simplest of which are shirts and hats that say ‘The Bronx,’ the more intricate being sweatshirts and T-shirts with the Bronx’s official seal to homages to hip-hop, Hispanic culture and so on.
Bronx Native is the brainchild of Hunt Point-Longwood native Amaurys Grullon and his sister, Roselyn.
“In 2016 we realized that there wasn’t any kind of clothing stores that really represented the Bronx,” Amaurys said. “That’s when we knew what we had to do.”
And so they did.
After opening Bronx Native in October of 2017, the business has done nothing but grow.
Now, the brand is well recognized across the Bronx and represents one of the borough’s first clothing icons ever.
For Amaurys and Roselyn, that simply means that it’s time to pour it on.
The brother and sister have kept extremely active in the community, especially in the south Bronx.
Amaurys hosts open-mic nights each Monday at neighboring hip-hop speakeasy restaurant Beatstro in addition to many podcasts and community appearances.
“We want Bronx Native to be so much more than clothing, we want it to be an icon, we want to represent what the Bronx is all about,” Amaurys said.
Most recently, Hunts Point designer Edwin Reyes joined the Bronx Native team, just in time for the brand’s new line, which has a planned release on Friday, November 23.
