Who's Who

Eli Bonerz

ELI BONERZ is the founder with Adam Silverman of the iconic streetwear brand : X-LARGE. Of course, you can't talk about the early days of X-Large without talking about Mike D of the Beastie Boys. Mike more than helped Eli and Adam in creating a unique concept for X-Large (investor, always wearing the brands during BEASTIE BOYS shows, videos etc...). X-Large however was and continues to be the brainchild of Eli BONERZ- from first conception to final execution. Blending skateboarding, hip-hop, and art culture, X-Large made an original style fashion out of the mix.
So, all began in November 1991. Eli opened the very first X-Large store on Vermont Ave (1768 N. Vermont Ave.). "Our first big success came when we found dead stock of old '70s and '80s Adidas shoes. I guess they'd be called 'old school' now, but that's not really in my lexicon. We got them for around 20 bucks (a pair) and sold them for 50 bucks, and we just couldn't keep them in stock." said Eli. That how everythings start...
There were a few other shops that sold similar products, but it was only the XLarge store that had everything: Ben Davis to Carhart, Adidas to Puma ? and an original line of clothing with utilitarian flavor. The line was named X-Large ? a combination of Gen X and Living Large ? and a descriptive term for the oversized baggy jeans they made. X-Large is the first streetlabel to use the gorilla or monkey as a logo, long before many of the streetlabels that came after it.