There’s no getting around it: Streetwear online retailer Karmaloop’s Back Bay spread has swagger. The company takes over three floors at 334 Boylston St., bringing some much needed edge to the neighborhood’s bourgeois boutiques and Newbury’s McFashion shops.
It’s clear the company nurtures the unique from the first steps into the lobby. Karmaloop stickers bearing the company’s classic chunky logo in all prints and colors sit in neat piles atop a coffee table. A giant-sized, glittering mannequin sits with plastic legs crossed coquettishly on one of the entryway’s couches, while another figure, a frightening yet sort of high fashion clown marionette, looms over the space. Both were crafted by ecommerce company’s outspoken founder and CEO, and proud Bostonian Greg Selkoe. Though numerous pieces of Selkoe’s more traditional artistic creations grace the walls of the company’s digs, the real work of art is his corner office, which overlooks the Commons. Dozens of pairs of brightly-colored kicks line the windowsill, sharing space with a gilded potbellied pig statue and drum, among other trinkets. A throw pillow resembling a sushi roll props up on the couch, which sits below a wall pinned with the company’s future plans and other pieces of inspiration.
The creative chief executive is known for sending a pranky company-wide email or two, typically peppered with a few enthusiastic expletives. Last year for April Fool’s, Selkoe sent out an email stating that everyone at the company needed to take a drug test; this year, he joshed that Karmloop’s head of personnel, Kostas Klokelis, was being shipped back to Greece (where he’s originally from).
The employees take the jokes in stride, though. The team is young, high-energy and driven. Like the stylish ecommerce company’s customers, Karmaloop’s crew is a diverse mix, each person with his or her own flair and passion, often in the arts or music, and kindling a love of looking fresh. Keeping with the company’s enterprising vibe, Karmaloop is also currently hosting locally-born digital media and entertainment startup eMuze.
Every first Thursday of the month, the company rents out a bar in Boston for a raucous happy hour. Every once in while, an employee will kickstart an internal event like a “wacky waffle Wednesday” or “cereal Tuesdays.” Last year, Karmaloop even surprised its staff with a company trip to an On the Verge concert, presented by the company and Emuze, out in Lowell, Mass.
Sound too rad to be true? Go ahead ...
