BSTN

Germany-based BSTN was founded as an adventurous upstart fueled by a common passion for basketball, streetwear and sneaker culture. In 2008 Christian "Fu" Boszczyk and Dusan "Duki" Cvetkovic started the Beastin brand with the goal to share their love for sports and streetwear, as well as put Munich on the map. Initially a grassroots graphic-based brand literally sold out of car trunks and pop-up stores, Beastin steadily evolved into the premium sportswear and exclusive sneaker boutique known today as BSTN. To strengthen their creative muscle, Fu and Duki's longtime friend Roberto Aufiero joined the fold, together now running their operations in Munich and Hamburg. We sat down with BSTN co-founder Christian "Fu" Boszczyk to talk about its modest origins, the influence of sports and the BSTN spirit.

Chris is a Munich transplant who originally grew up in South Africa. Not knowing the German language at first, he found his comfort zone shooting hoops on a local basketball court. While speaking with his hands and feet instead, he quickly fell in love with the sport: "It felt cool to be playing basketball because back then it felt like it was still more of a subculture. Most kids in Germany were into football, so living the basketball culture, including listening to Hip Hop, we kind of felt like outcasts. Now it's become a cultural phenomenon."

Through basketball Christian met his friends (and future business partners) Dusan and Roberto, with whom he would form a team and win professional streetball games. The sport taught them a lot about detail, perfection and analysis. "Basketball is a sophisticated and intelligent sport that helps us with our everyday business and life." Basketball and team spirit are the main foundations that BSTN is built upon: "We wanted to do something from the city, for the city." Christian explains. "What made us succeed is the fact that we started with a brand, which created a great environment to follow up with retail."

The brands that BSTN carries have also been very supportive from the start because they recognize that BSTN knows what they are doing, and have a true passion for it. Sports, creativity and the willingness to go the extra mile will always play an integral part in everything that they present. BSTN's priority for the future is to keep up with the growth in an authentic way, and provide an environment where the older and newer generations can connect, build and inspire one another like rookie teams and veterans: "Educating the community on where current culture comes from while also respecting and integrating new aspects of the game is very important."
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