By Lily Goldberg
The streetwear silhouettes of SexHippies clothes evoke urban rather than rural style—but the brand comes from the Pittsfield-born, Stockbridge-based designer Benjamin Baptiste. And more than a decade before Baptiste’s brand was seen on skaters in Tokyo, London, and Berlin, the logo for SexHippies—a peace sign superimposed with male and female gender symbols—originated on a small farm in the Berkshires. Baptiste once had a summer job harvesting greens at Equinox Farm in Sheffield; as an inside joke among the crew, he first scrawled the SexHippies logo on the large plastic tubs they used to collect arugula.
“It wasn’t necessarily a graphic or an idea that made sense to try to sell,” said Baptiste, “but it was something I really wanted to see happen.”
Happen it did. Since launching SexHippies in 2020, Baptiste has dropped seven seasonal collections with the brand, featuring skatewear staples like handknit beanies, screen-printed tees, and carpenter jeans. More than 30 stores across three continents currently stock the brand.
“I feel like most people don’t have any idea that this brand from the Berkshires has a worldwide audience,” said Baptiste. Baptiste grew up skating in downtown Pittsfield, and earned his stripes in streetwear as a freelance accessory consultant for world-renowned skate brand Supreme. But he credits his experience as a brand manager for Guido’s Fresh Marketplace—the Berkshires grocery store that his stepfather, Chris Masiero, founded and his sister, Anna Masiero, now co-owns—with helping him take SexHippies to the next level.
“I started taking these new skills that I learned at Guido’s and applying them to SexHippies,” said Baptiste. “Before I knew it, I’d gotten a couple of accounts in Japan, and things started picking up.”
Another 20-piece SexHippies collection dropped in late January, and Baptiste is especially excited about the brand’s second-ever piece of outerwear, a reversible jacket inspired by the lining of military coats that features a jacquard knit pattern.
The name SexHippies might raise some eyebrows, but Baptiste is happy the brand has taken off with believers. “I have a brand that is a little on the young side for this area, but at the same time, this area is changing,” he observed. And, he noted, “The Berkshires is one of those places that really likes to get behind things that are local.”
sexhippies.com
