Ramstad: Minnesota designer looks to streets in America and China to stay on fashion’s edge

Packed as ever on the Saturday before Christmas, the Mall of America gave me the same feeling I’ve had about it for a few years now.

Shopping malls are shaped by, and aimed at, teens and young adults who set fashion and culture trends. Big brands, retailers and marketers care most about 25- to 54 year-olds, and the mall reminds me that I aged out of that demo a few years ago.

So it’s taken me longer than most to recognize that hoodies and sweatpants have changed from being clothes for knocking around the house and yard into increasingly expensive fashion.

I did notice couples wearing matching sweat tops and bottoms on some recent airplane trips and thought they were extraordinarily casual. Really, they were expressing love in a fashion-forward way.

Daniel Johnson Jr., founder and chief designer at Levels LLC, saw this streetwear trend in the music industry a decade ago and changed careers for it. If you shopped at his store on the mall’s third floor near Nordstrom this holiday season, you found a designer in full command of his craft. He had new products for longtime fans and a core selection of basics for people just trying it out.

The Levels logo, usually with the second L reversed and sometimes with only the consonants, dominates the look of many hoodies, polos, cropped tops, shorts and joggers. And then it’s hardly noticeable on others.

“We encourage individuals to express themselves through fashion,” Johnson said. “You can see things here that are logo-dominant and you could also find some more low-key, minimalist items. We can get the grandpas coming in, grabbing something, and the grandkid is grabbing something, and they’re not fighting about it.”

Johnson, who spent the first part of his career in hip-hop music and artist management, started the brand nine years ago and later opened a store on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Protesters burned down the store, called LVLS House of Hoodies, in the riots following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.