Best of D.C. 2009

As the youngest of five brothers, Cole Sharp’s childhood style was informed largely by rejection. “I was wearing deep hand-me-downs,” says Sharp. “The shirts my brothers didn’t want anymore. Pants I had to roll up six times,” he says. “That’s probably what fed my desire to become fashionable at a certain point.” Sharp places that moment around three years ago, when he partnered up with second-youngest-Sharp Will to launch DURKL, a D.C.-based line that Will calls “a cleaned-up, organized version” of their second-hand ’80s and ’90s threads. Will created the brand in 2002, after designing an “amazing” T-shirt for his now-defunct college band, Zartrance, at which point he realized he was better at design than at playing keyboards. But it wasn’t until Cole joined in 2006 that DURKL began to court attention at national tradeshows. Cole, 25, still shares clothes with Will, 28. But Cole says his own style remains inferior to his older brother’s: “He dresses like a homeless aerobics instructor,” says Cole.