Austin Babbitt (born June 5, 1998), known mononymously as Asspizza is an American fashion designer, artist, and internet tastemaker best known for his eponymous clothing line.
His work has been recognized by Kanye West, Lorde, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, ASAP Bari, Yung Lean, and the New York-based streetwear brand Supreme. The former of which, Kanye West, premiered bootleg "Pablo" clothing made by Babbitt to honor his album release, selling the collection in his first "Pablo" pop-up shop in New York City alongside his genuine merchandise.
Early life
Babbitt from an early age had an interest in creating, beginning with an interest in graffiti artwork at a young age and shopping at local thrift shops for low price clothing to customize and wear. He has stated living and being from New York was a major factor in his upbringing and creative interests.
In 2014, Babbitt dropped out of high school.
Career
2014–2016: Spaghetti Boys and Early Soho
Babbitt's start in fashion began while spending time with other fashion and art obsessed kids along an area of Soho formerly known as the ‘clout corridor’, between Mercer and Howard, and included stores such as Supreme, VFiles, Off-White, and NikeLab 21M in early 2014. It was here that he met other likeminded teens, including Ray Martinez, Luka Sabbat, and Kerwin Frost.
In 2015, Kerwin founded the Spaghetti Boys, a collective of artists, DJs and content creators, alongside Ray Martinez. Babbitt not long after became one of the main members alongside Martinez and Frost, with other teens in Soho contributing including future rapper Sheck Wes and filmmaker WhiteTrashTyler. The Spaghetti Boys collective released fashion collaborations with Off-White and Heron Preston, as well as promotional material for Nike Air.
On December 22, 2015, Babbitt (along with Kerwin Frost) went viral for fighting rapper Playboi Carti, with video surfacing on social media which shows the three arguing over apparent disrespect shown to the fashion designer Ian Connor (who narrates the video) by Babbitt in a former magazine interview.
In 2018, the Spaghetti Boys held a pop-up shop in Tokyo at the Japanese boutique NUBIAN. This would end up being their last official collaboration.
In late 2018, the Spaghetti Boys disbanded and began focusing on new projects.
2014–present: Asspizza
Babbitt began his personal career while still part of Spaghetti Boys by drawing over and sewing patches onto old and new streetwear fashion garments from well known brands. These actions caused many teens and fans of the notable brands to be upset with Babbitt; beginning to further his fame and influence with young adults and teens on social media websites.
He told The Fader in 2014, "I just wake up and see all the clothes that are spread out on my floor and I say, 'Oh, I'll just wear the same jeans as everyday and I'll wear a random T-shirt.' And then people are like 'Whoa, you're an icon.' And I say 'No, I'm not.'"
In 2016 he relocated to Winchester, UK to work on Collection 1, his first official collection of clothing from his brand. While in the UK, he worked on a Blu-ray movie documenting the making of Collection 1 and created skits directed by Danny Dangle and WhiteTrashTyler.
In 2016, approaching the release of The Life of Pablo, Kanye West began premiering pop-up shops with his "Pablo" merch line being sold. Babbitt began producing mock-ups of these designs on low-cost t-shirts; selling them outside the stores for twenty dollars. Kanye's creative team, including Virgil Abloh and Heron Preston, spotted the bootleg merch and liked it so much that it was decided to be put inside the actual pop-up stores alongside the genuine album branded t-shirts, hoodies, hats and jackets, with Babbitt saying at the time “A lot of people just don’t get it because like they’re like, ‘Why the fuck would you buy a fake shirt?’ But it’s more real than the real ones, you know?”
In early 2019, Babbitt moved to a basement in Lexington, KY with his close friend Tyler Webb (known professionally as KentuckyBoyTyler) to work on his brand Asspizza and focus on fulfilling online clothing orders due to order fulfillment being a common complaint among fans of Babbitt. Describing it as a "painful time" due to the immense number of orders, Asspizza began selling clothing in limited and capped quantities on his self-named website to help free himself from the backlog of unshipped clothing.
Asspizza opened up an official office and studio named "730 Studios" in April 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. It includes offices, a recording studio, and areas for art and clothing to be made.