Lee Spielman Keeps Babylon Close to Its Skateboarding Roots as the Brand Grows

LOS ANGELES — “This kid skates like he’s being chased,” Babylon’s Lee Spielman said, looking at the video playing on his iPhone. Spielman, who started the brand Babylon with Garrett Stevenson in 2015, is just barely getting over jet lag from back-to-back pop-ups in Osaka, Japan, and Tokyo that included now sold-out collaborations with Japanese brands Wasted Youth, Bounty Hunter, Neighborhood, ReadymMade and the artist Kosuke Kawamura. The shops were aimed at building buzz around the release of Babylon’s spring collection, which continues to expand and diversify with each season. It’s a glimpse into how the overall brand is maturing, while staying true to its core skater. Spring was accompanied with a video that went viral and won a nod from Virgil Abloh and many others for its cinematic quality. Some 20 skaters, artists and DJs, all friends of the brand, are featured in the 58-second clip that slowly pans across each person staged on a dirt path in East Los Angeles before what appears to be a burning palm tree is revealed in the final frames. “We’re just trying to keep elevating what we can do. For us, that was a full production. It was the first time we had a big

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