PALY HOLLYWOOD
August 06, 2026
Every Well-Dressed Guy Right Now Is Wearing PALY HOLLYWOOD
A $60 cap that resells for $1,000, and the brand won't even tell you its cofounder is James Franco.
PALY HOLLYWOOD.
We're past the era when a big logo or an instantly recognizable It-item counted as cool. The fashion boys of the moment want distinctive graphics, vintage texture, and clothes that show actual taste over luxury that announces itself.
Since its first collection in 2022, PALY HOLLYWOOD has gone from under-the-radar to firmly on fashion people's watchlists, and it's now a staple for style icons including Jacob Elordi. Here's how that happened.
Built by a Movie Star Who Won't Say So
Launched in 2022 and growing at a startling pace since, PALY HOLLYWOOD is the creation of actor James Franco and designer Kyle Lindgren, formerly of Fucking Awesome.
(From left) Designer Kyle Lindgren, formerly of Fucking Awesome, and actor James Franco. ©@palyhollywood
The founders alone tell you a lot about the brand's DNA. Lindgren built his career as a designer at New York street label Fucking Awesome, then served as head designer at Madhappy, the streetwear brand backed by LVMH Luxury Ventures. Franco played Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man films, the character who eventually becomes a Goblin himself, and works as an actor, director, and artist.
Streetwear and cinema look like different worlds, but the two shared one keyword: Hollywood. The "PALY" in the name comes from Palo Alto High School, Franco's alma mater. Weaving their separate backgrounds and memories into one name, "PALY HOLLYWOOD" became the starting point for the world the brand would go on to build.
©@palyhollywood
What's interesting is that unlike most celebrity brands, PALY doesn't push "James Franco the actor" anywhere. The brand doesn't even emphasize that the scrawled drawings on its signature tees are his work. The reason, by his own account, is partly that the design didn't need him attached to it.
©@palyhollywood
“There's part of me that really liked the idea of it being kind of a hidden thing. Because, as opposed to acting, where I can't escape it—it's just like, boom, there I am; it's my face that's in the work—this was different. There was something appealing about a kind of Elena Ferrante or Banksy thing.
-James Franco, in an interview with office magazine
©hlorenzo.com
They Bonded Over The Bachelor. Yes, Really.
So how did James Franco and Kyle Lindgren actually meet and end up starting a brand?
PALY began during the pandemic. The two were already friends who surfed together, played tennis, went to Coachella. When lockdown hit, they started a weekly viewing club for the dating show The Bachelor, and during those hangouts, Franco would draw portraits of old Hollywood stars. One day Kyle saw the drawings and asked him to put one on a denim jacket. Those drawings migrated to t-shirts and hoodies, and PALY was bor
What the two spent the most time on, though, was the question of what kind of brand they wanted to be. Old Hollywood and LA history, the legends and lore, became the brand's DNA, while the design pulled from punk rock and vintage culture. A PALY piece isn't just a graphic tee. It's a story in wearable form.
©@palyhollywood
What the two spent the most time on, though, was the question of what kind of brand they wanted to be. Old Hollywood and LA history, the legends and lore, became the brand's DNA, while the design pulled from punk rock and vintage culture. A PALY piece isn't just a graphic tee. It's a story in wearable form.
The Slogan: HOLLYWOOD IS HELL
As the name suggests, Hollywood sits at the core of PALY HOLLYWOOD. "Hollywood Is Hell," which was also the name of the first collection, carries the brand's central message. Franco's drawings reflect Hollywood's history and its darker underside, and the clothes bearing those drawings point in the same direction.
©@palyhollywood
What's interesting is that Franco doesn't treat Hollywood purely as a target of critique. After decades working inside it, he's looking at the culture from the outside. If anything, he says PALY is a way of reconnecting with Hollywood and breathing new life into its old stories.
PALY HOLLYWOOD's tees, known for their raw, dashed-off graphics, pull from film sets, old posters, skate culture, and the underground.©@palyhollywood
That's why old Hollywood films are a subject PALY returns to constantly. Vintage movie posters, cult films, revival theaters like the New Beverly Cinema, fan club culture. PALY keeps its attention on the scenes that still pull people back into theaters and build a culture around themselves, decades on.
©@palyhollywood
How the Well-Dressed Are Wearing It
Maybe that's why PALY HOLLYWOOD is currently beloved by Hollywood stars and fashion people alike.
It's a certified favorite at jente too, where restocks tend to sell through fast. Given the deadstock materials and built-in scarcity, if something catches your eye, don't sit on it.
You can't talk about PALY right now without mentioning Jacob Elordi. He's worn PALY's "James Dean Death Cult" cap constantly, in daily life and airport photos alike, quietly making his fandom known. The cap has traded for close to $1,000 on the resale market, and it played a big role in cementing PALY's image as a brand fashion people seek out themselves, not one propped up by celebrity seeding.
©@palyhollywood, ©pinterest.com
The Piece Everyone's Fighting Over
The cap is PALY's defining item. Each hand-drawn-style graphic is finished by hand, and with deadstock fabric in the mix, production runs are genuinely small. Despite the price, they routinely sell out on release, and resale premiums are steep.
Part of the appeal is that you can throw one on any outfit and PALY's vintage mood comes with it. The simpler the combination, a white tee and denim, say, the more the cap stands out. (Honestly, even if you want one, good luck finding it.)
PALY HOLLYWOOD caps, produced by hand., ©@palyhollywood
And of course, the graphic tees. Drawing on Franco's artwork, film, and Hollywood culture, the graphics aren't prints so much as the brand's identity itself. Add the handwork, hand-painting, distressing, sand-washing, garment-dyeing, plus a sun-faded vintage treatment, and you get pieces that carry a genuine DIY punk sensibility and that unmistakable California-cool mood.
©@palyhollywood
Styling is the easy part. One graphic tee carries enough presence on its own, so vintage-washed denim or straight-leg trousers is all it takes. Do it like Timothée Chalamet, straight denim, black boots, and a leather jacket, and you get the full rough-edged vintage mood the brand is going for.
Jacob Elordi pairing a PALY HOLLYWOOD tee with a bandana.©pinterest.com
How to Dress Like Timothée Chalamet?
One Layer Away From Best-Dressed
PALY's hoodies and jackets, defined by the brand's signature vintage washing and relaxed silhouettes.
©@palyhollywood, ©pinterest.com
A hoodie alone has enough presence, but layered under a work jacket or leather jacket, the mood deepens. The washes and graphics flow together naturally when layered, so one look can carry the brand's whole atmosphere. The bottom half? Relaxed wide-leg or cargo pants are all you need.
©@palyhollywood, ©threads.com
PALY isn't a logo brand, so the styling doesn't need to try hard either. With Hollywood film, art, skate culture, and vintage mood already soaked into the clothes, PALY actually looks better the more casually you throw it on.
Right now, brands that translate vintage into their own language, Enfants Riches Déprimés, SAINT MICHAEL, are having their moment.
PALY HOLLYWOOD is rewriting Hollywood, the most familiar unknown world there is, through its own lens. In a way only PALY can.
Editor: Kim Nayoung