‘Always been a dream’: Columbia’s Five Points gets a new luxury streetwear store
For several years, the Swiff brand of luxury streetwear has been on the scene in South Carolina, with items available via the web or at popup shops at places like Columbia’s Soda City Market.
But now the brand is set to have a more permanent presence in a key Columbia neighborhood.
Owner Ashanti Thomas is set to open a Swiff store at 736 Harden St. in Five Points. The shop, which will offer Swiff brand clothing and merchandise and will have a coffee bar, is in the storefront previously occupied by Supercuts salon.
City of Columbia officials, including Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, took part in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the new Swiff apparel shop Friday. The business will have its official opening on Saturday at noon.
Thomas, 24, is originally from Moncks Corner but spent most of his youth in Irmo. He founded the Swiff brand in 2017, when he was a student at Clemson University. He said he initially was working toward producing a new kind of protective mouthpiece for football players but soon started making apparel with the Swiff brand.
“I started making T-shirts in my dorm and selling them to my friends or giving them away or whatnot,” Thomas told The State. “I really liked the first set of T-shirts I made, now that I really look back on it. But that’s how it started.”
From there, he started doing popup shops in various places and selling the apparel online. Eventually he started selling the line out of a mobile store that has often appeared at Soda City Market. The mobile store is a trailer, of sorts, that allows people to come inside and browse.
Thomas thinks opening a brick-and-mortar location in the capital city is a key piece of the brand’s evolution.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Thomas said.
Swiff’s current fall and winter collection features a number of colorful sweatshirts, sweatpants, sweaters and T-shirts. Thomas said he plans for the shop to grow and diversify over time and to perhaps offer coats, button-up shirts and more.
Swiff is the latest in a spurt of business happenings in Five Points, which appears to be in the nascent stages of a bounce back after a couple tough years.
Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint opened on Feb. 21 at 711 Harden St. Furusato Bento Japanese eatery is being prepped at 748 Harden St. The Flying Biscuit Cafe is under construction at 936 Harden, and a new Falafel King just opened at 2020-A Gervais St. in upper Five Points.
Thomas said he is particularly pleased Swiff is part of Five Points.
“Five Points has such a great opportunity for business,” he said. “I’m glad to see other businesses opening in Five Points. It’s a very walkable place and you can get out down there and walk around and go to many different businesses, and many of them are small businesses. ... I think, as long as the pandemic doesn’t get too crazy, Five Points is going to be just as prosperous as the Vista or Main Street.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
