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The Original Creator Of “The Cosby Sweater” Is A Surprisingly Wise Badass

As you might have noticed, we straight-up, unapologetically love ugly sweaters. Heck, we've even got an ugly-sweater sale going on
right now
! And, folks, we all know that there ain't no ugly sweater like an ugly Cosby sweater — and here's your chance to meet the guy who gifted all that crazy-quilt, beautiful-ugliness to humanity.

As you might remember, the Cosby sweater is actually called the Koos sweater after its creator, the avuncular, profane, and pretty amazing Koos van den Akker. In the funny, sometimes touching VICE video above, van den Akker — who is still based in NYC's Garment District — touches on his long career, how his signature sweaters (all one-of-a-kind!) landed on the Cos' shoulders, design, aging, tattoos, and much more. As he says himself, his work walks a, "thin line between absolutely awful and something genius." Click the video above for more bon mots, some hard, intriguing opinions on the fashion industry, and a whole lot of swearing. You won't regret it.
Video: Via VICE; Image via R29 Shops.

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