Chrome Hearts History: From a 1988 Los Angeles Garage to a Global Luxury Label

Chrome Hearts was founded in 1988 in a Los Angeles garage by Richard Stark, John Bowman and Leonard Kamhout. The three started out making motorcycle-style leather jackets with sterling silver hardware because they could not find jackets they wanted to wear. The founders split in 1994, and since then the brand has been owned and run by Stark and his wife, Laurie Lynn Stark. It is still a family business, and its factory campus is still in Hollywood.

This guide walks through the timeline: the film costume job that brought in the first rock-star customers, the 1992 CFDA award, the 1996 New York flagship, and the trademark cases of recent years. Where sources disagree, as they do on the founding year and the origin of the name, we say so rather than pick the better story.

Once Legos is an independent NYC reseller of pre-owned Chrome Hearts. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorized by Chrome Hearts, and this history is compiled from published press and public records, not from the brand.

Chrome Hearts timeline at a glance

• 1988: Stark, Bowman and Kamhout start Chrome Hearts in Los Angeles. Their first job is costumes for the low-budget horror comedy Chopper Chicks in Zombietown.
• Late 1980s and early 1990s: Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, then bands including Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses, wear the brand. By 1991 and 1992 it is also sold through specialty stores such as Maxfield in Los Angeles and Bergdorf Goodman in New York.
• 1992: The CFDA names Chrome Hearts Accessory Designer of the Year. Cher presents the award.
• 1994: The three founders split. Stark and Laurie Lynn Stark keep control.
• 1996: The first Chrome Hearts flagship opens in New York City.
• 2002 and 2007: Collaborations with the Rolling Stones (2002) and Comme des Garçons (2007).
• 2010: A collaboration with Rick Owens, covered by Vogue.
• 2014: The Miami store opens, with a gallery on the second floor.
• 2015 to 2019: Off-White capsules with Virgil Abloh. In 2017, the first Chrome Hearts x Bella Hadid collection.
• 2020 and 2023: Trademark lawsuits over cross designs, first against MNML, then against Shein.
• 2021: The Drake Certified Lover Boy collection.
• 2024 to 2026: Two jewelry collections with Mikimoto, a Malibu hotel purchase reported in late 2025, and a June 2026 trademark suit against Nordstrom.

The garage years, 1988 to 1994

Three founders, three skills

Stark and Bowman, a manufacturer of leather goods, began making jackets because they rode motorcycles and could not find ones they liked. "We both rode bikes. We couldn't find jackets we really liked. So we made our own," Stark told the Chicago Tribune in 1992. Kamhout, a master sterling silver jeweler, became the third partner and supplied silver buttons, grommets, snaps and buckles. That mix of heavy leather and handmade silver hardware is still recognizable in the brand's look today.

A film job, a Sex Pistol and word of mouth

The brand's first big exposure came through a movie. Chrome Hearts made costumes for Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, a 1989 low-budget horror comedy that co-starred the girlfriend of Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. Jones liked the clothes and began wearing them on stage, and Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses followed, according to Complex. Stark's own 1992 summary was shorter: "One of the Sex Pistols wanted something for himself. Word got out." V Magazine later added Lenny Kravitz, the Cult and Heart to the list of early rock clients.

Where the start date and the name come from

Two details are less settled than the brand's own mythology suggests. Most sources, including Complex, W Magazine and HERO, give 1988 as the founding year, and Highsnobiety notes that Chrome Hearts' "1988" hoodie references it. A 1992 Chicago Tribune profile, however, reports Stark placing the garage start in early 1989. We use 1988 because nearly every source does.

The name is also told more than one way. V Magazine reports that Stark took it from the film's working title, but accounts differ and Chrome Hearts has not published an official origin story. The Tribune did point out in 1992 that nothing the company made was chrome and none of its decorative symbols were hearts, so the name was never a literal description.

1992 to 1996: the CFDA award, a split and a New York flagship

By the early 1990s the fashion industry had noticed. In 1992 the Council of Fashion Designers of America named Chrome Hearts Accessory Designer of the Year, and Cher, a longtime supporter, presented the award to Stark in a full Chrome Hearts outfit, according to Complex. Stark reportedly almost declined because he did not know the CFDA. He has never wanted to be filed under fashion. "We don't have any seasons. I make things when I wanna make them, because I wanna make them," he told the Japan Times in 1999, as quoted by Complex.

Around the same time, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons showed Chrome Hearts goods in her Aoyama flagship in Tokyo, which helped introduce the brand to Japan. The two would collaborate formally in 2007. In 1994 the three founders split and Stark and Laurie Lynn kept control. Two years later, in 1996, the first Chrome Hearts flagship opened in New York City.

A family business: Laurie Lynn and the next generation

Laurie Lynn Stark, an art director and photographer, started as one of Stark's early clients, according to V Magazine and W Magazine, and later came on as a partner. Hypebeast reports that she shoots many of the brand's campaigns and handles most of the press alongside her design work. Their daughter Jesse Jo Stark developed a stud and spike design at 18 that became a brand staple, and at 20 she ran the company for a year while her parents set up shop abroad, W Magazine reported in 2016. The same story noted that nothing gets done without a majority family vote.

Growing without going mainstream

Chrome Hearts has grown by adding stores and product categories rather than by chasing wholesale or e-commerce. Beyond New York there are boutiques in cities including Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and Paris, and the Miami store opened in November 2014 with a photography gallery upstairs, according to Architectural Digest. In Hollywood the company's campus covers about three city blocks. Complex counted 13 buildings and eight factories there in 2020, making everything from jewelry and leather goods to furniture.

The company has also been unusually restrained about selling online. W Magazine noted in 2016 that it had no e-commerce, and Complex repeated the point in 2020. Laurie Lynn Stark told WWD in 2019 that "you could grow the T-shirts and have everyone in the world wearing them, but we want to control what we make." That deliberate scarcity is part of why a secondary market exists; our guide to why Chrome Hearts is so expensive covers the pricing side. More recently the company has moved into hospitality: The Real Deal reported in November 2025 that Chrome Hearts bought the 20-room Surfrider hotel in Malibu.

Collaborations that mark the timeline

Collaborations have been selective and tend to start from personal relationships. The Rolling Stones lips-and-tongue collaboration dates to 2002, Comme des Garçons followed in 2007, and Vogue covered a Rick Owens partnership in 2010. The 2010s added Off-White capsules with Virgil Abloh between 2015 and 2019 and the 2017 Bella Hadid collection. Drake's Certified Lover Boy collection arrived in 2021, and a jewelry collaboration with Mikimoto debuted in 2024, with a second 22k gold range reported in 2026. Our collaborations guide covers them in detail.

When Chrome Hearts became popular, in waves

The brand did not have one breakout moment. Rock bands adopted it first, in the late 1980s and 1990s. Rappers followed in the 2000s: Complex lists Juelz Santana, Jim Jones and Lil Wayne among frequent wearers of the apparel and leather belts. A younger fashion crowd arrived in the mid-2010s, helped by Bella Hadid, a Stark family friend who has collaborated with the brand since 2017, and by 2020 Complex was describing it as a label that seemed to be everywhere. Our guide to celebrities who wear Chrome Hearts lists who has been documented wearing it, and when.

Protecting the symbols in court

As the designs spread, so did copies, and Chrome Hearts has gone to court over them. In April 2020 it sued MNML over jeans carrying a cross it says is a registered trademark, according to The Fashion Law. In August 2023 it filed suit against Shein over cross and dagger designs, as Bloomberg Law reported. In June 2026 it sued Nordstrom over belts and jewelry with cross motifs, a case Hypebeast says centers on the CH Cross and CH Plus registrations. These filings are also where the brand's own names for its symbols show up, which our logos and symbols guide explains.

What the history means if you buy or sell pre-owned

A 38-year-old, family-controlled brand that is deliberately hard to buy leaves a long tail of pieces, from older leather and silver to current clothing. Knowing the era helps you judge rarity and how a piece has aged, but it does not tell you whether a piece is real. For that you need the piece in hand. If you want to see how older-style leather and silver sit next to current production, browse our leather jackets and outerwear and Chrome Hearts jewelry.

If you own pieces from any period and want a same-day offer, send photos through Sell To Us. To handle pieces in person, book a private visit at our NYC Showroom. Every piece we list is in hand in New York, authenticated and graded Brand New, Excellent, Great, Good or Fair, and all sales are final.

The bottom line

Chrome Hearts began in 1988 as a small LA leather-and-silver workshop, gained its first audience through rock musicians, and has stayed independent and family-run for more than three decades. The founding year and the origin of the name are the two points where sources differ, and the rest of the timeline is consistent across Complex, Vogue, W Magazine, V Magazine and the other outlets cited here.