Chip and Pepper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (August 2007)

Chip & Pepper's original logo on a pair of blue jeans

Chip and Pepper Foster, better known simply as Chip and Pepper, are Canadian, identical twin businesspeople. They are co-owners of the self-titled Chip & Pepper apparel company and former hosts of their own NBC series, Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness.

[edit] Career

Chip and Pepper first acquired a knack for apparel retailing as teenagers selling tie-died clothes from their car. The Chip & Pepper company was launched in 1987 in their hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specializing in designer jeans for men and women. The brand's main advertising slogan would become "Young and Free."

Later on, the Foster brothers were featuring on Canadian TV singing "Chip & Pepper, get hip or get out." The footage came into the hands of NBC's Head of Entertainment Brandon Tartikoff who decided to give the part a Saturday morning cartoon show. In fall of 1991, Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness debuted. Serving as a cornerstone to NBC's animated lineup, it included sketches and interviews, but old cartoons such as Casper and Captain Caveman would take up most of the airtime. The show only lasted one season, however, before NBC dropped its animated block altogether in 1992.

During the Fosters' TV work in Los Angeles, their clothing business was, according to them, becoming mismanaged through ties to B.U.M. Equipment. This eventually led to a legal battle over the ownership of the Chip & Pepper trademark and eventual bankruptcy.

In 1994, the Fosters opened a store by the name of Golf Punk. As it grew, the Fosters decided to resurrect their signature brand, which took place in fall of 2003 in Los Angeles.^[1] The blond duo gained notoriety as stylists on the Style Network show The Look For Less and numerous appearances on E!, including Glamour's 50 Biggest Fashion Dos & Don'ts.

Chip and Pepper jeans typically have a boot cut fit and are made of high quality, lightweight denim. They are frequently distressed to increase their style, and are similarly priced to other designer jeans, such as Diesel, Seven for all Mankind, and Paper Denim & Cloth. They are available mainly at upscale department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue as well as specialty retailers.

More recently, the Fosters introduced a brand new line called C7P. The line is aimed particularly at the teen market. It also includes an array of denim items including jeans, skirts, Bermuda shorts, and crop pants along with T-shirts, tops, and fleece.^[2]