There's a new streetwear brand in town: Hype With its punchy prints and a knowing logo, Hype has cornered the market in streetwear for the Tumblr generation. Visit any hangout frequented by young Londoners and you're likely to spot a Hype T-shirt. "I think people feel they're making a statement when they wear Hype, because some of the prints are so 'out there'," co-founder Liam Green, 20, says when I meet him. And when they see their friends wearing it, they know it's the 'in' product. Refreshingly for a brand aimed at teens and twentysomethings, Hype's directors are as young and garrulous as their customers. Their talent lies in exploiting that particularly teenage paradox of wanting to look individual while simultaneously conforming. And right now, Hype is cool. READ: The Vans Bandwagon In just under two years they've gone from selling printed T-shirts from a bedroom to processing 350 website orders a day from a 12,000 sq ft warehouse in Leicester. Sales in 2012 were £1 million; this year, heady projections top £8 million. The product offering now includes sweatshirts, backpacks, hats and leggings: they're stocked by Topman, Topshop, Footasylum and Asos, and worn by everyone from One Direction to DJ act Rudimental. So enamoured are Topman with Hype - they shifted 2,500 beanies this season and now stock more than 100 styles - that they've tapped them for an exclusive "Black on Black" collection, in stores on September 5. Liam Green, 20, co-founder of Hype. Photo: Gobinder Jhitta Green was 17 when he set up the label in May 2011 with his friend Aidy Lennox (who has since taken a backseat in the business). A student of graphic design at De Montfort University in Leicester, Green doctored an image of Einstein, giving him ear-stretchers, a nose ring and a tattoo, and submitted it to merchandise competitions. Two months later, they'd won 150 free shirts, which they priced at £10 and sold in a week. By December 2011 they had a website, two new designs and a business partner, Bav Samani, to handle production. READ: Kenzo designers reveal how their sell-out sweatshirts nearly didn't happen "We were getting quite a buzz online," Green recalls. People were interested because we didn't outline who we were. Then all of a sudden we'd drop a new design and they'd go crazy. Social media is key to their success. With more than 176,000 likes on Facebook, 26,000 followers on Instagram and 10,000 on Twitter, they are masters at maximising digital hysteria. "We post a hint at the start, saying, 'It's coming'," Green says. Then we'll do another that says: '8pm'. We build a suspense, a hype, so people are always checking back. Once a product is offered for sale on the site, often in a limited run, it typically sells out within two hours, often crashing the site in the process. Hype rainforest t-shirt, £24.99, and Einstein t-shirt, their original design, £19.99; justhype.co.uk Facebook and Instagram also act as a modern-day focus group. When Green - who still designs every product himself having dropped out of university to focus on Hype full-time - receives a new sample, he posts a snap on Instagram and awaits judgment. Last week he uploaded a photograph of a patterned button-down jersey shirt with the caption "Yes or no?" and within two days the image had more than 580 likes and 50 comments, ranging from the instructive - "Make it tighter, with shorter sleeves" - to the downright impatient - "Yeah just sell it like now please." IN PICS: Fashion Week's trainer tribes Five hundred is the magic number ("If we get over 500 likes on a picture, we'll put it into production," says Samani), but it's not just a virtual litmus test - these kids follow through. When Hype opened a pop-up shop in June at Boxpark in Shoreditch, east London, there was a queue of 350 people queuing for the store to open at 6pm. When Hype opened a pop-up shop in June at Boxpark in Shoreditch, east London, there was a queue of 350 people waiting in line for the store to open at 6pm. A snapshot of that Boxpark queue reveals a varied range of teenage cliques. The heavily tattooed models and earplugs for sale on their website cater to the metal and punk crowd; tie-dye tees to skateboarders; outlandish prints to irony-obsessed hipsters. Of new designs, Green says: "I know it's going to be a goer if no one else in the office likes it." His cosmo cat print, featuring technicoloured cats' faces on a starry background, is a case in point. Everyone said it was horrible! Green smiles, as Samani laughs guiltily next to him, "but it's now one of our bestsellers." READ: Victoria Beckham in trainers shocker Hype has grown to a team of 17 and the speed of turnaround is fast: Samani boasts that they can complete buyers' orders in seven days, rather than the standard six weeks, because the majority of production is Leicester-based. They import blank T-shirts from Dubai, Pakistan and China, but all cut-and-sew pieces and knitwear are made locally, and they use a local printer and dye house. Next on the agenda is a line of trainers, slated for mid-October. Childrenswear is in the pipeline, along with a fledgling record label. They're also keen to conquer America having sourced a factory in Los Angeles and pop-up shop locations in New York and San Francisco. But are they worried about becoming too mainstream? "We always thought it would be quite small and underground, but it seems to have blown up - and the bigger you are, the harder you fall," Green concedes. But I think us being young means we're still in touch. justhype.co.uk