Reese Cooper is designing tomorrow's heritage brand today

The gritty stretch of Eagle Rock Boulevard with its nondescript industrial buildings, faded signage and acres of chain-link fencing seems an unlikely place to find one of fashion's fastest-rising stars silk-screening T-shirts for strangers in a parking lot.

Then again, Reese Cooper is about as unlikely as they come. At age 21, the London-to-L.A. transplant, who has a handful of collections under his belt, has goods on the shelves of U.K.-based retailer Selfridges as well as Barneys New York, the latter of which will be the exclusive retailer of his inaugural fall and winter 2019 women's collection.

Cooper's path to this parking lot - and his fashion label - began with a Bathing Ape T-shirt.

"I was living in London, and I was about 14 or 15," he said. "And it was this super bright, vibrant camo (print), and I just had no idea what it was. But I was super attracted to it. I found out there was a store not five miles from me, so I ended up just hanging out there."