The holidays are here and the days of getting someone a gift card or kitchenware is a thing of the past. Fortunately, the legendary Grillo’s Pickles has leveled up with its latest and quite possibly most mind-blowing collaborative effort with artist/clothing designer Najeeb Sheikh.

The powerhouses’s new limited edition camo collection comes with hoodies, jackets and pants but there’s a major catch - it’s very, very, very limited and has the feel of a first come, first serve. Grillo’s Pickles brand manager Eddie takes a few moments to dish out his top three reasons it’s worth getting your hands on these fits - while you can - and also digs into why these pickles are game-changers, Grillo’s has been doing epic collaborations before it became a modern day trend and even shares some of his fave drops.

3 reasons you gotta cop the Grillo’s Pickles + Najeeb Sheikh camo collection

1. Be a pretty pickle with major fashion drip

This is going to be the fresh outfit you have in your collection. Number one because it’s Grillo’s and number two because it’s that bright green and it’s going to be a neck breaker when you’re walking down the street because when we were shooting the shoot, everybody was asking about it. ‘Where did you get those pants? Where can I get those pants?’ The pants in particular seemed to be the fan favorite. They’re versatile and you can wear them with a bunch of stuff.

The jacket has the Sam Same pickle man on the back very large. Then we did a stonewash hoodie that’s kind of simple, Sam Sams on the front. It’s definitely a fresh outfit no matter what.

2. Get it while it’s hot - and available

The second reason is because it’s limited. We only made about 20 pieces of these total. So that includes the pants, jackets, hoodies. It’s very limited. There’s probably only a handful left if anything once you check the website. So limited collection. It’s kind of like an art piece. Najeeb is an artist and designer so if you’re into his stuff, it’s his collection as well.

3. The upcycling movement is real

It’s definitely something I think is necessary especially for bigger fashion. We’re a pickle company so we’re not selling thousands and thousands of clothes but I think spreading that message and awareness around that you can create with things that already exist, I think that’s something that a lot of the younger kids are actually interested in. You can get a dope pair of pants from a vintage shop for cheap and do whatever you want to them, customize them, paint them - there’s a lot of different opportunities I think this can highlight and it’ll motivate others.

Grillo’s Pickles is low-key giving spots like Katz some legit competition

We’re in BJ’s, Target, Whole Foods, you name it. Grillo’s started as a family, garden-fresh recipe with seven ingredients - so everything we make is cold-packed, fresh-packed and hand-packed. So what you get is like a quick pick farmer’s market style pickle so it’s not boiled, it’s not pasteurized, it’s got no preservatives, no junk in it so what you’re getting it just fresh quality ingredients that you can actually pronounce.

The thing that makes us different is it’s cold all the way through. Unlike some of the competitors, they’re in glass and we’re served in a farmer’s market style way similar to how we started when we were selling pickles in the street for two for a dollar out of a wooden pickle cart. It’s made with fresh ingredients and love and that’s what separates us from the rest. You can taste it when you try it. You can taste the fresh ingredients. It has that crunch.

These new mainstream collaborations are late to the party

The camo collection really came about naturally

I was out in LA visiting and just meeting up with some friends and [Najeeb] introduced me to this guy named Rafi who runs a warehouse out in LA. He’s got a ton of different vintage Levis, denim, you name it - he’s got a surplus of vintage and we were in there and looking around and saw this rack of chocolate chip camo, desert camo and looking at it. We were like, ‘Yo, if we dyed this green it would look like pickles, right?’ That was like the lightbulb moment where we’re like, ‘Okay, let’s run it! You can be the designer of it. We’ll have this upcycle collection.’ The connection here is that pickles are pretty much upcycled cucumbers. You’re taking something in its first form and turning it into something new and that’s what we did with this chocolate chip desert camo.

We took this original camo, decided it looked like a pickle skin texture and dyed it green and that was the collaboration between Najeeb and Grillo’s. It was a fun way to show some creativity but also some sustainability with what we’re doing as a brand.

Eddie’s all-time favorite Grillo’s Pickles drops

The original jersey that we put out in 2008 is like a staple to the company. It just was an original thing that we did that was a part of the company and from there on out, we kind of just were like, let’s keep doing this as more of a lifestyle thing.

We made jerseys and shirts before we even sold pickles on the street. It was like taking a part of our creative outlet and making it our own and then doing starting the pickles company as our work uniform. The jersey is definitely number one and then the Patrick Ewing sneaker that we released back in 2018 was kind of a full circle moment for the brand.

Travis. Grillo, who didn’t get a job at Nike in 2008 wanted to be a product brand manager and then we were able a decade later put out our own sneaker on our own. For us, that was a big moment for the brand.