In the wake of South’s intense 2021-2022 year, leadership figures have been a huge piece of the puzzle in the post-COVID campus landscape. Perhaps no other staff member demonstrates this better than junior dean Peter Lloyd. And while his connection to the student base and leadership skills haven’t gone unnoticed, it’s what he’s doing outside of South’s campus that have made him stand out. His involvement with the local skating and fashion community gained him notoriety within those sub-cultures. He has collaborated on multiple clothing releases with South High Alumni Ben Plante. The clothes they’ve released together as well as Peter’s one-of-one  have become a common sighting around the school and broader community. 

Lloyd grew up in Caruthersville Missouri, a small town bordering Tennessee. He played four years of high school football and earned himself a D1 scholarship for Southeast Missouri State. “I was pretty serious about football for a while, trying to go to the NFL. I was meeting with a few scouts and a few teams during my Junior year, but at the end of my Junior year I broke my tibula and fibula, putting my career on hold.” This injury would be a defining moment for him, as it steered his path away from football and towards fashion design. He learned the ropes of the industry, minoring in fashion design, later working for a womenswear company in Los Angeles. However, he’d always felt a calling to education, which prompted him to South High upon moving to Minnesota with his girlfriend. 

Since relocating, Peter didn’t skip a beat, quickly connecting with like-minded people in the Twin Cities. He’s made himself a prominent figure in the skateboarding and streetwear communities, and the connections he’s made through these communities have further advanced his creative endeavors. In return, he’s made it a point to give back to the local communities that he’s become a part of: “I want everyone to know that I care. I give free products away when I can. I want to give back to the community that inspires me.” This can be through giving out clothes to students in need at South, or putting up money for competition prizes at 3rd Lair skatepark, a cornerstone of the Minnesota skate scene. 

The Minnesota skate scene is where much of his inspiration derives. “I find my inspiration from my day to day life. I incorporate elements of skate culture into the graphics… taking design elements from silhouettes of objects I observe around me.” The design process from start to finish is all Lloyd’s handiwork, doing all the graphic design, sewing and distribution himself. He’s recently teamed up with Unity Printshop, owned and operated by South High alumni Ben Plante, to screen print shirts in a larger quantity. “I met Ben through another student, Daniel [Sather], while looking for a local alternative to the screen printer I was commissioning out of LA as I was interested in growing the brand organically”

And amidst his efforts to impact his local community, Lloyd still opts to shoot for the sky. “I wanna have a bigger vision for the brand. I believe I have the potential to make something out of it, as my friends in the NFL/NBA have continued to look to me to see what’s trending. But as of right now I want to focus on Minneapolis, keeping it local (…) I want the community to know that I care. I give free products away when I can. I want to give back to the community that inspires me… for example if 3rd (Lair) does an event I wanna put up money (…) just to show that I care about skating and I care about the community.