So what is That’s A Awful Lot Of Cough Syrup?
That’s A Awful Lot Of Cough Syrup, set up by rapper Desto Dubb, is a self-owned streetwear brand planted in Los Angeles. The label contracts to ALOCS, a contraction carried by its press material and present in item names such as the A.L.O.C.S. T-Shirt. On paper the range is conventional, taking in tees, hoodies, sweatpants, shorts, denim and alocs basketball shorts accessories; in practice it is peculiar, because the brand’s own name carries the graphic load on most of it. Buyers get there through a dozen spellings, including alocs clothing, cough syrup clothing and the shorthand awful lot of cough syrup. The filed entity reads THATS A AWFUL LOT OF… LLC, with no apostrophe and a trailing ellipsis. Settle one detail first: the brand writes “A Awful Lot”, not “An Awful Lot”, and that ungrammatical article is intentional. It is common to type thats a awful lot of cough syrup without the apostrophe, yet only the version with “A” corresponds to the registered mark.
Who makes it?
Desto Dubb, who came up in Watts in South Los Angeles and makes his living as a rapper and entrepreneur, is the founder and chief exec. He was making records years before he sold a shirt, which accounts for much of how the company conducts itself. It is not a design studio that attached a rapper as a face; it is a rapper’s business, operated from the same orbit as his records. He has characterised other labels as built around an aesthetic, and his own as wrapped around himself instead. The result comes through in graphics that read like song titles and in drops keyed to events rather than fashion seasons.
On his legal name the documentary record is lighter than the internet implies. Joshua Kashif Taylor is the owner of record on the United States trademark for the phrase, and posts on the brand’s own blog carry a matching byline. Unsourced commercial sites repeat other names, and those are best left alone, because for every practical purpose he is Desto Dubb.
Where does the name come from?
The public first heard the phrase through a viral clip in which an officer’s line became the brand name, and Desto Dubb built a business out of that line. The anecdote turns up in nearly every write-up, and it deserves care, since material online claims the clip was staged and no primary transcript settles it. Documentation is confined to the commercial outcome rather than the encounter, and the trademark record records first use of the mark in November 2018.
The phrase itself denotes promethazine-codeine cough syrup, the prescription medicine known in rap slang as lean, and the company does not pretend otherwise. The product names trade in medical and horror imagery, from Big Pharma and Promethazine Tour to Paralysis and Drankenstein, a graphic vocabulary rather than an instruction. It refuses treating that as a selling point, and its own site displays a standing banner reading “! PLEASE DO NOT SIP DRANK AND SHOOT FIREARMS !”. Clothing is clothing, and what remains is about garments and prices.
What year did it start?
2018 is the year to use. Two records line up: the trademark filing gives first use of the mark in November 2018, and an AllHipHop profile published in November 2023 describes the label marking its fifth anniversary. There is coverage dating the earliest selling during the pandemic, but that conflicts with both markers, and the filing and the anniversary piece are the stronger pair. Having two independent pointers to a single year is more than most young streetwear brands can manage.
The start was literally a van. The brand’s own about page has Desto Dubb selling clothes out of a van in a parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, which is the origin it tells on itself rather than one assembled by a reporter. That detail still captures the method: small batches, direct contact with buyers, and drops announced through social accounts instead of wholesale calendars. By 2026 there is an online store and physical retail, and even so the rhythm still looks closer to a van than a department store, with fresh batches landing every week or two.
What is actually on the rail?
The core is heavyweight cut-and-sew basics carrying jumbo screen prints front and back. Tee names run to King Of The Kill, Drankenstein, Juicebusters and Big Pharma, and the Classic Cough Syrup T-Shirt is published at 6.5 oz organic cotton. Hoodies occupy the heavy end, with the Classic Cough Syrup Hoodie listed at 16 oz organic cotton and hand-dyed in Los Angeles, while sweatpants use a 14 oz cotton and recycled polyester fleece. Denim is held thin, and the Double Cup Cargo Shorts, a 14 oz garment-dyed cargo short with double-layer back pockets, is the only piece in that collection in 2026.
Better than any graphic, two details identify the brand, namely the signature yellow woven label, invoked again and again in its own product copy, and the published fabric weight. Apparel spans XS to 3XL, denim and workwear sell by waist from 28 to 44, and neither a global size chart nor washing instructions is published. Fit guidance shifts by garment and is not uniform: the classic pieces are called true to size, while the lightweight jersey tees say plainly that they run small.
What do the clothes cost?
The core prices move very little, which makes them easy to hold in your head. A tee is about $150 at the brand’s own store as of September 2026, a hoodie about $200 and sweatpants about $200. Near $150 buys denim shorts, puffer jackets run between roughly $200 and $250, belts and Dickies trousers around $250, and the Dickies jacket tops the range near $350. At the other extreme a bandana runs about $25, socks and boxers fall in the $50 to $70 band, and women’s pieces roughly $48 to $160.
Streetwear prices and stock change constantly, so treat that ladder as a shape rather than a quote. The band places cough syrup clothing at the upper end of independent streetwear, well above mall-tier graphic brands and far below European luxury houses. The band also works as an authenticity signal, since a $45 tee wearing this logo did not come from the company selling them at $150.
Where is it made, and where do you buy it?
Los Angeles, a fact the brand puts on the garments themselves. Across the product copy “Made in Los Angeles” recurs, and individual pieces are described as hand-dyed and printed or screen-printed in the city rather than finished abroad. That same copy describes the company a Black-owned business. At these price levels local small-batch production explains the numbers, since a 16 oz cotton hoodie made here was never going to be a $60 garment.
Alongside a small number of physical locations the company runs its own online store. At 7669 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles sits the flagship, and the company also lists 312 West 5th Street in Los Angeles and 5410 Almeda Road in Houston. Because there is no store-locator page and no published opening hours, those addresses are worth confirming before travelling. Judge anything else claiming to be an outlet on the garment itself: the yellow woven label, the published fabric weight, the real price level, and whether the product name appears in the brand’s own catalogue.
Brand fact file
The details that survive checking are collected in the table below, and the ones that do not are left out. The dates are taken from the trademark record and dated press coverage rather than brand mythology. Read from the brand’s own store in September 2026, the prices are hedged, because they move. The addresses given are the ones the company lists on its own social profiles, with no published opening dates. For a contested claim such as the origin clip, the row records what is documented. Use it as a starting point for your own checks rather than a final word.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Brand name in the company’s own spelling | That’s A Awful Lot Of Cough Syrup |
| The abbreviation | ALOCS, sometimes written A.L.O.C.S. |
| Spellings shoppers commonly search | thats a awful lot of cough syrup, awful lot of cough syrup, alocs |
| Entity on the register | THATS A AWFUL LOT OF… LLC |
| Founder of the label | Desto Dubb, rapper and businessman |
| Founder’s home | Watts, South Los Angeles |
| Registered trademark owner | Joshua Kashif Taylor, per the US trademark record |
| Date of first use | November 2018 |
| How it began | Sales from a van in a downtown Los Angeles parking lot |
| Signature details | Yellow woven label, together with jumbo front and back screen prints |
| The core price band, September 2026 | Tees about $150, hoodies about $200, sweatpants about $200 |
| Production | Made in Los Angeles, billed in product copy as a Black-owned business |
| Flagship address | 7669 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles |
| Additional listed locations | 312 West 5th Street, Los Angeles; 5410 Almeda Road, Houston |
