Rotor
• Rotor, his clothing company and origin of his artist name, initially sold mail-order shirts and accessories via ads he placed in seminal technology culture magazines. He eventually went on to sell Rotor in many international, high-profile boutiques.
In 1991, Rotor Clothing ads started to appear in Mondo 2000 Magazine, a San Francisco cult publication and direct predecessor to WIRED. These ads featured Vanco's t-shirts inspired by a mix of cyberpunk and Japanese consumer culture.
• In 1994, Vanco moved to Chicago to work with Mike Saenz, the man behind the digital entertainment company Reactor and father of the first computer generated comic Shatter, the first interactive erotic PC games MacPlaymate and Virtual Valerie as well as the first CD-ROM computer game, Spaceship Warlock. Together they worked on the development of several early iterations of digital entertainment content including 3D films and ideas about what Vanco would eventually coin as "designer entertainment".
• Between 1996 and 1998, Rotor was based in downtown Los Angeles’ garment district on the border of Little Tokyo in the neighborhood of other popular street wear labels like Third Rail, Tribal and Twentyfive. The Rotor loft invited an interesting intersection of fashion, art and music. Various music acts held after parties and shows on the Rotor premises, including No Doubt (with singer Gwen Stefani) and the Icelandic electro pop band Gus Gus.
• In 1996 Vanco collaborated with California-based industrial designer Rob Bruce (known for his design of the Nike Triax watch) on a design for the first urban fashion wearable computer aka the Rotor "Streetwearable". Vanco consulted with designer/engineer Adam Oranchak on the processor and interface design (handheld, with a chorded keyboard and micro PC located on the user's upper back). Rotor's early wearable computer was a clear predecessor to what would later become a mainstream fashion establishment obsession with cyberculture, wearable technology and the "accessorization" of digital devices into everyone's wardrobe.
• In 1997, Rotor was named one of "10 to Watch" by ASR (Action Sports Retailer), the largest magazine, convention and business forum for the street, snow and surf clothing industries. Vanco was also invited to participate in various sponsored forums and chats to discuss his vision regarding the future of fashion and technology around the US and abroad.
• Rotor folded in 1998. At the time, due to both physical and financial limitations, Vanco leaves Rotor, allowing him to focus on larger ambitions in the entertainment industry. Popular cyberculture evangelism would eventually be taken up by the likes of the Wachowski brothers with the film The Matrix and digital lifestyle streetwear would be brought to the mainstream by brands like Analog, Nike and Oakley.
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