What Is Filter017? Taichung Design Crew and Crealive Dept.
What is Filter017? Filter017 is a Taiwan design crew and lifestyle brand that started in Taipei in 2004 as a creative unit and later built its own apparel and living goods line. Since 2011 its base has been Taichung’s Crealive Dept. concept store — studio, product development, and retail under one roof. This explainer covers the brand for shoppers mapping Taiwan street and outdoor style.
Cover photo: Adonis Lin — Street view in Central District, Taichung — CC BY 3.0. Also on Wikimedia Commons. Resized for web. Taichung street mood for Filter017; not a brand storefront or product shot.
Filter017 sits on the Taiwan map next to the wider Asian streetwear context in our Asian Streetwear Guide.
2004 Taipei Creative Unit
The official Filter017 About page states that the FILTER017® team was founded in 2004 in Taipei as a creative unit known for “mixing of elements” and a distinct visual vocabulary across design fields, while independently running its own diversified design brand. An Illustrators’ Lounge profile names the early trio Enzo Lin, Wen Ko, and Nick Chen and frames the agency years around bridging Eastern and Western design cultures, with client work spanning packaging, clothing, toys, and boards for names such as Nike, Adidas, and Dr. Martens.
Design director Enzo Lin (林易慶), in a Transform Design Star interview, describes himself as operations/design lead with a graphic-design core, a Ling Tung visual-communication background, and a short Shanghai work chapter that pushed him toward starting a design-and-brand practice of his own.
Own Brand 2009, Taichung 2011
Illustrators’ Lounge dates the own-name clothes and lifestyle line to 2009, after years of designing for others — humour, classic cues, and street trends carried into tees, accessories, toys, and more. Official About places the 2011 move of the creative base to Taichung and the opening of Crealive Dept., a hybrid of design studio, product development, and brand image store. Enzo’s Design Star interview matches that timeline: Taipei-raised until the 2011 decision to settle in Taichung and build the company team with a concept shop downstairs and studio upstairs.
A 2009 Frozenaisle interview reprinted on the brand’s early blog already shows the team preparing products under the Filter017 name and saying the name itself does not stand for a fixed acronym — the work matters more than a decoded title.
Street, Retro, Outdoor, InOut Living
Official About’s current English positioning reads: “LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH WARMTH, PRIDE AND POSITIVITY,” with inspiration from street culture, retro design, outdoor living, and urban lifestyle. The Chinese About copy stresses a reposition toward art, subculture, retro fashion, and practical function across apparel, style outdoor, and home (InOut). That arc — from graphic street products toward camping, outdoor tools, and domestic objects — is visible in the brand’s published cooperation timeline, which also lists long-running visual and merch work with CPBL’s Uni-Lions and projects such as Evangelion fashion capsules as examples of how a design crew scales beyond T-shirts alone.
Why Filter017 Matters for Asian Streetwear Shoppers
If you are mapping Taiwan beyond logo tees, Filter017 is a useful design-crew case: agency craft first, own brand next, then a Taichung lifestyle base where street graphics, retro humour, and outdoor/home goods share one roof. It helps explain how Taiwan teams turned illustration and client work into lasting retail identities without waiting for a Tokyo address.
For more reading, see the Asian Streetwear Guide and What Is Streetwear? 15 Streetwear Outfit Ideas.
FAQ
What is Filter017?
Filter017 is a Taiwan creative unit founded in Taipei in 2004 that later launched its own lifestyle and apparel brand. Official About and Illustrators’ Lounge place the own-brand era around 2009 and the Taichung Crealive Dept. base in 2011.
Who leads Filter017?
Press and interviews highlight design/operations director Enzo Lin (林易慶). Illustrators’ Lounge also names co-founding trio members Wen Ko and Nick Chen in the early agency years.
Where is Filter017 based?
Founded in Taipei in 2004; creative base and Crealive Dept. concept store in Taichung since 2011, per official About and Enzo’s Design Star interview.
What does Filter017 make?
Official positioning covers clothing plus style outdoor and home (InOut) goods inspired by street, retro, and urban-outdoor living — evolving from earlier graphic street and toy/accessory work described in Illustrators’ Lounge.
What is Crealive Dept.?
Official About describes Crealive Dept. as the 2011 Taichung concept store combining design studios, product development, and brand retail in one composite space.