All-powerful tech corporations, automation displacing the working class and culture changing by the hour through the internet is the philosophy behind Crisiswear Clothing, 222 Main St., which is selling clothing to match.

Founded the year “The Matrix” came out, Crisiswear has been a long-standing part of Chicago’s fashion scene. Matt Deponte (aka Flux), founder and creative director of the business, started it working as a bouncer for Neo, Chicago’s main industrial Goth club.

“I worked there nights,” said Deponte, “then during the day I would get up and make clothing. It gave me an insight into what people were wearing for the club scene.”

According to Andrew Wright, who directs the business’s operations, “We have our roots in that kind of scene, [but] as the brand has grown and evolved we’ve moved more towards a mainstream direction. The older stuff that was coming out of the club scene, the really gritty, really ornamental kind of stuff … if you’re wearing this out in public and you’re not in the club, people are going to stare at you. But the kind of stuff that’s coming out of Crisiswear now is really beautiful, really clean, really functional, incredibly durable, and can augment any outfit and just bring a little bit of edge to what you wear.”

Deponte calls it “cyberpunk-inspired,” drawing on a cultural movement that started with William Gibson’s 1984 novel, “Neuromancer,” and Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, “Blade Runner,” depicting the seamy underbelly of a near future where technology, culture and corporate power have run away from the control of everyday society. Wright believes “we’re intersecting with a political and social moment that’s becoming more and more totalitarian and dystopic,” and the man-versus-technology-versus-society spirit of cyberpunk makes for a good psychological remedy.

“A lot of our lines in the clothing are very geometric and military-inspired,” said Wright, “but that really comes out of a human desire to feel like you have a control over your environment and a control over your future. … There’s a way to access a feeling that comes from wearing this clothing that’s empowering.”

And Crisiswear’s challenge toward the modern world is more than just talk – its philosophy runs counter to the high and low fashion world, where the ephemeral and disposable are king.

“People just buy, buy, buy and then throw it out,” said Deponte, who contrasts this with the practicality and durability focused on by his own two-person sewing team. “You pay a little bit more, and the clothing lasts forever.”

Crisiswear customers are not only fashionistas in Canada, Australia, Germany and Sweden, but hunters in the Midwest who value Deponte’s signature cowls for cold-weather expeditions. And what’s worked for the clothing has worked for the business. “The history of a fashion designer or clothing companies in general,” said Deponte, “is that you’ll have a span of about one-to-four years where you find this amazing stuff, and then you go back a couple years later and they’re gone. Eighteen years is a long time for an independent clothing company.”

Deponte and Wright are looking forward to putting down their roots in Woodstock. “It ended up being a perfect location,” said Wright. “It’s got a lot of room for growth. We’re going to move our production operation into the basement, and if we’re lucky we’ll turn this into a full-on retail space by next year. It’s going to be a really awesome base of operations for the brand.”

Deponte credits his move to Woodstock with breathing new life into his work. “I was in Chicago and I was artistically dead,” he said. “… I was uninspired, I needed an insane life change. I came out here, I was like – this is out in the middle of nowhere, I don’t know if I can do this, but I had solitude to make some really awesome changes with the gear.”

He welcomes new businesses and events, like the recent Truck-Off Food Truck Festival, which are drawing people from his old neighborhood of Wicker Park and Wright’s neighborhood of Logan Square to Woodstock.

“That’s the thing you want,” Deponte said. “You want to make it a destination spot. If you do the same thing that everybody else is doing, no one’s ever going to know you’re there.”

Wright hopes that, in Chicagoland’s far northwest, Crisiswear will “set an anchor for alternative fashion, food and fun.” Visit Crisiswear.com.