There is no city where café culture stretches wider than Los Angeles. Long commutes, quiet isolation, and sheer sprawl have turned coffee shops into vital points of connection for the four million people who call La-La Land home. If New York is defined by pizza and bagels, LA runs on coffee and matcha, making it the perfect backdrop and creative catalyst for an unlikely collaboration between Oatly and LA-based brand Kids of Immigrants. Titled Pour Into Others, the workwear capsule spans a craft jacket, crossbody bag, and cap, pieces shaped by the rhythms of daily service and worn by the people who keep café culture alive.
At the center of the campaign are three LA baristas who embody that ethos: Apollo Jeremiah of Palm Grove Social, Jerrod La Rue of Heavy Water, and Monica Sanchez of Café Tropical. Worn on shift and captured in motion, the collection meets the trio where it belongs. More than places to grab caffeine, cafés offer ritual, conversation, and moments of pause. Look closer, and they reveal something deeper: a community built cup by cup, where routine becomes rapport.
Apollo Jeremiah came to Los Angeles for music. After a job fell through early in his move, he walked into Palm Grove Social—his favorite neighborhood café at the time—and asked if they needed help. They did. What began as a temporary solution became something more permanent. “We don’t just provide caffeine, we give people a moment of reprieve from the madness that can be this city,” he says. Over time, the repetition of making drinks shaped a deeper relationship with the work.
Apollo lives in the same neighborhood he serves, watching customers return through new chapters of their lives. As the son of immigrants from Grenada, his story runs directly through the café, even showing up in a sorrel drink made from his mother’s recipe. Wearing the KOI x Oatly jacket feels personal in that context, an extension of both work and identity. “We’re not in the coffee business, we’re in the people business,” he says.
Jerrod La Rue’s introduction to coffee began long before their first shift. Years spent sitting in LA cafés, watching, asking questions, and attending tastings slowly built into a practice. Now at Heavy Water, Jerrod approaches coffee with careful attention to process. “Anything you put time and energy into is an art form,” they say. Heavy Water itself reflects that outlook.
Once a two-car garage, the space now operates as a small neighborhood café with a garden courtyard and locally roasted coffee. The shop partners with Homeboy Industries to train people reentering society through specialty coffee and keeps access in mind for its surrounding community. Naturally introverted, Jerrod has learned to navigate connection through daily service. Outside the café, photography, writing, and horticulture shape how they release and reflect. When asked about legacy, their answer points forward: “I hope to leave behind a forest that people will discover one day.”
Monica Sanchez began working as a barista at 15, needing extra income while building toward a life in food. Over time, coffee became a skill she carried alongside her work as a pastry chef. “You’re encountering so many different individuals in the span of a couple of hours, it really gives you a new perspective on people,” she says.
At Café Tropical, a Los Angeles institution since 1975, that perspective plays out every day. The café stays busy from morning through night, serving as a gathering place for neighbors, recovery groups, creatives, and friends meeting after long days. As a first-generation child of immigrants, Monica sees herself reflected in the Kids of Immigrants ethos. “This job has no borders and is inclusive to all,” she says. Whether she’s baking pastries or pulling shots, the work stays rooted in care.
Together, Apollo, Jerrod, and Monica give form to what this workwear capsule represents. The Craft Jacket, crossbody bag, and cap are built to move through long shifts and short breaks, through spills, bike rides, and end-of-day cleanup. The pieces carry the same intention as the work itself, which is meant to be worn, tested, and lived in.
Across Palm Grove Social, Heavy Water, and Café Tropical, the specifics change, but the purpose holds steady. These cafés function as gathering points, places where routine turns into conversation and community builds over time. In a city defined by speed and constant reinvention, these baristas practice something quieter and more enduring: showing up, paying attention, and building connection through daily ritual.
Click here to discover more from the KOI x Oatly capsule.
