One Week To Live - Interview
Up until this earlier year, theurbanshop.co.uk was known as Headstrong: a premium, online, streetwear store, that benefited from a wealth of satisfied customers and a massively diverse range of clothing. From its own series of designs by famed artists such as Matt Sewell, Remi Rough and Sickboy, (which can consequently be found, alongside an interview with owner in the t-shirt graphics book ‘T-Shirt 360’) to skate stuff, street-inspired fashion and hip hop labels. However as all good tales do, to get up to date, this twists and turns through a nightmare that shows that suits and big businesses don’t really mix too well with the independent streetwear industry. Which means Headstrong is no longer, but in it’s wake lies The Urban Shop.co.uk, bigger and better than before. With this experience of the game and the fact that he’s out the other side, largely unscathed, I thought the g-man would be a good person to talk fashion, trends, mistakes and life.
How do you go about scouting for new labels?
We don’t do business in the same sense that most companies do business as we are a virtual company and everything we do is “virtual”. It’s strange, but we have designers who have been working for us for five years that I’ve never met, we’ve got a marketing guy that I’ve never met. Label-wise, we keep an eye on what’s going on but we don’t come down to all the London fashion shows because we don’t want to copy what’s going on in London, but simply do what we want to do. We very rarely go to any tradeshows. Most of the brands contact us directly and we are continuously looking for new brands. Friends within the trade will tip us off and we’ll start looking at different labels from that too. So there’s lots of different ways that we work.
What do think are the qualities that have made your store so popular with returning customers?
Initially I think it’s the range, I even hear that from other people in the business who have their own websites. After that, it comes down to service. We are very much service-based, for example if you order today, we make sure that you’ll receive the goods in the next day or so. The only thing that slows it down is Royal Mail. There’s also the way we deal with problems. When you are buying stuff that you can’t see or show the full detail (screen resolution is 72 dpi, where as print resolution is 300 dpi etc), the customer has to have a comeback of sorts. There’s a UK law in selling regulations that actually states that you don’t even have to have a reason to return an item for a full refund. We’re just going by the law, and being helpful by doing so.
Recently there’s been a massive slump in skate/streetwear sales. Stores are closing down at a scary rate, even massive distributors. Why do you think this is happening?
The main problem is fashion itself and people (the companies) being pigeon holed into a certain area. For example, some people will see us as hip hop, many will think we’re a skate shop, but we’re both of those and probably more. HSC, a big UK skate distributor that had been going for over twenty years suddenly went bang. The problem with skateboarding, was that all of a sudden the popularity dropped. And HSC had got themselves into corner that they were a core skateboard company, and that was all they did. But suddenly nobody wanted to wear it (skate stuff) and they couldn’t get out of that.
It’s also simply down to the companies that cut costs. You have Primark selling a quality t-shirt for £2.50, or TK MAXX, who live off these places going bankrupt and sell it on for next to nothing. You can now go to the brand’s warehouse sale and buy last season’s stock for 50p per t-shirt. I think the general public are aware of what’s going on and know that they can now buy these clothes for cheaper. It’s difficult to pin point, but I think it’s changes in fashion and people not moving with the times.
It’s funny but there are also a lot of brands that are “so cool”, they don’t sell. I don’t want to name the brands but there are some very well known “cool” brands, but nobody seems to want to buy them. It’s very strange.
When did you start working with artists on your t-shirts and ad campaigns?
Back when I started, I took on a graphic designer who was also a graffiti artist known as Freeze from Nottingham, and really, he got me into the whole idea of it. But we parted company as he found it hard to get out of bed, which seems to be an ongoing theme with designers. We replaced him with this guy who did some genius work, but he just couldn’t get out of bed! We’ve always been linked to artists, but after a while we stopped having an in-house designer and asked our friends if they would be interested. Over the years we’ve made some really good friends with different designers, especially Frame. He’s been someone who has really stuck with us throughout the years.
What are the essential qualities that you look for in a label?
When we look at a label we look for three things and I think the public are after those too. Firstly, quality. We want a well made and well presented product. Next up is some kind of background for the company. For example, if we sell nice (graphic) t-shirts and they’re really popular, they are normally designed by a graffiti artist who has been painting for over 15 years. There’s always a background and a story behind every brand that we do. It’s like Obey, you would think that stencil idea is rinsed and you can see other companies realising how well it’s done and they try to copy it. But it doesn’t work for them. If the brand fits the narrative then people like that. If you’ve got a story and a way of life and are able to put it across, then yeah, people will either like it or not. But if it’s your way of life, it’s your way of life. The third thing that we are looking for is something different; people don’t want the same old thing.
You’ve been through the .com boom, but I was wondering what are the pros and cons of an online business now, in 2006?
The pros of it are that you can work from anywhere in the world, you’ve got very low overheads and you have a lot of freedom. How you sell, where you sell and how much information you put across etc. The problem is that now every man and his dog thinks he can do it. They think, “Okay, I’ve got a failing shop so now I’ll open an online shop.” There’s now a lot of competition, but that’s just basic economics.
What trends do you feel are coming up for the next season?
There is some nice knitwear for next season. Fly have done some very nice knitted cotton jumpers, and they’re so cheap it’s unbelievable. Mada have also got some really nice knitwear. Unfortunately there’s a lot of stuff out that you would have seen before. However things like (artist-led) RVCA I think that’s the way forward. If I had to pin point a trend I would say it’s the two extremes. Either, no branding, but really nice fabrics, good colours, really well made and tailored, or big, bold all-over prints. I think there are some customers that still haven’t got into it.
TOP 7 CLASSIC BRANDS
1. OBEY
2. SPIEWAK
3. DOPE
4. FUCT
5. FRESHJIVE
6. MADA
7. FLY53r135
TOP 7 UP AND COMING BRANDS
1. SCHWIPE
2. D.I.E
3. FALSE stock arriving soon
4. RVCA
5. E.I.O
6. KING APPAREL
7. WESC
Thanks to Frame, Tricksta at Wolftown and everyone who has supported us through everything.
Originally published in One Week To Live Issue 41 4-10 Sept 06
How do you go about scouting for new labels?
We don’t do business in the same sense that most companies do business as we are a virtual company and everything we do is “virtual”. It’s strange, but we have designers who have been working for us for five years that I’ve never met, we’ve got a marketing guy that I’ve never met. Label-wise, we keep an eye on what’s going on but we don’t come down to all the London fashion shows because we don’t want to copy what’s going on in London, but simply do what we want to do. We very rarely go to any tradeshows. Most of the brands contact us directly and we are continuously looking for new brands. Friends within the trade will tip us off and we’ll start looking at different labels from that too. So there’s lots of different ways that we work.
What do think are the qualities that have made your store so popular with returning customers?
Initially I think it’s the range, I even hear that from other people in the business who have their own websites. After that, it comes down to service. We are very much service-based, for example if you order today, we make sure that you’ll receive the goods in the next day or so. The only thing that slows it down is Royal Mail. There’s also the way we deal with problems. When you are buying stuff that you can’t see or show the full detail (screen resolution is 72 dpi, where as print resolution is 300 dpi etc), the customer has to have a comeback of sorts. There’s a UK law in selling regulations that actually states that you don’t even have to have a reason to return an item for a full refund. We’re just going by the law, and being helpful by doing so.
Recently there’s been a massive slump in skate/streetwear sales. Stores are closing down at a scary rate, even massive distributors. Why do you think this is happening?
The main problem is fashion itself and people (the companies) being pigeon holed into a certain area. For example, some people will see us as hip hop, many will think we’re a skate shop, but we’re both of those and probably more. HSC, a big UK skate distributor that had been going for over twenty years suddenly went bang. The problem with skateboarding, was that all of a sudden the popularity dropped. And HSC had got themselves into corner that they were a core skateboard company, and that was all they did. But suddenly nobody wanted to wear it (skate stuff) and they couldn’t get out of that.
It’s also simply down to the companies that cut costs. You have Primark selling a quality t-shirt for £2.50, or TK MAXX, who live off these places going bankrupt and sell it on for next to nothing. You can now go to the brand’s warehouse sale and buy last season’s stock for 50p per t-shirt. I think the general public are aware of what’s going on and know that they can now buy these clothes for cheaper. It’s difficult to pin point, but I think it’s changes in fashion and people not moving with the times.
It’s funny but there are also a lot of brands that are “so cool”, they don’t sell. I don’t want to name the brands but there are some very well known “cool” brands, but nobody seems to want to buy them. It’s very strange.
When did you start working with artists on your t-shirts and ad campaigns?
Back when I started, I took on a graphic designer who was also a graffiti artist known as Freeze from Nottingham, and really, he got me into the whole idea of it. But we parted company as he found it hard to get out of bed, which seems to be an ongoing theme with designers. We replaced him with this guy who did some genius work, but he just couldn’t get out of bed! We’ve always been linked to artists, but after a while we stopped having an in-house designer and asked our friends if they would be interested. Over the years we’ve made some really good friends with different designers, especially Frame. He’s been someone who has really stuck with us throughout the years.
What are the essential qualities that you look for in a label?
When we look at a label we look for three things and I think the public are after those too. Firstly, quality. We want a well made and well presented product. Next up is some kind of background for the company. For example, if we sell nice (graphic) t-shirts and they’re really popular, they are normally designed by a graffiti artist who has been painting for over 15 years. There’s always a background and a story behind every brand that we do. It’s like Obey, you would think that stencil idea is rinsed and you can see other companies realising how well it’s done and they try to copy it. But it doesn’t work for them. If the brand fits the narrative then people like that. If you’ve got a story and a way of life and are able to put it across, then yeah, people will either like it or not. But if it’s your way of life, it’s your way of life. The third thing that we are looking for is something different; people don’t want the same old thing.
You’ve been through the .com boom, but I was wondering what are the pros and cons of an online business now, in 2006?
The pros of it are that you can work from anywhere in the world, you’ve got very low overheads and you have a lot of freedom. How you sell, where you sell and how much information you put across etc. The problem is that now every man and his dog thinks he can do it. They think, “Okay, I’ve got a failing shop so now I’ll open an online shop.” There’s now a lot of competition, but that’s just basic economics.
What trends do you feel are coming up for the next season?
There is some nice knitwear for next season. Fly have done some very nice knitted cotton jumpers, and they’re so cheap it’s unbelievable. Mada have also got some really nice knitwear. Unfortunately there’s a lot of stuff out that you would have seen before. However things like (artist-led) RVCA I think that’s the way forward. If I had to pin point a trend I would say it’s the two extremes. Either, no branding, but really nice fabrics, good colours, really well made and tailored, or big, bold all-over prints. I think there are some customers that still haven’t got into it.
TOP 7 CLASSIC BRANDS
1. OBEY
2. SPIEWAK
3. DOPE
4. FUCT
5. FRESHJIVE
6. MADA
7. FLY53r135
TOP 7 UP AND COMING BRANDS
1. SCHWIPE
2. D.I.E
3. FALSE stock arriving soon
4. RVCA
5. E.I.O
6. KING APPAREL
7. WESC
Thanks to Frame, Tricksta at Wolftown and everyone who has supported us through everything.
Originally published in One Week To Live Issue 41 4-10 Sept 06
posted by Unknown at 2:37 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home