They say smell is the sense most closely associated with memory, but it’s not true. It is in fact your fashion sense. The dread you feel of “oh my god, did I really wear that” to the shirt you wore on your very first date together; clothing tells stories and holds memories like few possessions that we own.
FINDING IDENTITY
Founders Ryan and Oli are two friends who met in Hong Kong, kicked a football around a pitch together and then started kicking footballs around pitches across Southeast Asia. The fragility of football team masculinity demanded that instead of dressing in our own skin (*shudder*) we instead share our collective team identity with everyone we encounter on these trips. Instead of just wearing our regular kit for our away adventures, we should create a whole new wardrobe - and in turn, lots of memories and clothes we can no longer throw away.
What started as a hobby, turned to obsession. The tragic first iteration of a black t-shirt with the team logo on was memorable indeed; memorable because it was reminiscent of your nan being let loose with Comic Sans MS on WordArt97 for the first time.
We’ve come a long way. Each trip has been a succession of progression, improvement & development but ultimately fun.
GALE FORCE PLANS
merch club was never planned. It was on one dark, typhoon-drenched evening in Osaka that things took a turn. Typhoon Trami had dampened our plans for playing football, swept away our Sunday baseball entertainment, and left us with little else to do than hang our wet clothes up in a Dotonbori izakaya and drink away our blues.
At the same time our custom merch, branded with the Japanese translation of our football team, began trending (positively, I’ll add) in the city; presumably resultant from our previous days and nights escapades. There was a buzz. Who were these cool, soaking wet, pathetically-desperate-for-fun guys setting social media alight. All of a sudden, our merch wasn’t just for our own narcissistic pleasure (debatable), it was a legitimate way of meeting people, sharing culture and striking up meaningful & genuine human interaction.
END-TO-END APPROACH
Since that trip, we have taken the lessons learned and approach our methods in a more experiential way. We try to create lasting experiences through meticulous design and detail to every item that we produce. From little design adaptations of logos; tipping the proverbial cap to the respective event or destination, to end-to-end production starting with fabric sourcing, computer-aided design (CAD) and manufacturing.
That ethos has projected us to the journey we are on now, supplying bespoke clothing to clients in HK, Asia and Europe. We are stoked with the excitement of taking on new challenges and humbled with the support and feedback from our friends, network and friendly Japanese strangers.
Welcome to the merch club, where memories are threaded, designed and delivered.
TL:DR
Two guys play football, make clothes that are shit. Make steadily better clothes. Typhoon hits Japan. Guys drink indoor beers. Guys come up with good business idea when drinking beers. Guys actually follow through with the idea and create the merch club.
Σχόλια