I’ve always been a creative person anyway and I’ve tried a lot of creative stuff in my 34 years. Music, painting, comedy and a bunch of other stuff too. One thing that’s always been consistent ever since I had the money to spend on my own clothes has been a desire to start my own brand. This has been one of my only consistent passions in life and around the end of 2019 I started to seriously make steps In starting the then unnamed brand. I started by gathering as much inspiration as I could from various places. To be fair I was constantly doing this anyway, but started doing it in a much more focused was as I now had a goal in mind. I got on Instagram, Pinterest and started digging through all my collections of pieces. I’ve been hoarding stuff for years and always used the excuse of creating this archive to my missus to buy new stuff, which finally I could just about justify. So a few months in and I’m fully immersed in this idea and I’m sketching logos, making lists of names for the brand, doing drawings of actual pieces and teaching myself as much as possible about design, all while working full time. Everyone from Yorkshire has to work 18 hour shifts down the pit ya see. (I actually worked in construction and still do for that matter) I was coming home from work after being out for 14 hours, jumping in the bath, having a bit of tea and then cracking on around my kitchen table with drawings, ideas and learning. I’d often do this till past midnight then get up at 5:30 and do it all again the day after. I was obsessed to say the least.
(Above) Early designs I did around my kitchen table on an evening.
(Above) I’d copy the measurements of pieces I owned and take all the details to put them into tech packs to teach myself and better understand the process.
(Above) early sketch of the Utility Jacket which also led to the development of the Finnegan Jacket.
People around me at the time were wary and advising me to start small, print designs on off the shelf blanks and pretty much lead me in a direction I didn’t want to go. I started changing my mindset for the better and realised I wasn’t going to take advice from anyone that hadn’t done it themselves. I found mentors and people I could learn from and generally improve as a person from knowing. I don’t want this to turn into a sob story, but I was in the depths of bad bad depression at the time and this was something positive I could focus on. It probably saved my life to be fair (this and my amazing girlfriend and dog), I still had crippling self doubt and found it hard to get out of bed in a morning. I kept making myself carry on though as I knew I had something to give, I could do this and I knew I could do it well with the right attitude. It forced me to change my habits, discipline myself and grow.
My aim for this brand and the thing I kept coming back to was “would this fit in at Oi Polloi?” (For those who don’t know, Oi Polloi was an independent Manchester store which has sadly now closed) that place introduced me to so many new brands and I loved their vibe in general. I wanted this brand to mix my love of Casual stuff, Streetwear, Skateboarding, Vintage outdoors kit and Military garments. From this vast array of influences, I wanted to create something new and unique, which Im pretty sure I have managed to do. I wanted pieces I was constantly looking for but couldn’t find anywhere, something different from the norm. Now I had that focused idea and concept I was deadly serious that this was going to happen, no matter what anyone told me. I got a bunch of designs ready and did tech packs for all the measurements and details. There’s still designs from that initial bunch that I’m going back to now and tweaking as I did so many to practice. I also found this really useful to get bad ideas out of my system and move on, which is important. From those initial ideas came the Ambridge Smock Hoodie of which we’re just releasing the second version, starting ideas for the soon to be released Cody Coach Jacket, First Utility Jacket concept and the long awaited and heavily developed Finnegan Jacket. I so glad I put all that work in back then, you’ve got to capture as much of that inspiration as you can while it’s there. Saying that, the creative fire is still fully burning and I’m constantly putting down ideas. I’ve got enough ideas for the next 10 seasons easily at the moment which is exciting.
(Above) Oi Polloi of Manchester, a real treasure trove for a young chap on a journey to discover new brands. It was always my aim to get stocked in here eventually, but sadly it wasn’t to be.
I was still thinking about names and logos on a daily basis and filling my notes on my phone with lists of ideas and sketching out pads and pads of logo ideas. It was at this time I got seriously aquatinted with Saki who ran an independent store in Sheffield of which I’d shopped for years, but never seriously talked with until I mentioned my plans. He helped me in starting up and getting stuff manufactured, give the brand identity and generally mentor me. I’m eternally grateful for him and his help in starting up. (it was also an amazing privilege to be stocked in his shop, until that sadly had to close) He suggested using my nickname, Fuzz (something I’d inherited from my old man as a kid) I wasn’t sure at first, but as I started sketching out logos I had an idea that I passed on to my Graphic Designer pal, Tom who transformed the idea into the finished logo and that was that, I loved it. Finding the right brand name and logo was the last piece of the puzzle as I’d done everything else. It was just lucky I had the time to develop it and keep trying as it’s the last thing you really need, but very important as it forms a big part of your identity, so you need to be happy with it. At this point we were also well into numerous samples of the new pieces and going through the process of refining the design and details. This bit takes quite a bit of time going back and forth and making sure everything is just right. It’s an amazing process to go from initial idea, to first sample, which are often way off and then development to the final production piece. This is something people don’t see and theres an awful amount of work that goes into these steps.
(Above) The eureka moment! Toms first sketch of what was to become our logo.
From starting looking at this brand and taking the initial steps to the release of the first collection took almost 2 years, but wow what a buzz for that hard work to turn into something real. My dream was happening, but that was just the start of the hard work to come….
It’s now been 2 years since I launched and sitting and writing this and looking through all the photos from that time has been a blast. I’ll try and share more of these photos and stories in others posts. I’ll post again soon about the next steps and where I’ve left off here, individual pieces and there design and what the future holds for FUZZ, along with keeping you in the loop with what we’re currently up to.
Cheers for reading - Fuzz