A NOTE FROM JOEL ON OUR H&M COLLABORATION

“Collaboration”. It’s a word that gets bandied around a lot. Take Supreme. Perhaps the kings of collaboration, this iconic NYC brand can seemingly put their logo on anything from harmonicas to calculators, and suddenly the streets of New York, London and Tokyo are awash with sixteen-year-old harmonicists, with an easy way to add up how much money they’ve dropped on white t-shirts.

Cool factor aside, the word collaborate actually originates from the Latin word “collaborare”, meaning“work together”. The thing about working together with other people is that, let’s be honest - it can be a bit troublesome (try collaborating with your wife). When two brands come together who operate day-to-day in different worlds, the challenges can become insurmountable, and so often cause a breakdown in the relationship. How do you each do justice to your brand? How do you divide responsibility or find where to compromise? How do you create something both sets of customers will be excited about?

When H&M first approached us about working together, our first feeling was, of course, overwhelming excitement. But pretty soon, those thoughts started creeping in. How does a company that’s been around for 5 years, has no stores, and 9 employees (that’s us) join forces with one that’s been around since 1947, has over 5,000 stores and employs 179,000 people?

Well, it turns out that we also have a surprising amount in common. At the time, I had no idea that H&M was, and still is, a family business. I was so impressed by how their commitment to sustainability and quality trickled down through the entire business. I was disarmed by how welcoming everyone was, how proud everyone was of the company they work at and shocked at how the majority of those we met with had no desire to work anywhere else, and never had. That’s pretty rare these days.

Collaboration can be big or small. For us, this is huge. It’s been a completely surreal and wonderful adventure. In the true spirit of collaboration, we’ve worked together with the teams at H&M at every stage, whether that’s cramming into hotel rooms to try on samples or figuring out how to paint on perspex with the marketing team. This experience has taught us that it doesn’t really matter how big or small the brands are. It’s about the people involved and the passions shared. The result is a collection that we’re all super proud of, developed together with a team of people we’re beyond proud to have worked with.

We hope you like it as much as we do.

Joel x