October Textiles Limited

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About October Textiles Limited

October is a t shirt printing, screen printing, garment sourcing and embroidery supplier established in 1990. We source a wide range of clothing and accessories to fit the most demanding of specifications. Although we print and embroider for a variety of sectors, our speciality is fashion.

October print bandanas for Urban Nerds
January 3, 2014 8:46 pm Leave a Comment
The ‘bass heavy London party starters promoting warehouse raves and underground club nights’ Check their event listings, get the latest news and mixes on the blog or buy tickets and Urban Nerds clothing!

‘In four years Urban Nerds has risen in the ranks of underground clubbing to become one of London’s biggest bass brands.

The first Nerds rave hit East London in 2007 to provide a new home to underground genres spanning dubstep, grime, electro, hip-hop, drum & bass, reggae and beyond. Nerds was one of the first nights in the big smoke to pioneer a multi-genre concept and the amalgamation of bass culture that’s since been adopted across the country and infiltrated the full spectrum of electronic music. As underground British beats & blips become increasingly genre-crossing and too often branded with the ‘bass’ bracket, Urban Nerds maintains its position as one of the best events in the country to embrace this new dance hybrid.

Four years down the line and the Urban Nerds count themselves part of the lucky few to have hosted room 3 at Fabric and room 2 at Matter, with a landmark Fabriclive room 2 debut in July 2011. They’ve collaborated on events with music moguls such as Mixmag, Time Out and the much respected DMC World DJ Championships. In 2011 Nerds returned to Europe’s biggest ski and snowboard festival, Snowbombing, as an official club partner for the third year running.

In LDN Urban Nerds were amongst the ï¬rst on the bass scene to take the sounds of the underground out of the club, pushing boundaries with a string of sell-out warehouse events that regularly see 1500 clubbers dub-step their way through the night in unique, mind-blowing locations. In warehouses from Shoreditch to Southwark, in dark East End basements, in iconic London venues and increasingly cross-country in Europe, Urban Nerds raves have become known for a great atmosphere, a strong and loyal crowd and an unashamed love for a plethora of bass-led party sounds. There’s really no one else who’s as nerdy about British underground urban music as this lot.

http://www.urban-nerds.com/

PAST ACTS INCLUDE…

A1 Bassline / AC Slater / B-ILL / Badness / B.A.D. Content / Baobinga / Benga / Benny Page / Blazey / Bliss / Breakage / Brooksy / Bunnington Judah / Bunzero / Caspa / Chase & Status / Chris Chronic / Chrome Kids / Circus Records / Clara Moto / Cluekid / Coki / Congo Natty / Cookie Monsta / Cotti / Crooked & Chubbs / Cutmaster Swift / Daddy Nature / David Rodigan / Deville / Dialect / DJ Blakey / DJ EZ / DJ Footloose / DJ Magic / DJ Maximum / DJ MK / DJ Q / DJ Rafik / DJ Switch / DJ Tubby / DJ Vectra / DJ Woody / DJ Zinc / Doctor LIVE / Doctor P / Donovan ‘Badboy’ Smith / Doorly / Dr Meaker LIVE / Drama / Dread MC / Dusty Lungs / Elijah & Skilliam / Elvee / Emcee Killa / Engine Earz Experiment LIVE / Essence / Farm Yardies / Finn James / Flirta D / Flo Dan / Flux Pavilion / Foamo / Foreign Beggars LIVE / Frisco LIVE / Gaz (Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues) / G Smalls / G£nuin£ Guy / Geeneus / Gerald Sidot / Goldie (Metalheadz) / Goldielocks DJ Set / Harry Love / Heny G / Hijak / Hot City / Illaman / Inja LIVE / Jack Beats / Jaguar Skills / Jay Rusto / Jayou / Jenna G LIVE / Jimmy Image / Joker / Jook 10 / Jungle Drummer & DJ Fu / Katy B LIVE / Ken Mac / Killa Kela / KloseOne / Korrelator / Kozzie / Krisby / L-Wiz / Lady Chann LIVE / Lee Brasco / Lionbeat / Little Bo Selecta / Little Dee / Loefah / Mak 10 / Mala / Mampi Swift / Marco Del Horno / Marcus Nasty / Markle / Martelo / MC Ardimann / MC Crazy D / MC Nomad / MC Serocee / MC Sgt Pokes / MC Tippa / Men in Masks / Mista Jam / MJ Cole / Moxie / Ms Dynamite / Mumdance / Mz Bratt LIVE / Navigator / N-Type / Netsky / New Town Kings LIVE / Newham Generals LIVE / Noisses / Oneman / Ordio Kid / Papa Moomin / Phaze One / P Money / Plastician / Princess Nyah / Professor Green LIVE / Purple LIVE / Rack N Ruin / Raffertie / Random Impulse / Randomer / Ranking / RattusRattus / Redlight / Reepo / Rosco / Roska / Rusko / Sarah Love / Sarantis / Sasquatch / Savage Henry / Scandalous Unltd / Scientist / Scott Garcia / Sensless Records / Session / Shaga / Shantie / Shy FX / Sick Sense / Sinden / Skepta LIVE / Skinnyman LIVE / SKisM / Slimzee / Solarity / SP:MC / Spooky Bizzle / Spyro / Stenchman / Step:One / Sticky / Subsound / Sukh Knight / Sunday Roast / Supra1 / Taskforce LIVE / Tayo / Tempa T LIVE / Tenor Fly / Terror Danjah / The Equalizers / The Heatwave / Thunderclaps / Tinchy Stryder LIVE / Toddla T / Tomb Crew / Top Cat / True Tiger Collective / Urban Knights / Virus Syndicate LIVE / Warrior One / Warrior Queen LIVE / We Are Dubist / Weekse’
October print for Mostyn…
8:27 pm Leave a Comment
…who have a clear purpose: to showcase the finest young designer talent. It’s that simple!

There is an abundance of young, student designers who have incredible ability but no platform to express it. Mostyn was born to try and change this. Not only are we trying to move away from mass produced and soulless designs, we are looking to launch the careers of some seriously talented people. We want to introduce designs that are intentional, with a meaning, a history and an inspiration. Designs that matter.

We have tried to bring together some really exciting illustrators, graphic designers, fine artists and photographers together under one new and fresh label. Explore our website to get to know the designers. Read their blogs and visit their personal websites and hopefully the designs you see will come to life.

Available from www.mostynclothing.com

Don’t forget to follow us on:

Facebook – www.facebook.com/mostynclothing

Twitter – @mostynclothing

Instagram – @mostynclothing
October print vests for RED HOT
December 12, 2013 8:55 pm Leave a Comment
October print vests for RED HOT, the stills and video exhibition that, ‘aims to rebrand the ginger male stereotype.’ It is Thomas Knights’ first solo exhibition, and is themed around a subject close to his heart. Knights’ experience of growing up with ginger hair was just the way that many redheads experienced school, ‘People have an ingrained sense of what a ginger male looks like and what he can do. He is ugly, weak, de-sexualised and emasculated.’ He explains that RED HOT is a very much needed rebrand for ginger males, ‘it presents the ginger male as the ultimate male. The leading man, the hero, the alpha.’
October at it again : A short Film by Bandini Pictures Nottingham
December 11, 2013 8:00 pm Leave a Comment
Our very own Printer Paul Stephenson once again ventures into the movies in this short film by Bandini Films.
The DR. Hackett Column – Garment Shrinkage
7:23 pm Leave a Comment

After a recent wash care accident with his sports jacket, Dr Albert Hackett (on secondment to us from the University of Michigan), has turned his academic attention away from screen mesh tensioning to investigate garment shrinkage.

Dr Hackett explained: “There are essentially two categories of shrinkage – felting and relaxation.

“Felting is unique to wool, because wool fibres have surface scales that cause differential friction effects. Wool fibres may swell, the scales expand and are lifted. This increases differential friction between fibres and interlocks and compacts them, which causes felting shrinkage.

“To reduce the risk of this, washing additives can lower inter fibre friction and reduce fibre swelling.”

Dr. Hackett continues: “As for relaxation shrinkage, during manufacturing textiles can stretch, and are sometimes shaped and dried under tension. Macroscopic stresses occur, but can be released by plasticization. The latter occurs when fibres swell in a liquid medium or when heat is applied during drying.

“Either action lowers the cohesive energy between amorphous polymer segments, and causes relaxation within the fibre matrix.”

Basically Doc, you need a new coat
We are debt clothing..
7:16 pm Leave a Comment
We are debt clothing..

An independent fashion label; designers and makers of alternative, luxury street wear.

Determined to keep our loyal followers exclusive, DEBT refuse to mass produce or humour high street stores. Our ethos to pay more, produce less and remain better has taken us from strength to strength. Our garments are made using the highest quality, ethical materials and silk screen printed by hand in the UK.

Giving back to the street since 2008: Packed with attitude and proudly unpredictable, DEBT Collection IX has dropped. Thanks for your support!

available now from:

www.weareclosed.co.uk
www.facebook.com/weareclosed
New – technical column by Dr Hackett
December 10, 2013 7:28 pm Leave a Comment

October is pleased to welcome the contributions Dr Albert Hackett, who is in the UK on a two-year sabbatical from the University of Michigan.

Starting next month he will be our specialist technical adviser on all matters pertaining to the world of screen print.

Dr Hackett, an original founder of the university’s Rheology Department and Senior Lecturer in Molecule Vibration, is in the UK to further his studies on mesh tensions, and refine his patented screen wipes.

“I’m happiest alone in a laboratory, test tube in hand,” said Doctor Hackett, “but while I’m in the UK I’m more than willing to help out with any technical questions screen printers may have, particularly on the subject of yellow mesh low frequency light diffusion.”

As you can see we have wasted no time in putting his undoubted skills to good use.
October print for Onkowear
November 27, 2013 9:04 pm Leave a Comment

www.facebook.com/onkowear
Finding the perfect polo shirt…trickier than Terry Thomas.
November 19, 2013 9:48 am Leave a Comment
And not just because it should really have been called the Tennis Shirt. Long before Mr T.Thomas shouted ‘Hard Cheese’ and showed off in a tennis match, to try to gain access to the floral bloomers of a certain April Smith (School for Scoundrels, 1960) tennis players would usually wear ‘tennis whites’. This meant long sleeved button-up shirts, flannel trousers and ties. This was all well and good if your name was Sebastian, and you fancied knocking a few crumpets over the net after six bottles of Bolly at Brideshead, but for the serious player, it was about as comfy as a wasp up a kilt.

Naturally, it was a fiendishly fashionable Froggy who came up with the answer, René Lacoste, the French seven-time Grand Slam tennis champion and all round smart derriere. He invented a white, short sleeved and loosely knit pique cotton, with a soft collar, buttoned placket, and a longer back, first sported by The Crocodile, as he was known, at the 1926 US Open. I haven’t checked any detail of his performance, as I prefer to imagine he played while smoking a Gauloise, with frequent set breaks to guzzle Champers and ravish ball girls, prior to a celebratory leap over the net involving a loud fart.

And so René, bless his little garlic pods, solved a few problems in one for the tennis players of the day: the short sleeves meant your long sleeve shirt didn’t suddenly start flapping, and take your eye off the ball; the soft collar could be easily loosened during a sweaty tie breaker; the collar could also be turned up, in ‘Hi, my name’s Piers and I’m in marketing’ style, keeping the sun off your neck; the pique fabric breathed much better than a formal shirt, so you didn’t knock the umpire off his chair with your whiffy pits; and the ‘tennis tail’ meant you didn’t flash your bum crack when you dived low for a back hand belter. It all worked so well, that in 1933 he teamed up with his old mate André Gillier to form Chemise Lacoste, and the rest is, as they say, Geography.

So why the blue bloody blazes is it called a ‘polo’ shirt. In short, you’ve probably never heard of him, but this bloke called Ralph Lauren started playing with the idea in 1972. He wanted to infuse his range with a little Savile Row ‘What ho Bertie, have you seen the size of Torquil’s todger,’ knowing of course that all things English are marvellous. And so he used the tennis shirt style fused with that ‘sport of kings’ feel, whacked on a polo pony and a bloke with a big stick, and the idea seemed to catch on — why? I don’t know, any more than I understand why Simon Cowell balances a black shredded wheat on his head and calls it a haircut, it was just one of those things…it’s in the T-shirt, sweatshirt, hood and polo requirement, so you might need to find one to add to your range.

And that should be straight forward enough shouldn’t it…collar, three buttons, short sleeve and drop tail, how tricky can that be? Well sadly, that’s like saying we’ve got the best football league in the world, what’s the problem with getting together a decent national squad? It should happen, they do well for their clubs, but as soon as that white jersey goes on they turn into a troupe of gibbons in a cake shop…it’s a mystery, and so are polo shirts.

Because if you don’t get it right, you run the risk of looking like a bunch of plumbers, arrived mob handed to rod a blockage. Or at least I used to say that, until a large and dangerous Glaswegian customer of mine spotted that I’d said that in a previous blog, and threatened to burst my ball cock. So for Mr Rabbie ‘the Monkey Wrench’ Peacock, you run the risk of looking like a bunch of electricians.

They need to fit. None of this peaked sleeved, baggy bodied nonsense. We want them tight on the guns, sleek on the body, ready for anything. They need a slightly raised placket, to keep the collar from curling like a spam sandwich at a shit wedding. They need detail to make them look retail, a little raised stitch line on the sleeve rib maybe, a little taping on the side vent, a locker patch perhaps, something, but subtle, like the serpent, who as God said in Genesis 3:1-24 was ‘more subtle thanany other wild creature’…don’t panic, I grew up in central Nottingham, I don’t believe in anything…and, forget all the contrast colour placket and stripy under collar shizzle, we’ll leave that to the stuff in the catalogues on the doorsteps of middle England, for those who leave shopping to the bootless and unwashed.

Off the shelf, it’s so hard to find this suggestion of high street detail, without any over the top contrast colour twaddle, while avoiding looking work wear, that I could only recommend one in a pique fabric, and one in a brushed jersey, of all the many thousands on offer….well there’s maybe a third one, but it’s pricey. Or, you can make your own from scratch, but with minimums, and a kick in the financial danglers.

But get it right, choose one of the nice off the shelfers, and gild that lily with a beautiful high definition left breast badge, a heritage woven back neck label, a heavy hem tab perhaps, and you’ll be knocking back pink gins at the Guard’s Polo Club in two swishes of pony’s tail (prepare to be woken up in Belgravia, by an annoying laugh and a big girl called Lydia).

Oh yes, the name ‘polo’ is derived from the Indian ‘pulu’ for the wood from which the ball was made, so unless you want to avoid losing a tooth, avoid the Chicken Pulu.
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the Gents…
November 14, 2013 3:11 pm Leave a Comment

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the Gents…

‘I’ve been fighting all sorts of thoughts and opinions on how to deliver it.

As much as I like a solid, block typeface, I’ve seen a bit of a shift away from it and the more it’s used the more I like it.

It maintains the italicised look, but as I said is softer and enough of a move away from the ‘old’ logo.

I’ve got pages and pages of hand drawn versions in the office, all using different materials, wax crayon, ink, paint, marker pens all which weren’t quite right…. in the end I used a little pot of ink, watered down slightly, and a small detail paint brush’ Greg White.
‘Salvage’ recycled garments from October Textiles
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‘Salvage’ RECYCLED GARMENTS FROM OCTOBER TEXTILES

After years of making beds out of pallets, trousers out of bin bags, and helmets out of sauce pans, we’re very happy to have access to a new range of salvage garments, made from 100% recycled materials. Products include T-s, sweats, and tote bags in mé©lange colours…you know, that flecky athletic look.

So what are they made of, bat fluff, squirrel whiskers, and the bashed up husk of a walnut? Not quite…they’re produced in India from 60% recycled organic cotton and 40% recycled polyester, using cotton waste that is shredded to buggery, until it turns back into fibres that can be spun with yarn…all done in the Tamil Nadu way down south, where the labour ethics are nice.

These Salvage products are certified under the Global Recycle Standard (GRS) and the Organic Content Standard (OCS), and carry the appropriate certification marks, licensed by the Control Union Certifications – basically the boxes are ticked, the whales are saved, and the waste gets turned into wonderful.
October blog for fashion blog Fashion Rider…
11:07 am Leave a Comment
Fashion Rider… One of the UK’s leading creative resources http://www.fashionrider.com

Starting a collection and finding a decent textile printer are two things that any designer would like to go hand in hand, and technically they do. It’s simple — you design the clothes, take the designs to a textile printer, and the jobs done! The problem arises when you try to find a professional and good printer, which you can trust with your designs, who will get you what you want.

With that in mind, you need to know exactly what you should look out for, and know what a textile printer will be expecting of you too… So Paul Stephenson from www.october.co.uk has some top tips on what you should be doing before you even consider going to see a textile printer!

What are the worst mistakes you’ve seen a designer make?

I guess the answer for this question has to be technical; if that doesn’t send you into an immediate coma, bewildered by tiffs, giffs, mesh counts, screen tensions, and the wiring diagram from the Hubble telescope.

If I’m right, perhaps the biggest mistake is to get your crushed velvet purple hat on, and rocket full speed into a bunch of finished designs. It can take so long you’ll have grown a beard in the back bedroom, only to be told by your chosen supplier ‘I’m Dave the printer, not Paul Bloody Daniels, it can’t be done’.

So, speak to your printer from the outset, almost when you first have that dreamy golden idea of owning your own brand. Post your fag packet designs and photos from a toilet door, and your printer can say, ‘Yes, I like it, but those two lines are too close together, they’ll fill in when they print; why don’t you have more negative space in this design to use less ink and improve the texture; eight colours? Why? You can use two, get a much punchier and more graphic result, and god forbid make more profit’….you get the idea.

What level should a designer be at before they speak to a printer?

Now this very much depends on the printer. If you want a cheap price, you want all your artwork nicely in Photoshop or Illustrator, in layers, saved at the correct size, with pantone references and a clear knowledge of whether you want water based, solvent based or discharge inks, or even DTG or sublimation (and you’ll know that the latter requires a polyester content in your garment). The artwork will have been designed to be sure that any tonal work is not too fine, and there is a touch of clip on any colours where you think registration will be an issue, amongst many other considerations. You will have purchased your stock, checked it for any imperfections, split it into the relevant designs required, and couriered it into your print shop. You will have bought additional garments to allow a 5% tolerance for print mistakes. Pdf‘s will have been created of course, showing exact print positions on a variety of garment sizes. El Cheapo Printo will then collate all this, press go, and if there are any problems refer you back to your initial spec and say ‘Tough shit, that’s what you asked for’

Should you choose to use a more expensive printer, a collaborator who will work with you on the range and want its success as much as you do, then you need to be at the level referred to in question one, where Jesus has appeared at the end of your bed and told you to start your own clothing brand — the rest you can understand about as much sub atomic Physics or why Hollyoaks is allowed to exist…your printer will help.

What’s the best advice you can give to someone starting a new collection?

Don’t. I get twenty to thirty enquiries a day from people saying ‘I don’t know if anyone’s said this to you before, but I’m thinking of starting my own clothing brand’…it has been so for the last twenty five years. Of those many hundreds of thousands, very few will survive.

If that hasn’t put you off, you’ve passed the first stage of the trials young Padawan, and you’re ready for some honest advice.

Firstly, do not do this because you ‘want’ to; it’s not nearly enough — only proceed because you ‘have’ to, because you can think of nothing else, and if you don’t do it, you’ll go mad, start walking backwards and buy a house in Belgium.

Secondly, have a back story. At the risk of sounding like a raving Ponsonby, good graphic design is supposed to be ‘intellect made visible,’ a two dimensional expression of that which you hold most dear. What do you care about, who do you love, hate, and want to throw cakes at…and how can you visually represent your personality? To do this, perhaps all your designs need criteria to which they adhere — for example, a sense of heritage, or Englishness, or a point of contradiction, something political, whatever, but if they all have it in a coherent way it’ll pull the designs together, and along with the right print techniques, make the collection look obviously yours.
And by back story I don’t mean an ‘about us’ page that talks about seizing the moment, living for the day or saving the penguins…we need to believe you.

Thirdly — join up the dots. Know who you are, who your customer is, and how you’re going to reach them. If you think your customer is a Vogue reader, but don’t have ten grand a month to advertise, you’re going to have the best story that no one’s ever read. But if you’re a lad brand, and know where 40,000 of your customers are every Saturday afternoon, and hello, football fanzines are cheap to advertise in, 3-0, you win. This is who we are, that’s where they are, and we can afford to talk to them.

Fourthly, and then I’ll shut up because there’s loads more…TIME. Facebook, Twitter, web sites and knowing a bloke who lives near Liam Gallagher’s Granny, won’t do it. It takes bloody years, so if you haven’t got a Lambo and a big house in Crouch End by year two, don’t be sad — building a brand is a lifetime’s work, keep the faith, say your prayers, and in the end the circle will turn, I promise x