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.
With this in mind we offer a full service including garment sourcing, graphic design input, range development, technical screen print and embroidery advice, label supply, re-labelling, bagging, swing ticketing and bulk distribution.
This isn't everything. That would just be too massive, but it is a cross section of all our favourite T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoods, polos, hats etc. It's what a pretentious bell end might call a curated edit. Feel free to call us with any questions, and let us know if we left anything out.
It all started 25 years ago. Paul finished a degree in obscure eastern religions, and was surprised to find he couldn't get a job. Not a problem, a friend had a sewing machine,
October screen print T-shirts for Edwin, in collaboration with MEATliquor
We’re always more than happy to screen print for Edwin jeans, but when they collaborate the messy eaters’ favourite MEATliquor, it’s a win win
Let’s see what they have to say….
MESSY EATERS REJOICE!
‘We have teamed up with burger and cocktail fanatics, MEATliquor to produce the perfect apparel for gluttons and gourmands alike.
Designed specifically to be customised with your personal choice of stain, be it mustard, ketchup or Dead Hippie sauce, the collection comprises of three T-Shirts and three pin-badges, based on a selection of the iconic MEATliquor imagery created by “I Love Dust” over the years.
MEATliquor co-founders Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis have been directly involved in the project, with Mr Collins remarking, “I was wearing Buffalo sauce before it was cool” and Mr Papoutsis is known to be particularly fond of egg yolk detailing.
The limited edition collection is exclusively available in Edwin stores in London and online with customisation options on offer at your local MEATliquor restaurant’
October screen print T-shirts for SIMPLY PRETTY, to highlight Sexual Harassment, Wage inequality, and Women in Business.
WHY
Men and women live very different lives. The status quo isn’t good for anyone. This campaign could be about statistics. We could list male suicide rates, instances of sexual assault, the wage gap and statistics on property ownership.
Instead Simply Pretty is about change. That starts with people.
Silence is easy. Let’s help people say something.
Our clothing is high-quality and wearable. It also sparks a conversation. We are asking people to think, to talk about things and challenge them.
Change is rarely quick and it isn’t easy. We need to start somewhere.
Each t-shirt will fund a week of a girl’s education with wonderful charity The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed). By educating people, we change the future and create better leaders.
Simply Pretty. Empowering t-shirts in more ways than one
The shirts are ethically produced, 100% organic cotton and flattering. We worked with a young independent artist on these designs.
There are two styles available:
Three important topics inspired our designs:
Sexual Harassment
Wage Inequality
Women in Business
Our shirts are ethically produced in Germany and hand-printed by October Textiles in the UK. They have a Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of £35 – nearly double the price we are selling them for.
Every shirt funds a week of a girl’s education.
£4 ($5) from every t-shirt will go directly to Camfed – The Campaign for Female Education. Since 1993, they have directly helped 1.6m girls go to school in 5 countries in Africa. Their aim is to support marginalized girls to go to school, succeed, and empower young women to step up as leaders of change. Over 90% of students supported by Camfed complete education.
We worked with Harry Wyld – a promising young artist from Bristol. He has a whole portfolio of other tremendous work that we recommend you to check out!
Who’d have thought we’d rediscover the love of workwear, and all thanks to Carhartt?
Usually, when we’re gone we’re gone, bags packed, dog dead, three strings on our guitar, with just one key left on our key chain, and so we didn’t think we’d get back that workwear love. But we have, with a timely reminder from a friend, about the genius of Carhartt workwear.
We’re a screen printer, embroiderer, re-labeller, and waffler on about all things fashion man. Like how to start a clothing brand that stands half a chance of not ending up on the pooh pile, with all the other 500 clothing brands that will start tomorrow. We specialise in dream management, and giving the impossible a fighting chance …. with some success.
Ending up in the fashion groove didn’t happen by accident. Well actually like all things it probably did, unless you believe in God, and predestination in which case, it was all mapped out. It happened because our industry is split very broadly into: school wear = boring; promotional wear = cheap and boring; and work wear = hard hats. The fourth option was fashion, and as we get to wear stupid outfits at trade shows and smoke obscure Japanese fags, there was no contest. Or was there – could workwear be cool?
Well it would appear so, and we were reminded of this fact by an old friend. He waltzed across the loading bay a while back, our old pal from way back when there was taste, that massive fashion head, Dean Webster. Famous for game changing brands before your time and stylist to the discreetly great. It was as always a pleasure to see him, and start work on a project for Edwin Jeans in collaboration with Kyle Stewart at Goodhood, (the street compass for all things now).
So we were chatting, smoking Japanese fags, remembering all the old brands, the old fashion lags, the ducks the dives and scrapes, when thanks to the Edwin connection, the Japanese denim story and a bunch of other random roads, it was inevitable we ended up at Carhartt workwear.
‘Why don’t you sell it?’ Dean asked. ‘Because all workwear is ball twistingly boring, and photographed on a bloke called Big Dave in a boiler suit, holding a ruler – so he looks like he’s doing something useful’
‘No way man’ said Dean, ‘Checkout Carhartt workwear, and trust me brother, you will see the light’
It was difficult to see anything in all the Japanese fag smoke, but it cleared, I looked up, and Dean was gone, probably back to Berlin to start another trend.
Unsurprisingly, it got us thinking. And unsurprisingly it got us looking. And guess what, unsurprisingly, we saw Carhartt, and we saw the light.
But have you seen the Carhartt workwear product range recently?
Workwear is not really the right word. You’d wear it anywhere. If the truth is told we decided to offer the Carhartt workwear range because we want the jeans, the jackets, the flannel shirts, the bibs, the hats, the coming soon boots, and we’ve had several orders in from passing dogs, for dog beds and the rather stylish dog collars. We may not need serious workwear in our print room, it’s not exactly the building of the United States that Carrhartt have been doing since 1889. We’re cleaning screen printing equipment, not roping wild horses, hanging off skyscrapers and building Ford Mustangs, but so what, in all that clobber walking in slow motion across the car park, we look like working class heroes too.
We’re not well known as those who re-discover the love, cross us and we’re usually gone, but when it comes to workwear and Carhartt, we’re singing country love songs all over again.
There are those who are for, and those against, and so we are occasionally asked ‘Why do we screenprint on American Apparel T-shirts?
Apart from the great product and ethical provenance, the honest answer is, as always with us, an involvement with the entire story. Not always an easy story we’ll admit, perhaps more of a soap story than a fairy tale. What follows is difficult, easier to avoid than confront, and our conclusions are uncertain and open to debate.
Based in LA and founded by Dov Charney in 1989, American Apparel is a vertically integrated company that is one of the biggest T shirt and apparel manufacturers in North America, at one point being one of the 500 fastest growing companies in the US
That said, It hasn’t made any profit since 2009, filed for bankruptcy in 2015, then in 2016 exited bankruptcy after re working its finances and booting out its ex CEO and founder. And so the wild financial shenanigans begin, but this is just the tip of the American Apparel iceberg.
Whilst promoting ‘made in the USA’ goods, with great non sweatshop labour policies and paying well over minimum wages, Mr Charney was accused of sexual harassment on more than one occasion. In addition the entire organization was at times regarded by some as a non- female friendly environment
Moreover, American Apparel advertising campaigns were considered to be highly sexually charged, in a somewhat ‘girl next door’ and unsettling way (although they were occasionally applauded at least for avoiding the use of our old enemy the airbrush, and the inclusion of natural imperfections)
In furthur twists, American Apparel has used pornographic actors in some of its campaigns, including Lauren Phoenix, Charlotte Stokely, Sasha Grey and Faye Reagan. In fact the Adult entertainment trade magazine Adult Video News said that the American Apparel website is “one of the finer softcore websites going”
Some of the company’s other ads, which feature nudity or sexual themes, have been banned by various advertising authorities. American Apparel came under pressure for example in a 2014 ad for mini-skirts, which featured a model bending over so that her underwear was prominently exposed. In 2013, the company also released an ad in which the model lay on a bed with her feet up in the air without wearing any undies. There was a further ad in which a model posed in a series of photos focused on her lady parts, and in which her face was not seen. The UK Advertising Standards Authority criticized the ad for being “voyeuristic,” and “vulnerable.” Dodgy ground!
Could it get any worse? Well yes of course it could. All the above is before you get into a $10 million lawsuit with Woody Allen, over billboards in which he was dressed as a Rabbi. Why limit yourself to sexual uproar, when you can get a little religion tension in on the act?
Positives? Apart from the great labour policies and ethical production, there was pro-immigration support with Legalise LA, and pro Gay and Lesbian work with the American Apparel Legalise Gay campaign. Furthermore in 2012 there was the partnership with The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, a range of T shirts celebrating LGBT Pride Month, and Isis King becoming AA’s first openly transgender model. The list of charitable organizations which American Apparel have championed is also extensive….American Red Cross, New Orleans relief, Justice for Immigrants, Children’s Homeless Youth Shelter, the Centre for Human Rights and more.
American Apparel have always had pop culture connections. In 2010 Kanye West in his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for example, where we see the song ‘Gorgeous’ and its lyric ‘I need more drinks and less lights, and that American Apparel girl in just tights’ Again, an iffy reference, and the list of celebrity hook ups goes on, but perhaps this would lead us from the real question.
How do we make moral decisions around relationships which contain such positive and negative events and emotions? If there is any bad, do we avoid that connection in spite of the good? For example, do we not buy from Volkswagen or Hugo Boss because of their origins in darker times? Is it just the passage of time that makes this OK?
A great product and ethical manufacturing and employment is not sufficient in our entirely subjective view, to justify questionable practice. But nor perhaps should the greater good be sacrificed for the behaviour of a few men.
It is a difficult conclusion, but we screenprint onto American Apparel T-shirts in support of its 10,000 plus employees, the real people with real lives behind the sensational headlines, those who are so rarely mentioned, and yet those who we do not forget.
“It is easy to decide on what is wrong to wear to a party, such as deep-sea diving equipment or a pair of large pillows, but deciding what is right is much trickier.” Lemony Snicket. The Slippery Slope
And even that might be debateable Mr Lemony Snickett, where deep sea diving equipment at a fancy dress party, or two large pillows at a pyjama party might go down rather well, and be anything but a slippery slope. But when deciding what is right or wrong to wear to a party so many thoughts rush in, bounce off our hearts, ricochet off our heads, flash back from the bedroom mirror and kick us in the danglers, or wherever your personal, painful place might be.
Who else will be there? What might they wear? Should I entirely fit in, entirely stand out, or walk the impossible line in between? Do I feel brave today, brave enough for something neon? Am I afraid today and hiding, in an undergrowth of beige? Should I be smart, because everyone else will be smart? Should I be casual because everyone else will be casual? Should I be smart because everyone else will be casual and so be more visible in my smartness? That’ll show them! But they won’t care anyway will they? Am I too old for these trainers? Am I too young for this hat? Should I shave, or be grizzly? Big silver ring? Small gold ring? Tie, scarf, cravat…velvet, corduroy, flannel…Fisher, Dogger, German Bight? And so the wardrobe vomits a lifetime of fashion gluttony, and as if by the darkest of magic, my carpet disappears.
The Rules.
That’s why they made them, to make it easy to decide what to wear, whoever they were that made the rules: the Elders of the Cloth; The Druids of the Duds; the Once and Future Kings of a Long Forgotten Style. And Bryan Ferry. They made the rules for this very moment. Hedges, quickly, hand me my dress code manual. So, no checks with stripes. Check. No chocolate with navy. Good. Chapter Three, ‘The Expanding Physics of the Horizontal Stripe’ Chapter Four, thank the Lord, ‘The slimming properties of Black’. Brogues mean a single breasted jacket, yes, but a Loafer can require something more double breasted. Now we’re getting somewhere, is the pain lifting a little, can we see through the fog of self-doubt?
No Chance.
Well of course there’s no chance, everything is wrong to wear to a party once your bottle has gone. We may as well rock up in deep sea diving equipment or a pair of large pillows; at least if we keep the helmet on, with the pillows over the top, no one will have a clue who the hell we are. But there is hope, and I was reminded of it last night by the lovely Margaret, and the gorgeous insanity of her husband’s dress code. We will call him Gerald, because that’s his real name.
I have been noticing him for some time, wafting into the bar in entirely riotous attire. In his seventies I’d say, and still breaking every rule in the book. Last night we were treated to the most chequered of shirts, with the stripiest tie. Flaming red loons sat above a cream slip on silver badged moccasin. And all was wrapped in an aggressive orange tweed over coat, from the Hebridean Island of Dunny Giyafook.
And it all worked, in a so wrong it’s entirely right and supremely original kind of way. How can that be I wondered, as the brandy finally had its way with me and I drifted off, radio on, to the reassuring murmur of the shipping forecast?
It worked, because it was him. Because he was measured, calm, and with all the self-assurance of a proper gentleman. Because forty five years later he still adored his wife, and she clearly rather liked him. While his outfit shouted, he spoke quietly. There was balance, order, and a gentle certainty.
So what does Gerald teach us? That if we carry ourselves with care and some consideration Mr Lemony Snickett, it doesn’t matter what is right or wrong to wear to a party. Be it deep-sea diving equipment or a pair of large pillows, a little measure and decency will always avoid, the Slippery Slope.
We’ll look at these two together perhaps, because deciding how to choose a sweatshirt, or a hooded sweatshirt only has one variable – and it’s called er, a hood. Other than that the same questions apply to both garments, fit, weight, fabric, texture and construction, so maybe let’s not get any trickier than necessary.
Compromise.
When we talked about how to choose a T shirt, we introduced the idea of compromise in the face of all the weights, cuts and fabrics available, but when it comes to sweatshirts and hooded sweatshirts, we’re not going to be so open to variation. We might be a bit stubborn and unreasonable, and just recommend the best option.
Fit – semi-fitted, standard.
Fit – whether they are semi fitted or a more standard cut, this is the first area we’re not going to be flexible about. The only time we’d recommend a standard cut is for workwear, when a right old selection of sizes is required, just in case we’re kitting out the lads at the pie factory. For all other uses we’d go semi fit, mainly to avoid the baggy sided, ballooning sleeve effort, that is the poorly fitting sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt. Get this wrong, and we’ll look like we’ve been thrown in a big fleecy bag, and then kicked around the car park for fun. They need to fit!
Weight – light weight, mid weight, heavy weight, and grams per square metre (gsm)
Sweatshirt fleece fabric weight is measured in grams per square metre, or gsm, just like a T shirt, where a lightweight sweatshirt might be 220 gsm, a mid-weight 300 gsm, a heavy weight 400 gsm. You could argue that the light weight or mid weight summer sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt has its place; although where exactly that is in the British fridge is sometimes in doubt. They would tend to be more fitted, soft, textural pieces, to throw over a T shirt on the way back from doing a full cocktail menu at the beach bar. Generally though when it comes to a hood or sweat, we want to be in no doubt that it’s a properly expensive thing. On that basis we always say ‘the heavier the better’. Feel free to disagree, if you enjoy being wrong.
We’ll confess a leaning towards the 100% cotton lovelies, but they’re not always the easiest to find. There are plenty of 80/20’s about though, and we wouldn’t dilute the cotton any more than that for anything fashion based. The only time you might consider a 50/50 is if it’s for workwear, and a really good colour fastness is required during multiple hot washes. If boiling the sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt up like a bag of old Brussel sprouts isn’t an issue, go 80/20. The only other fabric question is would you like it brushed, or un-brushed? Un-brushed, or loop back as it’s often known, can be preferred by the fashion types with its cleaner looking, non-fluffy insides. The sweat fleece fabrics that have had a damn good brushing however, will give an increased sense of weight. Fabric brushing is a real skill – happy to bore you to death with that one, feel free to give us a shout – 0115 9585000
Texture – peachy, carbon sueded?
What does my sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt feel like, is it nice and peachy, and has it been carbon sueded? In fact, what the hell is carbon suedeing? Texture in all things is rather important. We want a heavy fabric for sweatshirts and hooded sweatshirts as a rule, but sometimes we want a crisp Scandy look, nice and minimal, and then again we might want something a bit heavier but vintage, soft, and with distress. These fabrics are sometimes made more peachy feely by machinery, that creates abrasion on the top side of the fabric to give it a lovely soft feel – if you like the sound of that, ask for carbon suedeing, and we’ll try and sound knowledgeable.
Construction – how is a sweatshirt or a hooded sweatshirt built?
The biggest down side to some sweat construction, in our ever so humble view, is the narrow rib at cuff and hem. This, with a curved sleeve and body cut, gives a shape that won’t be doing us any favours. There’s an awful lot of it about. Rule one is a straight cut body and sleeve, with wide ribbed cuff and hem to elongate the silhouette and give a clean, fitted line. Anything other than that will be baggy and horrid, and you’ll be looking like a bunch of students after a three legged pub crawl.
Ethics – how many pandas were saved by using bamboo fabrics?
Probably not many as we keep using their food to make garments, but as always we will be looking for carbon neutral, organic fabrics, made under the accreditation of the Fairwear Foundation, Eco Tex 100 on dye stuffs, Soil Association accredited and without any Uzbeki cotton, maybe recycled and trucked, not flown in. Ethics and panda saving…it’s just a given, so we won’t be waving any big green flags.
To zip, or not to zip?
When wondering whether to zip, or not to zip, that is the question, be it a hood or a sweat track jacket, perhaps just be guided by the graphic. If we’ve already got a load of across the chest plastered imagery, perhaps lean towards a zip with a discreet left breast icon. If we’re happy with our left breast action and want a bit more punch, a pouch pocket hood it is, with a big brand carrier print walloped across the chest. Trust in the graphic Luke, it will guide you.
What do I do next – is there really just one way?
At the risk of sounding arrogant, we feel on this one that there is just one way. We’d stick all our cash on a semi fitted, heavy weight, 80/20, optionally carbon sueded, straight cut, wide hemmed and cuffed, lovely old school garment. Just our opinion, but that’s how we see it when it’s time to choose a sweatshirt, or a hooded sweatshirt.
Deciding how to choose a polo shirt, is arguably less complicated than the decisions surrounding the endless shapes, weights and textures of a T shirt. None the less, the same caution we exercise when moving from beer to wine before finishing off with a restorative brandy, should still be applied.
Semi Fitted Jersey Polo Shirt
Semi Fitted Pique Polo Shirt
Compromise, is it fit for purpose? We discussed, or at least I dictated, the importance of compromise when choosing a T shirt. For a polo shirt however, it’s more about they’re intended use, and so as long as we make them fit for purpose, perhaps less compromise is required. The two simplest polo shirt categories are work wear, or fashion. The former clearly needs to come in a wide variety of colours and SIZES. A work wear polo shirt must be made from fabrics which will not disintegrate in a small cabin, containing a crane driver after a large vindaloo, Fashion polo shirts however will need to be all about the fit, especially a snugness about the guns. Waffty sleeves are usually a no no. They must be available in more lux textures, and compromise is not an option,
Fit – fitted, semi- fitted, and standard polo shirts.
We used the fitted, semi-fitted and standard classifications as our T shirt criteria, and they can serve us again in our choice of polo shirt perhaps. There are some very fitted polo shirts available for fashion use. They have a firm grip around our rippling biceps, with just the right amount of tattoo peeking out from beneath the cuff. It’s a look, and again if your customer lives in the gym, stays on the weights and avoids doing anything aerobic, it could be for you (avoid a white polo shirt however, it’s a nightmare with the fake tan). A semi fit polo is perhaps the safest however, with the widest market appeal. By semi fit, think of a Ralphy and we’ll be on the same page. For workwear though, with a nice left chest embroidery and a matching half zip fleece, we have to go for a standard fit. We might have some fine lads in there at up to 5XL, and it’s not kind to try and force them into a textile drain pipe.
Weight – lightweight, mid-weight, heavy weight, and grams per square metre (gsm)
Polo shirt fabric, just like T shirt fabric weight is measured in grams per square metre, or gsm, where a lightweight polo shirt might be 165 gsm, a mid-weight 250 gsm, and a heavy weight 300 gsm. The lightweight versions again tend to be more fitted or semi fitted. The heavyweight with a few exceptions are the squarer more workwear cuts. Hardly surprising that the work wear versions, unless you’re an attendant at the local sauna, need to be heavy weight, more robust, and able to take a big blob of concrete without bursting into tears.
Fabric content – jersey or pique polo shirts.
A nice straight choice here for once, it’s jersey or pique fabric for your polo shirts (yeah ok, you can have them in pima cotton, or maybe even a modal, but generally). The jersey fabrics are the softer smoother option, like a heavy T-shirt fabric, and as such will hold the detail in a screen print better than a pique. Generally, a jersey polo shirt would lend itself better to a fashion option, and may be a touch more fitted. Unless your brand is a more old school Fred Perry vibe, in which case only a pique will do. The pique fabrics with their waffle look are more robust, and as such tend to be the obvious workwear option. So if you want really soft, go jersey, if you want fashion heritage or a strong work wear fabric, go pique.
Texture
If you were fascinated by our look at texture in the ‘How to choose a T shirt’ section, then the same rules apply when it comes to jersey fabrics in a polo shirt. They can be combed or ring spun, which will remove all the chunks of shizzle from the yarn and make them soft and smooth. We like that. When it comes to a pique, (pronounced pee-kay as you well know), there is of course a slightly more textured feel. Even this can be minimised though by a real tight knit micro pique. Not all pique fabrics are the same, so feel free to ask us about the difference.
Construction – how is a polo shirt built?
We’re going to make a personal comment here about polo shirt construction. Probably shouldn’t, but it’s never stopped us in the past. Polo shirts for us are all about the subtle detail. Many have contrast plackets, different under collar colours, drop tails, shoulder pads and revolving bow ties. Not necessary for us – as we tell our girlfriends, less is more. So a simple detail in the collar knit, just a little same coloured ridge of fabric perhaps. Or an understated vent, that says I’ve thought about it, but I’m not a total bloody show off.
Ethics – were any children or animals harmed in the making of this polo shirt?
As with our T shirts, in a perfect world we want a polo shirt to be carbon neutral, organic fabric, made under the accreditation of the Fairwear Foundation, Eco Tex 100 on dye stuffs, Soil Association accredited and without any Uzbeki cotton, maybe recycled and trucked, not flown in. These ae all things we’ll be looking for when making our polo shirt choice. We can’t totally change the world, and by the time you read this Mr Trump may be in charge of it, but we can have a good old bash.
What do I do next, my polo shirt check list?
Is it fit for purpose, is it for fashion or for work wear?
Fitted, semi fitted, or standard shape?
Do I want light weight, mid-weight, or heavy weight?
Would we prefer a jersey or pique fabric?
Am I after super soft texture, or something a little more old school?
How much construction detail do we really need?
Is it ethical, will I go to heaven?
We hate doing a tick box, it all feels a bit like a dating site – Height? Weight? Hair colour? But tick off the above when considering how to choose a polo shirt, and you shouldn’t go too far wrong.
Pocket T Shirts – Fashion label Joe & John’s believe that every child in the world should be entitled to an education as a basic human-right, so it was a great pleasure to welcome them to October Textiles in Nottingham to discuss pocket T shirts for their clothing brand.
A brand new product
Their revolutionary idea is a brand new product, called a Pocketbag, – a detachable pocket that attaches onto a range of different garments and bags. With regard to October’s involvement, this would be a digitally or screen printed pocket with press studs, produced in Nottingham in conjunction with a special T-shirt with corresponding press studs on the pocket area. This allows customers to wear a different pocket detail every day of the week, or throughout the day according to their mood!
Creating jobs in India
Although October Textiles will help with initial production, the long term plan is to be creating jobs in India by employing local Delhi tailors to produce the Pocketbags, providing a much needed, sustainable, fair income for local people. Joe and John will be working closely with their bag providers (and non-profit care organisations) who will help them distribute the bags, making sure they are going to the children who need them the most.
Pocket T shirts and bags – How do the children benefit?
For each Pocketbag that is purchased, a less fortunate child in India will receive a school-bag filled with the essential tools they need for the classroom, but put simply and with inspiring ambition in the words of founder Joe Vine,
‘We are not just providing school-bags, we are providing life-changing futures for those who need it most….and if for every pocket I sold I could help a child into education, that would be a start’
Each schoolbag received will be waterproof for the rainy season, made from recycled materials, and contain 3 pencils, 3 pens, a pencil sharpener, eraser, pencil case, colouring crayons, a poster, an inspiring story, and the most important school lesson of all, that it can all be fun, so they will also include a tennis ball for break time.
October Textiles will of course be lending their full support to the pocket T shirt production, and wish Joe and John all the luck in the world, starting with India!
Your worries are over, thesecret of happiness, it’s all sorted, they’ve figured it out, and you can go back to bed.
After extensive research and countless bags of tax payers’ money, the scientists somewhere up a Norwegian fjord have done something useful for once, and rather than inventing a new wax that helps us to ski backwards, they have gone balls out and discovered the secret of happiness.
The secret of happiness is not as some of the poor and deluded suspected, oh no: it’s not a 1954 Mercedes 300 SL Gull Wing, in silver, with a gently worn and unrestored deep red leather interior – stuff that, we don’t want one of those; the secret of happiness is not that fisherman’s cottage on the outskirts of St Tropez, the one with fading but still cobalt blue shutters, orange tree littered gardens and a sun baked pan tiled roof, vines aplenty, rustic breads, and a slow cigarette on the jetty…you know, the one that can only be reached by your Italian Riva boat, all dark wood, understated power and the promise of ambassadorial arrival – sod the Cote d’Azur. Nor is it not a Russian ballet dancer called Nikita, who can do an unusual trick with the banana she keeps stuffed up her tights , or a Californian easy rider called Brad, all tanned, dripping with poetry, and happiest when hoovering naked.
Far from it, and none of the above – the secret of happiness is in fact – managing expectations. Not hoping for too much, and keeping one’s powder dry…etc.
And in a funny sort of way, isn’t managing our expectations at the heart of running a successful clothing brand?
It would be quite normal for hopeful new brand owners to assume, that because they have a mate, who knows a bloke, who once sold Jonny Depp a stick of eye liner, that they should be on a rocket ship to fashion superstardom. Or that because they have a social media following of well over 100, that every time they post a picture of what they’re having for dinner they’d better wolf down those fish fingers sharpish, and stand by the lap top waiting for it to catch fire with orders.
The secret of happiness is not hoping too hard for the above to happen overnight…and perhaps in the top five reasons for the failure of any clothing brand, we might be expecting too much too soon.
The secret of happiness is, perhaps, not worrying too much if you don’t sell any T-shirts week one?
The classic American t-shirt. Already early in the 20th century they were popularised across America as cheap mass produced underwear through mail order catalogues like Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. As such they became part of the standard dress of the US army and navy. Through numerous World War II movies the classic American T-shirt acquired a distinct image. It became associated with being at ease, of being unconcerned about class conventions, of being workmanlike and democratic. Most of all it stood for youth, toughness and masculinity. These war movies also initiated a shift in the potential of the classic T-shirt as clothing. Originally meant as an undergarment, apparently it could also be used as a casual outer garment.
T-shirts are classic American artefacts.
In the 1950’s this image of the T-shirt was transported to Europe by movie icons such as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean. In crossing the ocean, however, the meaning of the classic American T-shirt was transformed, or to be more precise, another strong ‘European’ message was added to the T-shirt; that of American-ness. It shared this post war association with America with other iconic consumer items like Coca-Cola, streamlined cars, and bubble gum. As such it became part of a fierce controversy over the feared demise of European culture in the onslaught of American superficiality and materialism. Probably because of this, the classic American T-shirt became an ideal trademark for angry young authors like the Dutch writers Jan Cremer and Jan Wolkers. European rebels with or without a cause adopted it together with blue jeans, signifying youth culture as a protest against the established morality of their parents’ bourgeois society. Paradoxically, left wing anti-American protestors who demonstrated in the capitols of Europe against the Vietnam War therefore could be dressed in the very T-shirts and blue jeans that were iconic for the American way of life!
The 1980’s, Classic American T-shirt and it’s transformation.
Then in the 1980’s the use and meaning of the classic American T-shirt went through another transformation. Its potential as a messenger – carrying texts and logos of all kinds – enabled it to be used as a means of corporate and individual expression which was exploited by small printing industries. As before the T-shirt could be used in an iconoclastic way, but its American associations had faded, as had its symbolisation of youthful protest. We could say that the classic T-shirt was being localised, becoming part of numerous local subcultures of expression that could not easily be transferred to other places. The famous T-shirt print shop in the Damstraat in Amsterdam featured artist-designed, subversive, often scabrous prints that amazed tourists as ‘typically Amsterdam’ and that probably wouldn’t be tolerated in public elsewhere.
The Classic American T-shirt – ubiquitous casual wear.
The lesson of the American Classics Apparel history is that mass consumer goods – even though they might be introduced from elsewhere and initially be alien to a particular cultural world – often will be transformed in unexpected ways to new local cultural meanings. The basic uniformity of the Classic American T-shirt as dress all over the world really is a mirage. In the modern world the Classic American T-shirt has become ubiquitous casual wear. But wearing it does not necessarily associate us anymore with classic American T-shirts, youth culture, rebellion, or hard work. In anthropological parlance, it has been appropriated as a versatile vehicle for local identity construction. Or in other words, we have ‘captured’ the T-shirt from its former ‘alien’ classicAmerican t-shirt symbolism, and transformed it into a pluriform garment that we experience as truly our own.
October screen printOlivia Rubin collection who launches her first womenswear line after graduating from the world-renowned Central Saint Martins College in London.
Her screen printed final collection was chosen for the prestigious press show and won immediate attention from the press who cited her printed designs as one of the ‘standout collections’.
Rubin carried out placements with couturier Jacques Azagury, Tristan Webber and Jade Jagger. Her persistence and enthusiasm scored her work with Alexander McQueen, Dior and John Galliano in Paris, where she assisted with Galliano’s main line collections, designing prints that were chosen for his womenswear lines.
When Olivia decided to branch out alone her SS07 and SS08 collections were short listed for the Fashion Fringe Award Scheme and gave her the platform to exhibit her designs at London Fashion Week. AW09 saw Rubin’s first highly anticipated catwalk show in association with On/Off at the Science Museum.
The label has become known for Olivia’s signature graphic screen print, (including the renowned brick screen print) on a variety of simple yet feminine silhouettes. It is her outstanding prints that have lead to numerous collaborations including ASOS, Very.co.uk, my-wardrobe.com, The Dune Group and most recently her range with Dorothy Perkins that was successfully sold worldwide.
Olivia has also started collaborating outside of the fashion world. She has worked with Proctor and Gamble on a range of printed scarves for Bold 2 in 1, Gigaset on a new marketing campaign and is currently the brand ambassador of the beauty brand Dove. Olivia Rubin’s focus on colour and print has made her the perfect partner to headline these campaigns.
Olivia has built a strong industry presence featuring regularly in leading British fashion titles including Grazia, Instyle, the Times and Vogue and continues to dress a list of celebrity fans including Cheryl Cole, Lily Allen, and Fearne Cotton, for whom October screen print the below brick sweat for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer.
A responsibility for brand history…is the phrase that comes to mind when screen printing for one of England’s longest surviving clothing brands.
Sunspel was founded in 1860 by Thomas Arthur Hill, who was born at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1822, the 11th of 12 children. His father John was a hosiery maker, and Thomas followed him into the hosiery and lace trade.
Steam Power – Apart from the occasional emission from the works bathroom, steam is not widely found at the October Textiles factory these days, (outside of tea manufacturing), but back in those days it was about to make massive change, with the textile industry being one of the first to embrace this new technology. Thomas was at the heart of this, and his vision was clear, ‘to create simple, everyday clothing from beautiful fabrics’ and this continues to be the Sunspel philosophy today.
T-shirts – considered more in those days perhaps as a luxury undergarment, but prior to Marlon Brando re-styling them as an outerwear piece in the film a Streetcar Named Desire, it was Sunspel who made some of the first ever T-shirts.
Sunspel Fabric Printing sample
No pressure then – Well yes actually, it is, but a nice one…screen printing for the company that in 1947 introduced the boxer short to Britain, that launched its success by supplying Nick Kamen with the pair worn in 1985 for the Levi’s 501 advert…
“Before the boy in the launderette, nobody wore boxers. Almost overnight, men who would once have seen boxer shorts as stuffily old-fashioned were buying boxers in their droves. And ever since, a pair of white cotton Sunspel’s has been the boxer of choice of those in the know.” Robert Elms, Style Journalist and Author
And screen printing for a company like Sunspel who in 2006 developed the Riviera polo shirt for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale…
“I have dressed so many different characters in film and theatre in Sunspel because they are classic, timeless and beautifully made. With Daniel Craig as the new Bond, I thought it would be a perfect collaboration of quality and Britishness to ask Sunspel to create all his t-shirts, polo shirts and underwear. He looks very sexy and happy in their clothing.”Lindy Hemming, Award Winning costumier
And hence, the pre-production fabric testing, often onto specialist double twist Egyptian yarns that we need to get right.
Testing, testing, testing – once printed with water based inks to ensure a really soft handle (there’s no point in having a lovely soft fabric with a chunky print) the knitted fabric samples are then tested at a variety of temperatures to ensure that the ink has all cured properly, without the heat from the textile dryers having altered any of the garment colours or textures…pushes flat cap back on head, removes pencil from behind ear, and makes useful production notes.
History – nestled here in the October factory at the foot of Malin Hill, and still in the heart of the Lace Market he would have known and loved so well, we hope that Thomas Hill looks down from the great production floor on high, and 155 years later, still sees his garments being made and printed here in Nottingham.
Who else will be there? What might they wear? Should I entirely fit in, entirely stand out, or walk the impossible line in between? Do I feel brave today, brave enough for something neon? Am I afraid today and hiding, in an undergrowth of beige? Should I be smart, because everyone else will be smart? Should I be casual because everyone else will be casual? Should I be smart because everyone else will be casual and so be more visible in my smartness? That’ll show them! But they won’t care anyway will they? Am I too old for these trainers? Am I too young for this hat? Should I shave, or be grizzly? Big silver ring? Small gold ring? Tie, scarf, cravat…velvet, corduroy, flannel…Fisher, Dogger, German Bight? And so the wardrobe vomits a lifetime of fashion gluttony, and as if by the darkest of magic, my carpet disappears.
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