Yea buddy!!
(Source: girlsgotafacelikemurder)
John Kelley
So I had a quick conversation with the founder of Dark Nature Clothing, Scott Jones. They’re a clothing company from Wales, that are about to launch their second collection. We discuss the roots of the brand, the new collection and where Scott sees this brand going…
1. So Scott, first of let’s hear a little about you. Where are you from? What are your influences? What’s your style?
What’s up Brad! I’m from South Wales, UK. My main influences I’m life are UK Independent Streetwear Brands, Promoting and exposing new brands and helping push that movement trying to make it become a solid unit of new breed designers and brands.
My style I would say is very traditional, I tend to wear a lot of oversized street brand t-shirts, a nice clean tapered denim or chino and tend to wear a nice selection of assorted 5 Panel Caps.
I am also a trainer collector and have been collecting trainers for over 4 years. My main collection consists of the athletic designs, Asics Gel Lyte 3, Saga, Nike Air Max 87/1 and 90 series, Saucony and New Balance. I look specifically for the deadstock.
2. Moving on to dark nature, how did it start?
I started Dark Nature back in the summer of 2011. It’s been a goal of mine to achieve since I was about 16, but due to the lack of funding and general knowledge around what I needed to do I held off until it was something I could fully focus on and know more about. I am now 23 years old.
3. What about the name of the brand where did that come from?
The name came from where I am originally from. I live in “the sticks” or to everyone else, The Brecon Beacons. It consists of a lot of woodland areas, large mountains and some glorious rivers and lakes. I’ve always found it more beautiful to look at when the weather is a lot more gloomy and dull. The name just built around that, and from then on it stuck.
4. So, Do you have a team or is this a one man operation?
I do have another 2 guys who work for the brand. Aaron who’s my official graphic designer. He also goes under the name of SaladxDays which is his freelance company. I also have Robby who is my media side. He does a lot of the photography, the shoots and the video.
5. Your first collection was available in limited numbers, but the pieces sold pretty quickly. Were you surprised at all about the amount of interest your new brand got?
I started with such a small introductory piece to begin with to see what the reaction to a new brand would be like. It was a whole new world to me so I believed starting small and pushing to bigger things would have been the best way. I was so impressed with how the first garment sold, even reaching over a worldwide basis. It was so successful we pushed a re print on a new colour of the design and titled it “001.5”. That also sold out in quickly… Roughly about 2 weeks between launching and selling out.
6. When you designed the first collection did you have an idea about how dark nature would grow? Were already designing future collections, or did that come after the success of the first collection?
It was quite random at first. I had no real idea what I wanted. I was originally working with a different graphic designer at the time, and I basically told him to try something completely at random and see if I liked it and if it had that “appeal” to what I believe Dark Nature could be. I wanted it quite minimal and dark and just keep it simple and sleek.
He showed me some sketch ups and I liked the whole idea he pushed off. It had that minimal approach, as well being quite dominant and “out there” enough to get noticed.
The logos been slightly adapted since the birth, but we like to try and keep it similar, because of its familiarity that it’s already gained with so many people.
7. There seems to be a strong link between you and the two stockists you have, how do you think this has affected your brand?
Freestyle our main stockist is a store and a brand that have helped us since the start. They are a local skate store who was eager to push the brand to a high potential from the start. Grim the owner has done some amazing things for me and the brand to get noticed more and I can’t thank him enough. He still to this day pushes it and we have even worked on our first collaboration together which only a few weeks ago sold out completely. We are now working on a continued range, working closely with cut and sew design.
Having freestyle as our main stockist from such an early age was fantastic. Not many 6 month old brands can really say they already have store interest so for Dark Nature to be in the same store as some leading brands like Huf, The Hundreds it was just an amazing feeling. Those sorts of brands are now the godfathers of Street and Skate and it’s nice to be look up too always!
Bike Ink, Liverpool who is our latest stockist, only recently got in touch with us. They seem keen and they too also work close with local and indie branding so it was nice to get asked if they could have our 002 range in their store.
8. One of these stockists is in Liverpool. How did a start out brand from Wales come to be stocked in a shop up in Liverpool?
Like I said previously, it was them who got in touch! They are a fixed gear bike / streetwear store so they really wanted to push indie brands in their store to get local and UK brands noticed. They seem a great store so I jumped at the offer. I still have yet visited but it looks great!
9. So this new collection that comes out on the 31st January, what sort of stuff will it consist of? What sort of items will we see? Is there a clear progression from the first collection, or is it a similar style?
Progression is there for sure! We have kept with the same appeal. Stuck with the same logo and typefaces, and pushed that out more. I believe there was too much potential laying around for the older “Tri logo” to stop being developed into something better.
Our 002 collection consists of a limited run of headwear, a sweatshirt, a related t-shirt to go with that sweater and a brand new design completely which is also a t-shirt. The new design is something that separates it from the previous, shows a new appeal and shows we can work with different designs and push to a bigger audience.
It’s obviously shown in our new collection Dark Nature has progressed. We would have gone from our first release only releasing 2 t-shirts, to now releasing 4 garments in one, already introducing headwear and sweatshirts to our collection. I believe that’s quite a large jump considering its age.
10. Where do you see Dark Nature going in the future?
The future is something I try and keep in my sights obviously, as for the brand I see it being taken one step at a time. At this level and age, I don’t want to rush into working on anything larger than what I can handle. It’s an exciting future for sure, but I like to take my life and the brand one step at a time making sure everything is perfect before moving on.
I do have a great feeling about the upcoming months and upcoming ranges though and am already working on 003 which will be ready early summer 2012.
Good luck with the new collection, and I hope to interview you again soon.
Thanks Brad. Looking forward to it too! Big up.
Cop dark nature’s new collection on the 31st at: http://www.darknatureclothing.com/
Here is an interview myself (Scott) did for Hypebeast reviews Brad for a brand new project ‘Britannia Culture’.
Hell ya Scott Jones!!
(via darknatureclothing)
(Source: ishquotez, via jakehollywood)
