I appreciate that Sly Guild sticks to its guns. There’s no need for high fives or grandstanding – just get what you do right and make sure that it’s your own. There’s a unique edge to everything they create, whether it be the cut, the fabric – it all seems to feel very deliberate. This comes as no surprise as they handle every facet of production themselves and keep it all local, all onshore. No time for bullshit, just purpose-built precision with loads of personality and flair.
The three-brother-strong ‘Konik dynamic’ is what characterises Sly Guild: a sharp and distinctive brand of strong values, resilience and consistently fresh outputs. The designs of their new winter line are clean, classic and pertinent. As the lads themselves will agree, the Guild’s style has aged somewhat, become more distinguished with the esteem the brand has accrued since its inception in 2009.
I caught up recently with Blair, spokesperson for the crafty trio, to take a snapshot their current standing and discuss what stands out in Winter 2013.
It’s well disclosed that you’re a conscientious bunch of lads who’re concerned with your output, trying as best you can to not just be another voiceless brand that’s saturating the market. How’s the journey going for you?
It’s good! We’re working away, learning from our teething problems, here and there… We feel like we’re a bit of a walking dinosaur when it comes to manufacturing locally here. Our job, we feel, is to educate our market that we have here in New Zealand. People here tend to forget the amount of work that goes in behind the scenes with our product: all the t-shirts we print ourselves, we cut and sew in-house. It’s become even more rewarding now that people are starting to notice the quality – it is something we want to be known for.
These teething problems, were they the sort to be expected? Being a few young bucks having a crack at manufacturing…
Yeah, I mean, lessons these days aren’t usually free. We had a few bumps in the road, but we were still very happy with our last season.
The summer range was tight, very strong aesthetically… as is Winter 2013. On a side note, it’s Chad who shoots your campaigns, yes?
We’re very lucky to have a brother who takes the role of two hands. Chad was an art school drop out, he jumped on board and was helping us out with day to day jobs, then started getting into photography. One thing led to another. We’re really happy with the way Chad’s shot the campaign…
He definitely steps up. Very solid work.
Yeah, for a young cat… I mean, this is only the second campaign he’s shot on film. He doesn’t have any formal background in photography. We don’t even have to tell him what to do – we just throw him in the deep end… I guess it’s a little nerve racking for him, you know, waiting for 35mm film to get developed. “Have I got the money shot the boys are looking for?” We’ve got a lot of confidence in him and try to give him as much creative freedom as possible.
Tell me more about your creative history. We know you’re a tight knit bunch of brothers – what could possibly form a stronger dynamic? You grew up working in and around the trade you’re now thriving in. What has kept you guys keen? What makes you tick creatively?
We’re quite lucky ’cause we’re so passionate about what we do. We surround ourselves with young, talented, creative minds and we feel everyone feeds off each other’s energy. We wanna make clothes that we wanna wear. It does get a little harder when you get a lil’ bigger, people expect you to follow a trend. We’re in it because we believe in what we do. We’re not in it for a quick buck… it’s a passion of ours. We’ve grown up around workshops and we take it very seriously when it comes to quality… At the end of the day we’ve got the customer’s best interests at heart. That definitely makes us tick.
We’re not in a hurry to break any boundaries. We know it’s a long, hard road ahead, so we’re just trying to keep it all on the straight and narrow.
Speaking of keeping it on the straight and narrow, do you guys all still skate?
Ha… Well, James gets out when he’s not working. [Laughs.] We all try to get down to the local even if its just to say what up, a few beers, roll around…
The boys have been surfing more than anything lately, over the summer. It is important to get a release, get that balance right. We always try snag some local runners out on the West Coast – Muriwai ways, which is about half an hour’s drive from home. Otherwise the boys always froth on a little roady up north when the East Coast has swell.
How are things fairing for you on the international stage? I’d assume a bulk of your gear moves online – is the web working well for you now?
Yeah, I mean these days, if you’re not online, you’re behind the times. We’re more than happy with the way our online is going. We are lucky to have a tight-knit local online base. We’re focused on our local scene first and foremost as this is our backbone. We have some rad single doorways around the world too who represent what we do nicely. Really, if someone’s interested to stock our brand overseas, we’re just stoked to get that offshore exposure. We’re not expecting too much from it just yet, it’s more of a longterm goal for us.
So locally things are rotating well now? People are starting to notice the calibre of your craftsmanship?
Yeah, the people who buy it, and wash it… The kids do realise, you know? It’s great to have kids realising what they are buying, and knowing quality when they see it. We get emails from people on a daily basis, praising our work for being locally made.
Always give credit where credit is due. Speaking of which, there’s an awful lot of good shit coming out of NZ. Is it a competitive scene?
There’s a lot of people doing good things here in New Zealand. Due to the size of the market being so small it is very competitive, but it’s great: everyone’s keeping everyone on their toes. A fair few new brands popping up with new partnerships. Our focus is fine-tuning the doorways we’ve got, really working them to their full potential. You can quickly come to a point where you’ve got your head in too many doorways and forget about who really counts and who has the best interests for your brand. We, as a local brand, just want to help raise the bar for the local scene here, and it seems to go from strength to strength with each season that passes by.
So this winter drop… Exciting stuff! Tell us more about it. What’re the standouts you’re most proud of?
Across the board we’re happy. In the past I guess we have been known for our basic core garments: t-shirts, singlets, hats, hoods, shorts. With the brand progressing a little, we broadened the wings with the introduction of our Selvedge Denim Programme, along with some new outerwear pieces: The Puffer Vests and Veyer Jackets which all complement each other nicely.
If anything we’ve matured in certain areas. A floral will always sell for us, but we’ve wanted to put something more refined out there, something with a bit of a workwear/menswear influence…
So the denim… Tell us more about that? It’s a ballsy move jumping into the raw selvedge game.
It’s very exciting. We have always wanted to run a Denim Jean in our range, so it was a natural progression for us as a brand… We all sat down, you know, as brothers, and were bouncing ideas back and forwards. We all said, “We wanna do it well, do it tastefully” We wanted to do it in a high quality piece. The selvedge really spoke for itself when it came through. Executing the correct fabric choice in quality, weight and colour was key, along with finding a reliable, local denim manufacturer. We feel like everything has slowly fallen into place.We are stoked with the fit: it’s relaxed through the crotch and thigh, and fairly tapered down below into the leg opening. We have used a comfortable 11oz Raw Indigo Denim, with a stretch giving a bit of movement for your daily wear. I’ve been wearing mine consistently for the last three months, no wash…
Putting ’em through the paces…
Exactly. [Laugh.]… could go another six months, then maybe a river wash.
So, if you could pass something onto the kids of this generation, the ever-so-trend-conscious… What would your message be? And any final words?
Don’t let someone tell you your idea is stupid. We were originally told to get real jobs by multiple people.And don’t expect it to happen overnight. We’ve worked our arses off, ya know, and it’s true: the harder you work, the luckier you get.
We support people who support a locally made product, and are conscious of how the product is made, and who makes it. To a certain extent you are what you wear, it does represent who you are as an individual. It’s humbling to see people who like what you do, support what you do and we’re very thankful for that, without you guys we would be nothing.
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Sly Guild’s winter 2013 cut-and-sew collection has already started hitting stores, with heavier winter garments arriving in stores mid may and selvedge denim arriving late May / early June. Keep an eye out on their blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter for weekly updates on arrivals.
W – www.slyguild.com
FB – www.facebook.com/slyguild
IG – @slyguild
T – @slyguild