Derry fashion brand Evaze talks about being one year in the business and giving back to the city.
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00:00So first off, could you just introduce yourselves please? I'm Daryl. I'm Jack.
00:04And can you tell me what you're here today representing? We're here representing Avese.
00:09We started out as a streetwear brand and then ventured into gym wear.
00:14It was something that we always considered going into, either by myself and even he
00:20considered by himself also. Yeah. We came together. One time it was like, let's try
00:24to have a stab at it to see where we can go with it. A few times. So once we sat down and
00:28ironed a few things out where we wanted to go one day, we found a good streetwear kind
00:33of scene to go onto. So we ventured into that. And that, we started off, it was February
00:38last year. Started off, we started speaking around the start of January and then come
00:43back and forward. And then February, we actually pulled the trigger on it and went, we really,
00:47really went for it then, you know what I mean, made the decision to go for it. So since then
00:50we've just went full steam ahead on everything, you know what I mean. First launch then was
00:54three t-shirts just in two colourways, just in black and white. And off that then we had
00:58a lot of success. We ventured in on the different kind of attributes within the streetwear kind
01:02of scene. We led then to go on to two hour drops in the streetwear scene. Right. And
01:07then we ventured in further down the line on the gym wear. But their main social aspect
01:12of the thing was through our mental health t-shirt. The mental health t-shirt kind of
01:16took us up a good level because it was a message that we wanted to employ throughout the whole
01:20of our city. We think we've done that well and we got a lot of respect off that. Through
01:27that scene, we've contributed a lot to local charities around us to help out and donate.
01:32It wasn't something we wanted to keep on ourselves, we wanted to give back to people that provide
01:37a lot to us. Is that important to you, to give back? There is, I guess, some well-used
01:41items. 100% you have to support your own people, do you know what I mean? I have the mental
01:44health t-shirt on here now at the minute and we, the message, we wanted to attack the message
01:48but not only that, we wanted to be able to, whoever's wearing it, to be able to wear it
01:51anywhere. It's like, even now, I'd be dressed, even I could go on a night out I guess, which
01:56I have before, I can wear this t-shirt, I can go to the gym, just go about my normal
02:00day. So it means whoever is able to buy the t-shirt or whatever, they can wear it in any
02:06setting. So the message can be spread in any setting, do you know what I mean? So I think
02:09we really attacked that well as well. Yous are over a year old now, am I correct? Yeah,
02:14I think it was our very first launch, I think it was the 26th of February, so we're just
02:19fresh into the second year now. Just done that there, just passed. What's that like,
02:22being a year into it, what kind of feelings do you have? I don't know, it comes so fast
02:26because it just feels like we started literally yesterday and now we have what, over 30 items
02:32on the website? Started out with, as he said, two in black and white and that's it, that's
02:36all we had, or three black and white was all we had, and then now we've entered in the
02:39colours, mental health t-shirt, gym wear, everything, but it's just been sort of back
02:44to back and now this week we're going for an hour full of shit, there's going to be
02:48more even added on the website, do you know what I mean? You think it's easy when you
02:51start off, you release your first one, but then after that you already have to start
02:55planning the next, so even though we have a photo shoot now lined up for Saturday coming,
03:00we already have stuff planned for three more launches ahead, so even though this one was
03:04ready, the one we have now on Saturday was already planned months ago, so it's all about
03:08just keeping up to date on what's the next line of attack, where we're going, how we're
03:11going to look to get on, and then people don't know the stuff that goes on behind closed
03:15doors, you get your samples, you get your trying different ways to improve your brand,
03:18improve your quality, improve your images, website, everything, new releases just goes
03:24up and that's it, there's a lot of stuff behind closed doors. We learnt that as well, it seems
03:29like it's easy from what you say, but it's definitely not, do you know what I mean? From
03:31here on it's going to take a lot of hard work. Definitely, I was just saying. It's not just
03:35a press of a button, you go I want that t-shirt, I want it up on the website the next day,
03:39there's a lot of ins and outs and hurdles, and then you try to market it in the right
03:43way then, like around certain people around our city, so we try to make it solidify ourselves
03:48around our city, first before venturing out anywhere else, we want to make sure that Derry
03:52is happy and proud to support our brand, first and foremost, then we can try to release and
03:57go further afield, but Derry is our heart and soul, we want to go further afield straight
04:01away, first here. Has Derry showed you that support back the way you've kind of given
04:06them to the city yourselves? It has in a way, especially with their mental health and giving
04:11back to Forest Session Rescue and stuff like that, do you know what I mean? You always
04:14see Derry do is come to Yeller whenever people need it, do you know what I mean? So that's
04:18why we're attacking all these type of things, because I think everybody personally goes
04:24through their own battles, do you know what I mean? So it's something that everybody can
04:27get behind, and especially in our city at the minute as well, it's something that everybody
04:31should get behind, do you know what I mean? So I think we're doing a good job at it at
04:34the minute, because we're only coming onto the platform to really do the job I guess,
04:37so I think we're doing it well at the minute, so as we get bigger and bigger, there'll be
04:42more of an audience, do you know what I mean? But as of now, I think we're doing well at
04:46that job. Can you tell me about your first days, like when you were just launching, was
04:51it tough, was it hard to find the audience? It was not to find the audience, because we
04:58have a very good team behind us, and we started off, you can't just create a team overnight,
05:02so we started off just picking one or two people to come on board to help you out behind
05:05the scenes, so we found, we have the best photographer in my eyes within Derry, a guy
05:09called Nathan Egger, so within that background, we got him on, and Nathan's one of our mid
05:15selectors now, to this day, classifying him as a close mid for the work that he's done
05:18for us, but the stuff that he does, we've seen his work, and we're like, that's the
05:22line of work we want to go down, so we got his backing off that, and we got his ideas
05:26and our ideas to create a good video. On the first video we ever released, we wanted, we
05:30were known about showing Derry City itself, so we'd done clips of the Guildhall, clips
05:34around the walls and stuff like that, to show we were a local based team and try to enforce
05:38that image across, so we were successful with that, our first launch was good, the video
05:43was good, the backing was good, but it's the same with yourself, everybody's sceptical
05:47going, do you try it out, do you not try it out, but now since we're longevity wise, we're
05:51on here a year now, the sales is going up and the backing's going up, and when we even
05:55go out and walk along a quay or walk somewhere, you're seeing people on the brand, it's a
06:02start, you're here going, you're a surreal moment, you're sitting there going, that's
06:06our brand. We always spoke about it at the start, it'd be good when you start seeing
06:10people wearing it, even when I was in Pura Gym, Jack always trained in Pura Gym, but
06:16I went to Pura Gym and was seeing people and seeing even the complex event, was seeing
06:20people in there, even up a quay as well, the mental health teachers are seeing them at
06:26nights out, and I would wear them nights out as well, and people would come up and see
06:28the messes in the back of the top and always say to you, and it's nice to be able to be
06:33in a position to try and make a difference in that aspect, if you know what I mean.
06:39Your brand is a lot of variety, you even do kids, which isn't very common for local brands
06:45here and you've reached into sportswear, can you tell me, did you always want to branch
06:51out into different paths, or did you at the start have a mindset of a certain thing?
06:55At the start we wanted to go into streetwear, but then again it just made sense for us because
06:59I've been doing sports since I've been young, and so has Jack, do you know what I mean,
07:02he's a footballer and I've started kickboxing, I don't do it now, but it just was always
07:07sort of rooted in us since we were young, so it made sense to make the move, do you
07:10know what I mean, and then the mental health t-shirt goes hand in hand with that as well
07:14because, speaking for myself, whenever I go to the gym, if I'm not feeling right there
07:19or having a laugh there or whatever, I go to the gym, it kind of helps it, do you know
07:22what I mean, and as I said before, you can wear these t-shirts anywhere, in any setting,
07:26so it kind of helps, but that's how we ventured into the gym wear, was through having a sporting
07:31background, it just made sense to us, and it just came second nature as opposed to doing
07:34streetwear, but that door is still always open for us, if you know what I mean, we haven't
07:37closed that door, it's just now we're more focused on the gym wear aspect.
07:41We wanted to create a one-stop shop, if you get me, so if a family went on our website,
07:46they could select some for the kids, some for their eldest kid, and then something for
07:50themselves then too, because we wanted to create a wide variety, and so that's what
07:53we can outline then.
07:54It wasn't something in the first day plans, but as I said, as the business has scaled,
07:58and the way we went on, and the way we envisioned ourselves going, it was a fact that we think
08:03let's take a stab at it, because the success of our first launch, it replicated onto the
08:07kids' one then, so we had a lot of images getting sent through, fathers and daughters,
08:11fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, wearing the adults' version of the t-shirt and the
08:15kids' version of it, so it was nice to see and get their message back too.
08:18That must be strange, seeing a family in your own gear.
08:21It was, I think there was one time, we were down the quay, and we were actually saying
08:27I think I seen it, it was a pink, I think it was a pink, the globe one we had, the pink
08:31globe one, there was a black globe one too, and we were walking down, we were standing
08:34hand-by-hand, and we were sitting there going, is it one of your messages, then you're going
08:37right, no, because at the start you're going, is it going to work, is it not going to work,
08:40just wee indications of like, we're on the right path, you get me, so just seeing wee
08:43small key markers of them there was able to say us, you know, where we are on a decent
08:48path here, so let's just keep at it and try to venture on to the next thing now straight
08:51away.
08:52That's just trial and error to you, so you never know it's not going to work until you
08:53do it, it doesn't work, do you know what I mean, so it's just picking it up again then
08:56and keep going like, so.
08:57A big part of one of us these days is social media, did you find that easier to come to,
09:03you know, obviously you use your young pals, like so.
09:05So there's the serious social media side of things, it's something that, we have our own
09:09social media platforms, and the budget ones, but when it comes to the marketing campaign
09:13side of things, it was a wee bit above our pay grade, let's just say, so there's something
09:18that then, we're happy, we have a very good family and good friends behind us, they help
09:22support us, like we had one of my mates, Tiernan was a web developer, he helped us design the
09:27website, your Caelum, Caelum was a graphic designer, we hired him as a graphic designer,
09:32and then Dave Healy, he sorted out our marketing campaigns, and along with Nathan, so we have
09:37a lot of backing within that industry to help us and let them showcase their expertise when
09:42it came down to stuff that we don't really have much of a foundation to know, so we're
09:47learning off them day in, day out, and when we're travelling there and stuff like that,
09:51they point us in the right directions of who they contact, who they go towards, what target
09:55audiences and stuff, like Alex, who we've had a lot of success with since we've built
09:59a good foundation team behind us.
10:01So it's like a big collaboration of people, and you were going to say that you used to
10:05hear the heads, you know, obviously you used to create a lot of business, but it seems
10:09like you've brought on a lot of people, you know, who built this all up.
10:12Right, definitely, it started with us, but then as you're going in, you're sort of, people
10:16are just filling in, doing things, and then you just build from there, do you know what
10:19I mean, literally just from the ground up, but now we're a night and day difference from
10:23when we started, do you know what I mean, so we're happy the way things are going.
10:27We touched on a wee bit there, but could you tell me about your charity work you've given
10:31on the day of the Forest Ocean Rescue and your mental health t-shirts?
10:35Obviously that's important for you, is this something that you want to carry on
10:39throughout the rest of your business?
10:41It's something we always consider doing,
10:45it's something we want to give back, we don't want to be seen as kind of holding
10:49everything in our cards against ourselves, like we wanted to spread the message across
10:53that's where this t-shirt came from, and stuff like that, so we will continue to support,
10:57we do Cystic Fibrosis, we lay a bar, she reached out to us, lovely family
11:01they reached out to us to help them support, to find medication for
11:05her daughter, we're glad to see that she's doing really well at the moment
11:09and there's a lot of backing behind the medication, and then also through the
11:13power of this t-shirt, we donate a percentage of our sales to Forest Ocean Rescue
11:17we took the time they invited us down to take us through their facilities
11:21and what they do day in, day out, on call and volunteers and how many they have
11:25and all that, it was an empowering message we got behind that, and it was something that
11:29we walked out of there thinking we'd just give a donation to them
11:33but speaking, we haven't spoken to them yet, but speaking between ourselves, it's something
11:37we want to continue to do throughout the rest of our years, because it's one of them
11:41things in Derry that you don't know you need them until you need them, and we want to make sure
11:45we can do all we can to give them the right platform to help, and if it's funding
11:49donation, sponsored activities, anything at all, we're here to help
11:53what them people do as well is absolutely fantastic, they took us around
11:57and showed us everything, and they're just absolutely fantastic people, so getting behind
12:01something like that is easy, it's very easy to get behind, especially in Derry
12:05as well, so for us it's something we love to do
12:09it's to give back and do the things we're doing now, we're doing this from the very start
12:13and we're going to continue to do it for as long as we're in business
12:17Did you say the family reached out to you?
12:21The message that was behind it,
12:25once we read the first message, we were all on board, at that time
12:29we were only started, not so long, so I think it was just after our first launch
12:33leading up to our kids launch, it was in between that kind of time frame
12:37so we were just fresh in the market, but it's something that me and Daryl always
12:41considered to do, because he would have done his charity work even before businesses
12:45and I would have done my charity work too, so we saw that the two of us always had a good
12:49notion to go on towards, so once we seen the message behind it
12:53that they were telling us about, we said no, we want to help what can we do
12:57so they set up charity fundraisers and donation pages and stuff like that
13:01to help and support them in any way at all, we've played
13:05not even a 1% role in what they've done, the family behind closed doors have done a hell of a lot
13:09and they've gotten their daughter everything that they need
13:13but if we can even do a 0.1% to help them out, that's what we'll do
13:17That's all that matters, if we can help in any way, we will do it