Written by Charlie Sweeney
The democratisation of the fashion industry over the last twenty or so years has led to the creation of some incredible brands. We all, by now, know the amazing stories of brands like Corteiz, whose unorthodox marketing methods and unique designs have taken the UK streetwear scene by storm. The idea of building a brand is an idea that has crossed everyone’s minds. To be able to create your own clothes, to create your own styles, would be the dream of many.
Sheffield is not a city particularly known for its fashion. Not to suggest people in Sheffield don’t dress well, more that Sheffield as a city lacks many of the fashion shops, brands, and institutions that cities like London and Manchester have. However, that is starting to change. The artistic community here in Sheffield has always been strong, and that artistry, mixed with the DIY attitude that permeates Sheffield, was bound to produce some fashion brands. Luckily for me, I was able to speak to one such brand recently, ahead of their first ever drop.
Run by Aaron Young, Jake Walker, and Jay Green, THORNS is South Yorkshire’s newest fashion house. Based out of a studio in Dronfield, the trio have been busy formulating a brand identity, coming up with a marketing strategy and, most importantly, making the clothes. I met them at their studio to chat to them about what THORNS is, and their journey to get here.
I have never been to Dronfield before, and as my girlfriend and I drive through I can’t help but think it is an odd place for a cool, new fashion brand to be founded in. Don’t get me wrong, Dronfield was actually really lovely, the sort of town you just know has a great Christmas market, with beautiful old pubs on every corner. But a fashion brand? Odd choice, I thought. However, I was quickly proven wrong once I had actually seen THORNS’ studio. After we parked up and Aaron, one of THORNS’ founders, led me to the studio, I stepped into to a room that generally oozed “cool”. But, more importantly, it looked busy. Various clothes were piled upon frames, and their computers were open on different poster designs and other marketing content. It is clear from the get-go that THORNS isn’t just some lads tryna copy Corteiz or Supreme, this is a serious brand ready to take the UK fashion scene by storm.
“I think we all just decided we wanted to make the clothes that we wanted but couldn’t afford”, begins Aaron. The entire brand identity of THORNS seems rooted in the fashion tastes, and opinions, of it’s three founders. Obviously this is not a unique or even unexpected fact, but it is nevertheless important to understand the guiding principle of the brand itself: “we want to give people the experience you get buying clothes from a high-end brand, at a lower price”.
This principle of high-end affordability seems more important to THORNS than the particular style of the clothes they make. And this was exemplified by the styles of the three founders themselves. All dressed impeccably, but as Jay points out, “all three of us have different styles”. However, this isn’t an issue; “it all balances it out. We try and put and a bit of everything in it, and we think it work’s really nicely.” This mixture of styles doesn’t mean to brand is oblivious to trends in the world of fashion, though, as Jake explains, “it’s just that we tend to focus more on the trends in proportions and sizing, rather than stylistic trends, and we try to take layering into account, like how will one of our t-shirts layer with our sweatshirts? We even think about how it’ll all layer with other clothes generally.”
But how did THORNS even get started? “I was gonna do something on my own, actually” says Aaron, “I learnt about screenprinting and got really into the manufacturing process. Then I was telling these both and then we realised we should do it together. We all just thought it would benefit us all greatly”. The collaborative nature of THORNS is indicative of the closeness of the trio. Aaron and Jake have known each other since they were young, having even been in a band together (Jake is still making music, as part of Jarred Up Magazine favourites Northern Smokers Club), and the pair become acquainted with Jay soon after. Jay himself has a musical background, having worked with various rappers filming music videos. It became very apparent that music is important to the three founders. The symbiotic relationship between music and fashion has consistently inspired radical clothing changes, and has influenced many individuals’ personal styles. I remember buying my first pair of converse just because I saw a picture of Julian Casablancas in the same pair, looking cool as fuck (obviously he did, he was Julian Casablancas), just as I remember getting my first low-top pair of doc martens and some black dickies the second I started listening to Idles. The connection between music and fashion is intrinsic to both, and I wanted to know whether Aaron, Jake, and Jay’s music tastes had in anyway influenced what they wanted to do with THORNS. “It has definitely influenced our tastes, at the very least. You know, like, as a person you tend to dress for your scene, for what you are in to. With THORNS it’s like we are taking that concept but making our own scene.” suggests Jake, with Aaron then adding “I suppose, from a clothing perspective, it probably is a bit more punk-y, if you had to describe it as anything, But we want to bring more influences into it. Jay isn’t in to punk music and that has definitely helped bring more influences to me and Jake. In some ways, I think we run THORNS like a band.”
We want to give people the experience you get buying clothes from a high-end brand, at a lower price.
It is really clear that THORNS is something that Aaron, Jake, and Jay take very seriously, and I think it is really clear that the UK fashion scene should be taking THORNS seriously. Everything about the brand is done with that right bit of professionalism and genuine passion. Take the marketing, for example. Whilst the democratisation of the fashion industry has been great for allowing normal people to start up amazing brands, it has also led to a proliferation of copy-cats and Virgil Abloh wannabes, of brands who just print a few ones of bad polyester t-shirts and sell them for £110, brands whose marketing either copies Corteiz or consists purely of badly-designed Instagram posts. THORNS is different. “We need to balance the marketing,” says Jay, “it is hard to be unique with it, but if it is not good, people will notice. Our main aim at the moment is customer retention. That’s what Drop 0 is all about, it is an investment for the future quality of the brand.”
And what of the influence of Sheffield and Yorkshire on the brand? “Sheffield has loads of small brands popping up, but the stuff isn’t grabbing people enough,” says Jake, “Sheffield has a really great community, but all it needs is one brand to really get people onto it.”. “These clothes aren’t as popular in the north,”, adds Jay, “and I think we almost like that challenge”. It does seem like it could be a challenge, but THORNS seems primed to take that challenge on. I wanted to know what they actually wanted to accomplish with the brand. Was it to inspire a greater interest in fashion in Yorkshire, or something more? “Originally we wanted to make clothes that other people would want. But now, we don’t care, to be honest, we just wanna make the clothes we wanna make.”
So what is THORNS, really? What are Aaron, Jake, and Jay trying to accomplish with the brand? “The main thing we wanna do start giving people the experience they often haven’t had with fashion, by completely engaging with the customer and making sure that THORNS is all they are thinking about.”
Talking with the lads from THORNS was eye opening in terms of the amount of work and passion that actually has to go into a fashion brand. Sheffield’s creative scene is spectacular, and any chance to develop and evolve Sheffield’s creativity is something with should seized. THORNS is once such chance, and hopefully it kickstarts a more fashion-obsessed scene in Sheffield.
THORNS dropped its first ever release yesterday, you can browse its offerings on their website here.
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