Care Label is our regular feature where we catch up with some of the best street wear brands and the folks behind them. This week we’re shining the spotlight on personal favourites, Wasted Heroes. With a personal hands-on approach and threads championed by the likes of Loco Dice and Carl Cox, Wasted Heroes is rapidly becoming a music inspired label that stretches beyond the parameters of electronic music.
We caught up with design supremo Russell Reid to talk denim waistcoats, sublimation printing and finding the best burger in Liverpool. (It’s gotta be Almost Famous Burger , surely? RP)
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A fighter pilot thanks to Top Gun; that was until I realised you’d actually have to blow people up. Then my first realistic career ambition was to become an architect as I loved technical drawing.
In your own words, how would you describe Wasted Heroes?
Experimental, ambitious and on the hunt for that next big tee design.
In the past street wear has been the domain of American labels. What inspired you to address this balance?
To be honest when starting out I just wanted to put the cool designs I was creating onto t-shirts. Its only the past year or so it’s become clear that I was actually developing a credible street wear brand that people wanted to represent.
Online shopping and social networking has also helped this cause and opened up the world of UK based labels to the world. Some weeks we can see around 50% of our sales coming from overseas.
What sets you apart from the competition?
We just do what we feel is right and don’t follow trends. We design, screen print and photograph all our garments in-house which means we can turn new design ideas and collaborations around quickly whilst doing what we love. This way of working also gives us the opportunity to experiment whilst working on collections.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My work is also heavily influenced by music and what I’m listening to can reflect my style of work. Exhibitions, record stores and new cities can also inspire my designs or even a day in my studio just playing around.
What’s your favourite piece that you’ve made?
It has to be my signature design, the ‘Droplet Face’ which also happens to be one of the first tees I designed for Wasted Heroes.
How would you describe your own personal Style?
Reflections of Pop Art and Surrealism.
Where do you shop for threads?
I’m an Urban Outfitters guy.
What’s been your biggest fashion faux pas?
A denim waistcoat in my teenage years.
What are you obsessed with right now?
True Detective and Innervisions.
What’s your vice, go on you can tell us?
Dark chocolate and red wine.
What’s the coolest thing you own?
My limited edition flight series by the illustrator Von.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Give everyone a little time….even the crazy folks you see on the street. You never know what stories they might have to tell or who they might turn out be.
What do you collect?
Gig tickets and I go to quite a few gigs. I hopefully have one for every gig I’ve ever been to, although digital tickets did mess with this a little.
What’s on your radar right now – (music/film/labels/restaurants)?
As I said earlier, the label Innervisions are doing it for me right now and their latest podcast has introduced me to the sounds of David August who I’m loving.
Finding the best burger in Liverpool. There’s tough competition.
And finally Kitsunes Journel. I’ve been a big fan of the record label since it started and I’m fascinated with how it’s clothing label has evolved whilst still keeping its electronic music roots.
What do you think it is about street wear influenced by electronic music that has made it so popular right now?
Electronic music as a whole has become more mainstream and big street wear labels will latch on to these cultures and let it influence their collections.
The reason we’re so influenced by the genre is we’ve gone to these events since day one and keep our links by designing promo for clubs like Chibuku and Circus along with merchandise.
What do you think will be the key trends that we’ll see?
I’m seeing quite a lot of sublimation printing onto t-shirts, which is basically a type of printing which can run all over the garment. Although I like it I don’t think our style of imagery would work well in this format. Going hand in hand with sublimation is big bright floral prints.
Is the brand stocked in any bricks and mortar stores? If so, where can the readers get it?
In the UK we’re only stocked in Ran (both Liverpool and Manchester stores) which is a cool independent trainer and street wear store. One of our goals for 2014 is to build up our high street folio where you can purchase Wasted Heroes.
What do you want to see happen in the future?
This is a very important year for us as it’s the first year we’ve gone full time with Wasted Heroes and can now dedicate the time needed to grow the brand.
2014 will see us in more stores, launching pop-up shops and collaborating with respected music events and labels. We may even throw a few parties of our own.
If you want to check out more threads from Wasted Heroes, take a peek at their site www.wastedheroes.com or ‘Like’ them up on Facebook.
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