Who/what is Arch?
Well, Arch is a streetwear/lifestyle brand that's rooted in the culture of action sports like BMX, MTB, skate etc. The brand Arch is supported by our sister company Arch Print Co., a trade printing business specialising in quality, retail-ready clothing.
What's the story behind the name and logo for your brand?
To be honest, Arch kind of has an odd history! Haha! I started it when I was so young that the original logo was just a red box with a random bold font in the middle. As for the name, all I can remember is that I was bunking off secondary school with one of my homies, walking around, and we just brainstormed a name, thus Arch was born. I think it came from seeing stickers on the arches/signs around London and on the underground stations from when I was a kid. Once I started to take the brand seriously when I got a bit older, my older brother gave me his old sketch book from when he was in college and at the back was the little ice cream. I scanned it in at school on the photocopier and slapped it on a t-shirt. I think it's just stuck from there.
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you realise, "I need to start this brand"? Are there any riders, artists, or subcultures that heavily influence your company's style?
This is quite a hard one for me. I started the brand when I was like 12 or 13, so to say I started the brand with a clear idea of what I wanted to do wouldn't be very true! Haha! As corny as it sounds, Arch has grown up with me from near on before I can remember. I've gone through all my personal phases, and now that I'm in my 20s, I have a better idea of what I'm actually doing and what the brand represents. The brand started as a fundraiser to go on a charity trip to Africa when I was in year 8, which was even before I started to ride bikes at all. So I couldn't even say I started the brand to achieve anything other than going on that trip. Nowadays, I'd say the culture we represent is definitely underground from the action sports and riders/skaters we align ourselves with, to the music used in our projects, to the pop-ups and in-person events we do. I wouldn't say we had an exact ethos either, the brand is more just to show an expression of stuff I personally like, and the skill/artistry of people we align with, as well as showing the lifestyle of everyone involved I take a lot of inspiration from the skateboard industry in terms of filming. Graffiti and that whole subculture are a big influence on me also. I'm also lucky enough to get to work with some really talented people through the print business, and they're a huge influence on how I navigate the world of brands and business.
What kind of details/attention do you focus on when you're working on a new product/garment?
A lot of our stuff is quite subtle, so branding quality is one of the main things I focus on. Given that I do most of the branding myself, I'm very precise on colours, embroidery quality, etc. Always trying to find new techniques to make that subtle branding a little different, you can always catch me at the shop late at night pulling my hair out because I can't get something spot on! Haha! That goes for both aspects of the business. I'm always making suggestions to clients on how to make their products just a little bit different. The clothing brand and the print business kind of feed into each other - the better get with my own branding, the more can help other people level theirs up too.
How important is it for you to engage with your local scene, whether that's through events, sponsorships, roadtrips, collaborations, or pop-ups?
I have a mixed view on this question in all honesty. If you'd have asked me this a year ago, I would've
given a completely different answer. do think it's super important to make an effort to engage with your local scene and the industry you align with, but on the other hand, I do also think it's important for that industry/scene to make an effort with the brand. I don't think brands should automatically get support from the get-go, though.
I'm all for earning your stripes. In order to keep brands rolling along within smaller industries like MTB/BMX, it's so important to support the movement, whether that's consumers buying clothing, watching the videos, sharing via socials, etc., or other companies within the industry giving that helping hand. At the end of the day, the companies involved in that industry/scene are a huge part of what makes that scene what it is. I think a lot of people at the moment aren't being the change that they want to see. For example, wanting more print media and not buying zines from independent brands, wanting more video parts but not consuming long-form media, etc.
All in all, I think being involved and having a physical presence is mega important, but I'm also a huge advocate for practising what you preach and being the change you want to see. We will keep doing what we're doing: road trips, video parts, pop-ups, etc., because that's what we love to do and that's what we want to put out.
We do have a mega supportive local scene and love the industry we work in, but speaking on behalf of all small brands trying to grow organically, it's definitely something I'd like to see broaden.
What's been the biggest challenge in building and maintaining your brand?
In the current world, I think content is such a huge challenge for any growing brand, whether that's quality imagery or video content. As a brand that tries not to make "doom-scroll' friendly content, it's hard to constantly have the drive, time and financials to put out quality content regularly. Luckily, Arch Print Co. is mainly run from word of mouth, so having to pump out production videos and print content isn't a huge worry. Sometimes we can go months without posting, and honestly, that's one of the best aspects of the company.
What do you think you rely on more from a business perspective: social media or real-life, word-of-mouth interactions?
It's so opposed on both sides of the business. Arch Print Co. is almost 100% word of mouth, something I'm super grateful for. On the other hand, Arch is definitely social-based, as I feel brands are popularised by their content, and social media is where everyone consumes that. At pop-ups, we often have people say "my friend wears this", or "! recognise the ice cream graphic". Even recently, at our last video premiere, we had a few people who attended due to word of mouth through friends, so with Arch, there is that aspect of 'word of mouth' too, but not as much.
If you could collaborate with any brand, artist, or athlete, who would it be?
Whoa, ok, this is a hard one. I'm going to give an answer for each, as I don't think I'd be able to put it all in one! Haha! For the artist, I'd have to say Alchemist, as we use loads of his beats in videos, and he's just the guy. As for the athlete/rider, I'll give a MTB dude for obvious reasons! Haha! I'd probably say Sam Hodgson, as it seems like he puts back into the scene quite a lot with the Backyard Battle stuff, and I've got a lot of time for stuff like that. As for the brand, I'd actually have to go with you, Shredder. I love physical print and authenticity, along with the fact that you create some dope videos and just put out all-around decent quality content. I'm feeling blessed to continue to work with Shredder on both sides of Arch - printing the Shredder merch through Arch Print Co. and now being able to give more insight into the streetwear side in this interview, big up!
What's the most rewarding part of running your company?
The most rewarding moment, I'd say, would be the 'Hermanos' video premiere, which was just insane to me. Seeing loads of people coming to an event to consume the project as a whole and copping the merch and zines in person. Shout out to my Mrs for making the dopest zine by the way. Watching the video and shouting the gaff down during the whole thing, I still can't get over it. The most rewarding thing in general is just seeing people wearing the products and getting gassed on what we put out. I'm forever grateful to still be doing this and having support from so many dope people. Also, a couple of days ago, one of the little shredders, Luca (@luka_bmx_pce on Insta, check him out), said to me the video premiere was the best day of his life! Haha! That gave me a proper bit of motivation, what a guy.
What does the future hold for Arch?
I'm really excited for the future of Arch. I think I've gotten to the age where I know how I want to move forward and what I want to achieve. At this current moment, I want to broaden the brand into a more streetwear-based company and have our action sport involvement as the 'lifestyle' aspect, hopefully meaning I can push the products to a wider audience and then be able to push some of that funding back into our core scenes.
Meaning we can put out more video parts, magazines and all of that good stuff. For now, I'm just keeping it pushing, learning more about the industry day by day, and just trying to get to the next milestone. Stick around for the journey, we're not going anywhere.
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