A Bodega Exclusive: Interview with Weekend Offender
UK based brand, Weekend Offender, largely known for their quirky and vibrant deigns has yet again produced a seasonal line that absolutely kills the game. Influenced by a range of subcultures such as terrace casuals and the acid house scene, the brand strives to produce innovative products that keep in line with what inspires them the most; music, film and fun. The brand ethos states that anyone can be Weekend Offenders and so the designs and the brand continue to evolve with these elements in mind. Their most recent line features an array of well crafted products such as lambswool knit hoodies, simple pocket tees and multicolor woven button ups. We had the pleasure of speaking with WO's company director about their newest collection. Click below to see the full conversation and a detailed look at their full line.
1. What is your name and what is your title at Weekend Offender?
Sam Jones, co-founder and company director.
2.Can you give some background info on WO? i.e. when/where the company was founded and who founded it? Rhydian Powell and myself started the label back in 2004 predominantly as a t-shirt range to sell from my store in South Wales. After a couple of years it got too big for us to manage alone and we needed a partner with more experience in the industry. That's when we approached Aaron Thalmann .
3. In your eyes, what defines a Weekend Offender? Anyone really. It's all about normal people with 9-5 jobs who try to forget about the mundane things life throws at them on the weekend and let loose. But it's very TONGUE in cheek. We don't take ourselves too seriously.
4.How is the idea of being a Weekend Offender incorporated into your products? We always incorporate little details into our garments such as the toothbrush and toothpaste package. Everyone's found themselves staying out all night at some point in need of an urban survival kit. For AW14, we have done a collaboration with Kent Combs and iconic Old English Brand.
5.Can you differentiate between the mainline WO products and the Category A products? Category A is just a slightly different look to our mainline collection. A little smarter, but it has exactly the same aesthetics.
6.The graphic tees in the mainline are very creative and seem to incorporate a lot of pop culture but with WO’s own twist thrown in, where did this idea come from and how is relevant to the brand? It's basically what we are in to. The ideas stem from a lot of subcultures from football casuals/ MODS/ ETC to acid house but can also come from whatever album or film we were listening to or watching that week.
7.What were some of the biggest challenges of producing your latest collection? Producing any collection has its challenges, mainly that you are looking at stuff that wont be on sale in the shops for up to 12 months ahead, so we are constantly adding pieces and dropping pieces right up to the last minute. We are lucky in the fact our factories allow us this luxury, but it drives them mad most seasons. Needless to say, we are vey happy with the final collection for AW14.
8.What are the benefits you deliver to your customers? i.e. Function?, emotion?, etc. We always try to make functional clothing and avoid details without a purpose. Obviously we want our customers to feel good in the clothes and we always look for quality above price.
9. When a potential customer looks at your products what do you want them to think? We want them to feel comfortable with what they are getting for their money and also to have a bit of fun reading the details on the inside labeling etc.
10. What is your favorite WO product? We always have fun designing jackets which have a function such as the ‘Dealers’ jacket that we done a few years back. It had a front pocket that opened out with a transparent plastic covering so you could see what you were doing inside your pockets without taking your hands out. We have just updated this jacket so I’m looking forward to that being released.
11.Lastly, what does the future look like for Weekend Offender? We are just going to keep on keeping on and try not to go bankrupt so we don’t have to get normal jobs.
Words & Images: Tommy Boudreau
