Adding new shirts, tees, denim and chinos to their renowned graphic tees and sweats collection, we speak to Second Son ahead of this weekend’s Reset event…

Who are you and what’s your brand called?

My name’s Will and the brand is called Second Son.

How long have you been in business?

We started out back in 2005. I was working at Bond International while studying graphic design and my business partner had just escaped from a job in the City, so we got together and started Second Son.

What label/designer inspired you to start your brand?

The label that most inspired me at the time was Silas, because they had this unique and very British style that for me was a lot more interesting than most of the stuff out there. I never thought the wannabe-thug side of streetwear worked well in the UK (or maybe just not for a middle class white boy like me) and they were clearly just making stuff they liked instead.

Also the guys at Bond International where I worked at the time – they taught me a lot about clothes and the industry and gave us our first platform for Second Son.

What’s new for your brand this season?

This season we’ve continued to expand the range. We’ve still got the graphic tees and sweats but at the same time we have some smarter shirts, cut ‘n’ sew pocket tees, new denim styles and chinos. We’ve also done a few colabs this season: the Sherlock hat and pipe pack that we did with the US brand Durkl is already out, the Nash Money colab tees are about to drop, and we’ve got three styles of hand-made belts that’ll be here in time for the Reset.

Where will your brand be in 5 years?

Still here I hope, but with an expanded product range. And more money.

What does the opportunity to present your range at Reset mean to you?

The Reset is great because it allows us to interact directly with our customers. That sounds cheesy, but when you’re selling to stockists you don’t come into contact with the end customer which is a pity because they’re the focus of the whole operation. At the Reset we can give people a better idea of what the brand is about; we have more control over the way we present the products, and it’s good to be able to explain the ideas behind things to the people buying them and get direct feedback from them.

UK streetwear is relatively new – why should people pay attention?

I wouldn’t say UK streetwear is new, it’s just undergoing a resurgence. When we started there were several UK labels like Silas and MHI but it all went a bit quiet for a while. Now there are a lot of brands coming up and that’s good to see. People’s tastes seem to have moved towards more grown-up stuff after the US-led allover print phase, and I think the UK is a natural place to look for that – we’ve got a long history of dapper style that goes back centuries…

Who/what would be your ideal colab?

I’d like to work with companies who make stuff we can’t do yet, like umbrellas and old-fashioned shaving kits. Second Son logo pasta shapes would be dope too.

But actually the colabs we’ve done this season are ones we’ve been wanting to do for ages anyway – Nash is a good friend and we’ve been meaning to do a tee together for a while, and the Sherlock Hat was an idea I’ve been waiting for at least 2 years to put into action. I like working with friends – for instance we’ve got colabs coming next season from our buddies Mark Ward and the illustrator Ken K Chung (aka Mergs) and his new brand Yoni.

Do you have a website where can we buy your clothes?

We’ve got an online store at second-son.com. For the new range you’ll need to check our stockists first, but we have a few web exclusives up our sleeves as well…

Any last words?

Hope to see you down there at the Reset.

Tags: Fashion, Nike, Second Son, The Reset