Interview with Collect London’s Creative Director, Woody Morley
A few days ago, we introduced you to an incredible t-shirt line out of London (UK baby!), Collect London . With superb cuts and fabrics, original designs from London’s most brilliant and artistic minds, and the super exclusive vibe of the limited prints, Collect London has all the makings of a game changer in the global fashion world. CrookedMarc was able to track down Woody Morley, founder and creative director of Collect London for an interview. Get the inside scoop on his chemistry degree, a 6′ 6″ 140lb man, and some great information on those awesome, super limited Collect London tees!
Major shout out to Charlotte and Alexa — you guys are awesome!!!
Hey Woody, How’s London Town treating you these days?
Really good. I always cycle everywhere so I get to see what’s going on at streetlevel rather than being stuck on the underground – it keeps you much more connected with the city and the general vibe. We’ve got loads of parks so at this time of year there’s always a festival to go to.
As you may know, we live in the U.S., “Down South” to be more specific. It’s super hot and super humid. How is the weather in London this time of year?
That’s always a good question – we love to talk about the weather! We never get to use any superlatives though, it’s usually just average.
No it’s not that bad – if you’re in the countryside and the sun’s shining there’s nothing quite like it, but I always long for more sun…. and less rain.
What’s playing on your iPod right now?
Doom ‘That’s That’ and Grauzone ‘Eisbär’ are on repeat at the moment. ‘Eisbar’ was made way back in 1981 but sounds like it could have been made yesterday – incredible.
So, I did my research and I noticed that you have a chemistry degree. What were you doing before creating Collect?
Thankfully nothing chemistry related – laboratories weren’t my forte! Having flitted from art college to then graduating with a degree in chemistry I then got a job in marketing which was successful for a year until i decided to take part in a rally to Mongolia followed by working in Austria. I went back to marketing for a year but decided that the time was right to create something of my own.
What was your inspiration behind starting your own line?
It was really just a frustration at not easily being able to find good quality, well fitting t-shirts. For such a simple thing you don’t want to spend as long as you would looking for say a perfect pair of jeans or jacket so I thought why not create somewhere where you could find all sorts of different cuts in one place. A lot of established fashion houses seem to treat t-shirts as just an add on to their range and consequently you’d be surprised how many are cut pretty poorly. There are obviously brands like American Apparel who are doing a similar thing however Collect’s focus is much more concentrated on coming up with timeless cuts that will look just as good in ten years as they do now, rather than transient “throwaway fashion”.
What made you decide to name the brand Collect?
It came around at the same time as I was thinking about the whole limited edition thing – like pieces of artwork I wanted these t-shirts to become collectable. The idea behind the brand was also to be the antithesis of the low cost (and often low quality) mass produced, high street fashion and offer something more unique, hand crafted and special.
I ‘ve noticed that fit is the most important aspect of the brand. How did you decide on what cuts to use?
In short a lot of research. The important thing was to come up with cuts which would look good on nearly everyone. I’d been gathering samples together for over a year and then embarked on fit testing to see what worked on who. We ended up finding 25 men and 25 women that represented every possible shape and extreme (we even had one guy who was 6′ 6″ but weighed only 140 pounds) and then spent ages obsessing over the fits, types of jersey and so on. We eventually got to a point where we had six different cuts which we felt were pretty much perfect.
You offer a range of plain T-shirts as well as very limited prints which is not too often done. How did you decide to offer both?
I started out with the idea of doing different fits and as the idea evolved it just seemed natural to do prints as well. Having been to art college I also knew that there was a huge pool of creative talent, often with no outlet for their work, so i thought why not try and tap into this and at the same time give them the opportunity to showcase their abilities.
What is the selection process used to choose designers for your collections?
The selection process is carried out entirely in house. This enables us to push the brand in the right direction creatively as well as maintain the highest standards. Designers are fully aware that it is an entirely subjective decision from the offset but we try to work with artists to bring their designs forward where we can. And even if a design is not chosen it doesn’t mean that it’s been a waste of time as it can still go into that designer’s portfolio.
Do you Twitter, Facebook, Myspace?
We’re on Facebook – it’s got a lot more flexibility than Myspace – and we’ll be Twittering soon.
Finally, what can we expect from Collect in the future?
We’ve got lots of exciting things planned, including some great collaborations, and we’ll of course be developing our range with new cuts. Although the business has of course been set up very much with a view to operating online we’ll also be seeking to further our reach by finding new stockists in the UK, Europe and US.
***Many, many thanks to Collect London and APR Consultancy.***
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