All Images Courtesy of African Apparel
After recieving African Apparel’s Freddie Mercury T-shirt for Christmas I became interested in the company. I liked the playful name and the artwork that they have on their t-shirts. I got in touch with them and find out a little bit more about the label.
Andy Devine. African Apparel originally started as a band, what happened to that?
African Apparell. Our act still exist under different names, lately we’ve been called Postman Pat and Goblin Comb . We started the project as we wanted to play raw fucked up ethnic music. I got into the Sublime Frequencies label thing and was researching loads of different folk music from around the world but what I prefer was always the raw stuff, old tribal chief grawling playing a one string luth. The real stuff, no pissing about. So we tried to recreate that in our own style. It sounds funny but we’re pretty serious about it.
AD. Is the name just a dig at American Apparell or is there something else behind it?
AA. Well I needed a name for this band. Our music doesnt sound anything near what guys who are into American Apparel would like so I just thought African Apparel would be a good name for it so yeah I guess it is a dig in a way
AD. Was it always intended to become a clothing label or did it happen organically?
AA. Not at all, it was only when I posted the Bob Marley design online and everybody asked me where they could buy it , that I decided to print it. From then, I used the cash to print other shirts from others artists I like. It was more our band t shirt at the beginnning.
AD. Is there any sort of philosophy behind the label?
AA. Put out tees by artists I like who do stuff differently. Taking risks.
AD. How/why did you choose the artists/designs you’ve released so far?
AA. Some of them are people I know and like, some of them are people I have discovered through zines, net or books. There is not a recipe, just people who I think are good and do things their own way.
AD. Could you tell us a little bit about the two new designs you have coming out?
AA. I have three actually. One by Milo Brennan, a piece he did for an exhibition which is a collage inspired by Beavis & Butthead called SkullRockDeath. Another design is by Belgian Artist Brecht Vandenbroucke, I really dig his stuff, awesome paintings and drawings. Google him! Finally, the third one by Ryan Riss a.k.a Craptical from Seattle who is really pissed off cos Lil Wayne has been jailed. Same again google him, mindblowing stuff.
AD. Do you think you’ll start producing other clothing items other than t-shirts?
AA. I’m not sure really, I’m thinking of having sweaters too and balaclavas but dunno when that’ll happen. I like to keep it simple.
AD. Can any artists submit ideas to you or do you have a specific idea of who you want to work with next?
AA. Well, I do have a specific idea of what I want but if people think they’ll fit they can submit stuff but we’re already collaborating with others artists for upcoming releases.
AD. If they can where would they send them?
AA. Afroapparatus@gmail.com
AD. How succesful have you been so far, I own two of the three t-shirts you’ve done so far and they always get a great reaction from people?
AA. I’m not sure what you mean by “successful”. We’ve been selling our tees around the globe from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo, Moscow , Berlin , NY , Melbourne, Paris etc… So i guess people do like them and its pretty satisfying to think people are wearing your tees around the world . Financially I get enough money to get new tees done and promoting them, thats all that counts so far.
All T-shirts can be purchased from the African Apparel site here. As a treat for Amelias readers you can get 10% off your purchases by enterting the code AMELIA10 at the checkout.
Tags:
African Apparel, Brecht Vandenbroucke, Goblin Comb, Lil Wayne, Milo Brennan, Postman Pat, Ryan Riss, Sublime Frequencies
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