Original Casuals New 'On Tour' Collection

Insights...

February 26 2017 – David Elders

Insights...
Insights...

Matchday Magazine asked us to provide a little bit of background in what makes us tick here at OC Towers... enjoy!

Matchday Magazine

1. On your website you ask people: Are you an Original Casual? What it means to you?

What we mean by the term 'Original Casuals' is not what the media portrays a 'Casual' with its connotations of football hooliganism both in the 80s and in todays society.

What we mean is the longing for originality in the clothing that a person wears - at Original Casuals we try to produce clothing that aspires to avoid the mass-produced clone fodder around these days. To stand out from the crowd.

Ultraviolence

2. Nowadays it does not become too popular and has not lost the sense? Even you try to produce limited collections.

Unfortunately the casual culture isn't as popular as some of the other youth subcultures like Mods, Skinheads because of the mass-media's vilification of the working class who went to football. They're trying to destroy the fanbase to create global consumerism, so no longer being a fan is important - we're simply a buyer on a seat. But this is a reflection of wider modern society and is the reason why the casual culture has lost its importance because most youth cultures are transient by their very nature. However we feel the ethos that was there back in the 80s and the 90s still applies to most people who require and are looking for distinguished terrace attire.

3. Stone Island is a good example how it becomes a big business. 

Stone Island HAS grown over the years and become a global business. However we feel it has kept its original identity through using innovative dying processes and very clever fabric choices. However it will never regain that exclusive 'moment in time' with people travelling for clothes due to global markets, the internet and credit cards. Back in the day in the 80s nobody had a credit card - you had to save your wages and travel to that specific shop hoping you'd find that unique piece - and that will never happen again. This is the reason we try to keep our products limited so we can have this kind of exclusivity and not be part of the mass-produced world around us.

CP

4. ‘Against Modern Consumerism’ – do you think is necessary, movement like
that?

Against Modern Consumerism... To be honest with you, financially it would be a lot more profitable to produce a cheaper, mass-produced product but that's not the ethos of our brand and its never where we see ourselves being.

5. In the future, something might change?

Well, with our ethos of creativity, individuality and limited production runs we're doing our best to change things in the here and now! ;)

The Krays

6. Let’s talk about design process. How it looks in your case?

The design process, like most creative processes starts with a idea which we work through. We tend to try to have a collection theme - for example our latest collection is called Heroes & Villains, where we focus on iconic figures who people can say is either a Hero to them or is a Villain. For example, one of the designs is based on Maradona who to many people is one of the best footballers the world has ever seen but to others because of the 'hand of god' incident with England is regarded as a villain.

7. What is most important for you in that process?

Hopefully and most importantly we feel Original Casuals is about being creative, individual and unique; trying to create a design which reflects our brand and retains a continuity throughout the brand but has never been done before. A refreshing look at a topic; like our new Heroes & Villains collection.

I Can't Live With That

8. What are your plans for the future?

Our future plans are to continue to produce unique, creative t-shirts but however to grow into other markets. For example, we've just started to sell in Germany and we also plan to move into doing sweatshirts, shorts and various other apparel, while however keeping them all limited and retaining the exclusivity which we have always strived for as a response to today's mass-produced society.