One night during my regular Tumblr-coma-induced lurking, I stumbled upon a ‘grandma’s couch’ covered 5-panel. I’ll have you know that apparently I am one of last people who think 5-panels are attractive (the stigma attached to them aside), however the grandma’s couch/dress/pillow fabric made this particular five panel ‘pop’ and I needed to know more. After about half an hour (which is absurd in Tumblr searching terms) I found the owners and after making contact with the guys, I received an interesting insight into the company that is Sly Guild..
Realising there was a void in the t-shirt market for a range of quality, minimalist and attention-grabbing collections, two brothers, James and Blair began what is now Sly Guild. With no business intentions, they reluctantly sold the first few tees which led to setting up shop out of the boot of their car thus creating a demographic confronting store for Sly Guild and the stores wanting to sell their collections. To quote the boys “We now see ourselves selling nation wide here in New Zealand, in a bit of David and Goliath battle, staring multi million dollar companies in the eye with budgets we dream about.”
Having invested a lot of their time and money into the quality of the garments, everything is 100% hand made in New Zealand and produced without constraint – allowing Sly Guild to grow under its own steam. Despite having had countless opportunites to increase revenue and manufacture offshore, they continue to support the local economy and employ members of the community.
“We don’t see Sly Guild as a ‘brand’ or ‘label’, we see it as a lifestyle. Whether you are an artist, designer, athlete/rider, musician, or behind a desk during crunching numbers during work hours we want Sly Guild to be worn by everyone. “
Drawing inspiration from things such as the outdoors, yesterdays luxurious designer wear, 70s surf and skateboarding culture or vintage American sportswear, they offer clothing and accessories from conservative buyers to a more forward approach.
“At the end of the day, we just want to wear affordable timeless pieces that you can hold onto and age with, we feel our quality in the garment is true to this. “
SLYGUILD ONLINE | STORE | BLOG | FACEBOOK
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