The phone rings sometimes, not so much these days in a digital world, and someone says ‘Is it you that makes caps and T shirts for Noah Thomas?’
And the answer is yes, but that really isn’t the important thing. There are plenty of standard adjectives used these days about upcoming new British fashion brands like Noah Thomas. Their caps are ‘Sick’, their T shirts are ‘Fresh’. Occasionally stuff might be ‘lit’, and we can get excited about a few flames flashing across the screen of our Instagram account. The caps and T shirts, and the hoodies are good, I think we dare say that without over blowing any trumpets, but there is an emotion behind the brand Noah Thomas that sets it apart and makes it special.
It was several years ago now that the creator of Noah Thomas came to see us. On that particular day, Ben Chadwick was just another young lad walking in with a dream, with questions about t shirts and caps and screenprint and embroidery, labels, swing tickets – all the usual stuff. And as always, I told him that none of that shit is what really matters, that quality is a given, but the deal breakers are story, emotion, identity and connection. It was just another day, and he went away.
I was surprised then when he called a year or so later to say he’d thought it through, listened to my usual story about story, and that he was ready to make those caps and t shirts. Because he was a Dad now and wanted to create a brand which is born out of the bond between a Father and his son. To build a fashion label over the twenty years it probably takes to build a fashion label, that his son could inherit if felt that was his future. I may be a miserable git, but I can’t argue with such a beautiful sentiment.
When it stops being about caps and T shirts and starts being about Noah Thomas (who is a cracking little fella by the way) then of course I’m inspired. It’s a side issue, but I never knew my own Father, and so it seems to me that there are so many emotions to explore here within the brand. Emotions that are specific to us, but which I hope will connect with many Father’s or sons. Wherever I see a brand cocktail of the unique and the universal, I am always hopeful.
If anyone asks who makes the caps and T shirts for Noah Thomas, that really isn’t the important thing.
