At Proper, we try and stay as up-to-date with grassroots brands as much as possible, otherwise, we’re at risk of sounding really old, or part of the establishment – and we’re not sure what’s worse.
One brand that is about grassroots as they come (in the best way possible) is Mexborough-based, Fuzz Clothing, a menswear label spearheaded almost entirely by one individual, Andrew Foster.
Andrew, like us, is fanatical about clothing – particularly outerwear – so it only made sense that we caught up with him to chat about everything from his journey as a designer to his inspirations and chippy order as well as various other intriguing subjects.
To find out more about Fuzz Clothing, click the link.
Hi Andrew, how’re you doing today, where are you at the minute, what have you got going on, and can you tell us a little bit about what you do with Fuzz?
Alright man, yeah all good here cheers. At the minute I’m at home doing some work on a new vest design for summer which is looking great, with Peepshow running in the background.
Fuzz is my brand which I launched just over 3 years ago. I run everything day-to-day from socials, fulfilment, replying to customers, creative direction, design, and lots of mundane tasks that need to be completed. I’m lucky to be working alongside some amazing people who help do the cool/hard parts that make all this possible.
Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on, you said in a blog post on the Fuzz website that ever since you first had money to spend, you were interested in clothes. What kind of clothing first piqued your interest when you were a kid and how has this affected what you do with Fuzz?
That’s a good question, and there are a few periods that really affected me I suppose.
The first would be skating as an early teen and seeing all the cool graphics on tees, hoodies, and decks. That’s something I’ve dipped my toe in with Fuzz, and something I want to go into further down the line, possibly under a different brand.
Fuzz for me, especially now, it’s all about jackets as a priority. That’s mainly because it’s what I know the most about and feel I can do best. That brought me on to being in my late teen and early 20’s and discovering C.P. Company, Stone Island, Oi Polloi, and various other independent stores that sold a bunch of cool brands that were new to me.
That period in the mid-2000s for me, there was so much good stuff and SI & CP had such good collections, to be fair maybe the last good collections before it all changed. Going to Oi Polloi for the first time and finding Norse Projects, Engineered Garments, Universal Works, and similar brands like that was so exciting at the time.
eBay was also like a massive swap shop – because there was so much good stuff to go around. Nowadays everyone hangs on to their best pieces so hardly anything catches my eye. I Dunno – it’s just not the same anymore, times change. Over the past 5-10 years I’ve been mostly about Japanese brands and that’s the main inspiration for Fuzz. I’m trying to create that kind of thing but obviously rooted in Sheffield.
Yeah, my next question was going to be about Oi Polloi, as you said in the same blog post when designing for Fuzz you’d ask yourself “Would this fit in at Oi Polloi?” So, what do you think it was about Oi Polloi that made it hold such a special place in so many people’s hearts?
I think for a lot of people my age and older, it was that gateway to discovering all those brands and finding new designers as well.
They seemed to make a real effort to find new brands to stock each season to keep it exciting. I was too young to know about the old location and only visited the Thomas Street store, but it was like stepping into a treasure trove every time. The blog posts and deck~outs were always great and kept you engaged. The branding and website layout was perfect, and it is a shame it’s gone.
It was a real institution and I do hope they find a way to come back in some form or another.
We can live in hope. What retailers are you into now Oi Polloi has sadly departed?
My favourite for a good while has been Peggs & Son.
They have a really nice curation of brands that complement each other really well. They also seem on point at picking a good selection of pieces to stock each season and are selective about it, so there’s enough choice, but you’re not overwhelmed.
The way they showcase their pieces on the website and socials is great too. I love the videos they put on Instagram and the way they talk about brands with such passion. Unfortunately, I’ve not visited the store yet, but am looking forward to it at some point.
I’ve also got to mention GoodHood as that’s been a favourite for a long time too, it’s a different vibe, but I love loads of their home and lifestyle wears, as well as the women’s brands they stock. I spend a good bit of time looking at women’s brands for cool inspiration also, as there are so many little details and cuts that could translate into menswear perfectly.
I’m sure a fair few people in our office would mirror those answers. So, you’re from Yorkshire, whereabouts in Yorkshire and has this had any influence on what you’re doing with Fuzz?
I live in a small ex-mining town called Mexborough, which is about 25 minutes’ drive from Sheffield.
We launched the brand in Sheffield from an independent shop in town at the time called Sa-kis. Those guys were a massive help in starting the brand and it was amazing to launch and be in an actual shop next to some of my favourite brands.
Unfortunately, they closed around Covid time for personal reasons. It would be nice to have a catch-up.
As far as Yorkshire influencing Fuzz, I’d say you are a product of your environment so all those subtle things you see every day and the people you meet have a knock-on effect in some way. But directly, no.
There’s no real influence in the clothes themselves (steelworker chic?), but at the same time it’s everything.
Sorry, that’s a bit of a blurry answer but hope it makes some sort of sense. One cool thing we did with the Sheffield connection was recreate the opening of ‘The Full Monty’ as an advert. Check it out on our Instagram if you get a minute. The feedback on that was amazing and it was a lot of fun to do with my mate and photographer, Sam Binstead. I’d love to make more short films with him and probably will do in the future even if it’s not Fuzz related.
No, that definitely makes sense. Have you got any brands (not restricted to clothing) that have been most influential to Fuzz?
There are too many to pick out single brands to be fair.
I take so many small details from so many different places and put them together, that it’d be unfair to single a few out. I do love the whole Japanese scene so it’s mainly Japanese brands that have been most influential on the clothes and vibe in general, but I take inspiration from films, music, and art.
In our opinion, the standout Fuzz product is the Finnegan Jacket, are you able to give us a bit of background on the design process behind it including challenges you faced?
Cheers! It’s nice to hear that because I knew it was going to be a game-changer for the brand and I’ve put so much into it. It’s definitely my proudest Fuzz achievement so far.
So, it started off as a sketch as most of these things do. Once I had the idea it started to become an obsession, to say the least, and if it wasn’t going to be ‘jacket of the year’ it wasn’t getting released.
It has taken me over two years to get it out and despite all the frustration that’s brought me I’m glad because it really is better than I even imagined it could be. The basic design was pretty much there from the start but it needed tweaking as everything does.
I then made a few mistakes, let a few people get involved that I shouldn’t have and started to hate it.
I think this version is something like the 12th version and its very close to the OG but with all the kinks ironed out. I went back to my original idea and found some amazing Japanese fabric to use and started to love it again.
I then found Fran who now does all my patterns and sampling, and after a couple of samples, it was perfect. I couldn’t believe how much time and money I’d wasted and she came along and got it spot on pretty much first time. She is amazing and I can’t thank her enough for that.
Good quality fabric is a massive part of what makes a brand ‘good’ for me. I’ve come to realize this over time, and I only invest in pieces now if the fabric impresses me.
A good design in terrible fabric is a waste of time I’d say.
As we get closer to the official release date I’m going to try and do a few pop-ups and meet the maker-type things in store and I’ll go into all this stuff in more detail, if anyone is interested that is.
You’ll have to let us know when you’ve got dates decided for that. Leading on from the challenges faced when creating the Finnegan Jacket, what challenges have you face generally throughout the creation of Fuzz? What did you find surprisingly difficult?
I’ll try and keep this brief as I could go on for days. It’s so much harder than I ever imagined it would be and can be soul-destroying if you let it.
It’s certainly not something to try your hand at half-heartedly. When you do start out it’s hard to find suppliers for good fabrics, trims, production and generally connect with people. What you must realize before going into this is, that no one owes you anything and you don’t want friends buying to ‘support’ like you’re a charity, there’s no longevity there.
It’s your job as the person in charge of the brand to create something that’s desirable. If people aren’t buying it’s on you to change that. There are celebrities and rich folk out there doing it half-arsed and they pump millions into this kind of thing and still fail. It’s no skin off their nose though and they just go back to their main thing, football, music etc.
If you are starting up as one person you need to know what you’re getting yourself into and have the resilience to keep going. That can only come if you truly believe in what you’re doing and when every penny counts there’s little margin for error. Then there’s the money aspect, everything costs and usually costs a lot, with limited money coming in, everything takes time.
Wise words, you’ve definitely got to be a fanatic. A little bit less of a deep one – do you have a favourite jacket or piece of outerwear of all time?
That is a tough one…
I’d say I wear jungle shirt-type things most of the time but as far as an absolute favourite piece, I’m stumped as there are too many.
Fair enough. Favourite pair of shoes all time?
Hands down the Novesta Star Master.
I’ve worn little else for the last 10 years. They look amazing with pretty much everything, they’re not expensive, and there are so many colours and versions to go at. I think I’ve got about 30 pairs at the minute, and they last ages. To say they make them pretty much if not exactly the same way as they did from the beginning in 1939 is incredible.
Such a design classic!
Favourite car of all time?
Not really a car kind of guy, but if money was no object I’d have to get a really good-condition MK1 Golf in a nice snazzy shade of green akin to Kermit the Frog.
Chippy order?
Large Chips, 3 Large Mushy Peas and then drown it in instant chicken gravy. Try it before you knock it!
Yeah, not sure about that one. Okay back to the serious questions, how have you found working with fabrics from a Japanese company?
It’s a dream. I have been looking for these kinds of fabrics since I started and could never quite find what I wanted until I went to a fabric convention in Paris called PV.
I spent my entire time there looking at Japanese, Korean & Taiwanese suppliers. They’re the places you find all the best Nylon, Nylon/Cotton blends and Techy type fabrics for want of a better word, that all my favourite brands use.
I found a company from Osaka that makes exactly what I was looking for and also a bunch of stuff I didn’t know I needed until I saw it. I use them for pretty much all our fabric now. I’ve got a bunch of rolls in my spare bedroom that I send cuts of to Fran for sampling and a load of stuff ordered for next year too.
Working with suppliers over there sounds like a dream, at least in terms of fabric. On a different note, does the style of any particular individual, influence the design choices of Fuzz? Is there one person in particular you’d love to see kitted out in a Finnegan Jacket?
No one in particular influences the design choices – it’s more of a melting pot of ideas and stuff I like.
I might look at an old photo of someone random or well-known and like the styling and that might spark an idea or concept, even if it’s just for how we’re going to photograph and style pieces.
There are some photos from a few years back of Nas wearing some cola Wallabies and those heavily influenced our latest shoot for the Finnegan jackets.
As far as seeing someone in the Finnegan, just because I love him, I’d like to see Robert Smith in it. Not that it’d be his thing or help sales, but I just admire him so it would be cool to see. I’d rather give stuff to people I admire than get celebrities wearing it to get sales. And I’d rather burn the lot than give anything to ‘influencers’.
Hahaha, fair enough, does Fuzz pay attention to any trends in particular, or, do you consider the brand not to be influenced by trends?
Nah, I’m not interested at all.
Artists create if they’re successful or not and I take that approach, I just need to create for me. I have so many ideas and have to compromise sometimes to give myself the best chance of selling to suit a bit of everyone’s likes.
That’s not to say I follow trends; I just mean that just because I’m really into it doesn’t mean anyone else will be. My missus is great for keeping me in check with that. For example, I might want to do a capsule collection based on the colour palette of Fantastic Mr Fox, and whilst I might be into it – and I’m sure it’d look amazing, she’ll say “Why not just stick to a classic green and black for these first ones, people like green and black.”
It’s just being a bit more sensible when every penny counts. I’ll still sample the stuff I want to do though, and it will come eventually.
Probably a good stance, if you can find some resentment in your heart, what fashion trend do you hate?
Not really fashion, but if I had kids and they came home dressed as Steampunks – I’d probably have to disown them.
I haven’t heard the word Steampunk for a while. If you could pass on one piece of information to someone reading this who is thinking of starting their own brand, what would it be?
Speak to as many brand owners as you can if they’re successful or not it doesn’t matter.
Learn from them, find out what problems they encountered, and the pitfalls. It’s harder than you’d imagine and not something to be done half-heartedly, so find out as much as possible from people who have done it.
Everyone has an opinion – but few have the experience.
What can we expect to see in the future from Fuzz, more of the same? Or are we going to see the brand suddenly start producing underwear?
For Spring/Summer it’s going to be a fairly small, focused collection, and then going big for next winter.
More modular pieces are in the works which I’m excited to show everyone. There’s a new Parka that will be on par with the Finnegan that we’re just finishing up. There’s going to be much more range of products that’s for sure and, yes, socks are on the hitlist but no undercrackers, unfortunately.
It will be cool to do this again in a years’ time and see how it’s come along.
Definitely. Any shoutouts to give to anyone who has helped in the Fuzz journey so far?
All the Family team from Sa-kis for getting this started with me, I’ll be forever grateful for that.
Fran from The Pattern Room who turned it around for me when it was going a bit wobbly. Hopefully we can work together for a long time.
Blue, who listened to me waffle on in the early days even though it wasn’t his thing and did some print stuff for us.
Dan, Lou, Bri and Sam who have done all the amazing photography.
All the models who have kindly done shoots for us over the years.
Mark, who is without a doubt my best customer and a great sounding board… if he thinks it’s shit then I’m in trouble.
My missus, Millie and dog Woody along with all my family who have helped loads and put up with me living my dream and everything that comes with that.
There are loads more who I will have missed here, so sorry if I’ve forgotten you here. Thanks to you guys for having me too!
No need to thank us, and finally, where does the name Fuzz come from?
Dad’s nickname was ‘Fuzzer’ and I became ‘young Fuzz’ and that has kind of stuck through life, so when I was looking for a name and doing logo sketches, someone suggested that and it stuck.
Probably because I couldn’t think of anything better. Looks good as a logo though, doesn’t it?
Aye, it does – thanks for chatting today Andrew, and all the best for the future.
To find out more about Fuzz Clothing, do so here.
