One of the most gratifying success stories to come out of the North in the last few years is Clints.
I use that word gratifying to describe how chuffed I am for its founder and main head Junior, whose brand continues to go from strength to strength, with distinctive releases and innovative marketing. Back in 2017 the main man was floating about looking handsome for brands and retailers as a professional model, while studying. If I remember rightly he was doing some sort of business degree and he had a plan.
At that point we were making our own formative steps into full-time status with Proper and despite relative inexperience, we were given the chance to head over to the Canaries to shoot Spring/Summer stuff for Dickies. Junior was one of our models of choice and it was on that Spanish sojourn we first got to know him. In between donning striking workwear he would pick up a pad and pen, quietly sketching out shoes. He briefly shared his vision but we thought nothing more of it.
In the years since, we’ve enjoyed the odd game of football with him, and he even did us a favour wearing Hikerdelic for us a few seasons back. But those initial sketches have turned into something everyone is now talking about. He’s sacked off modelling and now focuses full time on Clints, the brand born out of those initial drawings over in Tenerife, in November 2017.
With a flagship store, bustling events, and a landmark collaboration with Dutch streetwear legends Patta, it’s easy to understand why Clints is the name on everyone’s lips, not just here in Manchester but increasingly the UK and around the world.
Given we were inadvertently there right at the start of the seeds of the brand being sown, it’s mad we’ve not covered it yet. Maybe we thought it was a bit younger than us. And yet every footwear release in the mould of that mad hovercraft/bumper car silhouette has us challenging that inner belief. We could get away with a pair couldn’t we? Surely? If not that, the apparel defo doesn’t discriminate by age.
Manchester has often been seen as the centre of the earth for fast fashion, but we could name half a dozen relatively young brands that have sprung up in the last half-decade that are bidding to change that, and Clints undoubtedly sits at the head of this table.
If you’re already on it, nice one. Well done. If you’re not, it’s time you stepped correct.
