Welcome to Brand To Watch, a style column from COMPLEX UK where we spotlight the very best emerging brands from out of the UK and find out what makes them tick and what their vision of fashion and the future looks like.
Welcome to Brand To Watch, a style column from COMPLEX UK where we spotlight the very best emerging brands from out of the UK and find out what makes them tick and what their vision of fashion and the future looks like.
At its core, “silent” streetwear isn’t all that new. The minimalist aesthetic, defined by its clean lines, neutral tones and comfortable silhouettes, has long been championed by the likes of Yeezy, WTAPS and Issey Miyake, while luxury brands including 1017 ALYX 9SM and Jil Sander—in more recent seasons—have transitioned their design language towards one where luxury staples are seamlessly perfected.
One of the newer brands looking to leave their mark in the minimal corner of fashion is London-based label about:blank. Launched 18 months ago—during the pandemic—the contemporary streetwear brand has quickly become one of the go-to imprint’s for those looking to cop clean, sustainable pieces, designed to last year-on-year. Taking its name from the page which appears when a web browser has nothing else to display, it’s no secret that there are other minimalist brands who are going for similar boxy, modern tailoring like this up-and-coming label.
However, according its founders, Jack Henderson and Perry Davies, there’s certainly a gap in the market for a well-rounded brand. “For many, the issue here is price, quality, customer service, and untrustworthiness,” Henderson tells us. “We’re hoping to be able to combat that, whilst offering our piece to the fashion world.” In just over 18 months, about:blank has made serious moves, garnering a loyal following of streetwear’s best-dressed whilst pioneering a well thought-out direction amongst a tidal wave of independent British brands.
We sat down with about:blank’s Perry Davies and Jack Henderson to talk through the label’s journey so far, influences, challenges, and goals for the brand moving forward. Here’s why about:blank should be on your radar.
COMPLEX: What were your main inspirations for setting up about:blank, originally?
Jack: Myself and Perry had both been thinking about creating a brand for a while so we just decided to go for it. There’s quite literally never a good time to do anything, so we thought that we might as well get started and give it a go. We both have a deep love for fashion and we just wanted to express our ideas and see what happened, and here we are!
Did you have a particularly artistic/creative upbringing?
Jack: Literally nothing of the sort. Half of my family are farmers, and my school didn’t exactly push individual creativity. I’ve always been into social media from an early age, and first found my love for fashion through Tumblr, so I guess you could say that’s where it came from.
Perry: I was quite artistic as a kid, always creating and designing things by myself, but that fizzled out through uni. Since then, I’ve been working as a fashion agent full-time, doing more sales than designing, so with about:blank it’s nice to get that creativity back.
What are your individual roles at about:blank?
Jack: It’s still early days for us so we split the workload pretty evenly. I have a heavier hand in the social and communications side of the business, whilst Perry works more closely with the manufacturers. However, we try and be across everything as we think it’s really important to have a well-rounded view of the business at this stage.
What are some of the central influences behind about:blank, and its most recent collection?
Perry: Blank, minimal pieces designed to last. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here, just introduce high-quality; boxy cuts with a designer feel—but without the eye-watering price tag.
Jack: This latest collection is a development on that, carrying over some of our best blocks and designs in new colourways, whilst introducing some new rather experimental pieces.
What’s your favourite about:blank piece right now?
Jack: I would have to say the bomber jacket from our AW22 collection. The fit and feel of it is sublime; it’s certainly our most premium product to date.
Perry: OurHeavyweight Box Sweat and Hoodie. The fabric we’ve managed to source is unbelievable: 630 GSM with a rigid feel. When you’ve got the product in your hand, it really feels like a £300-400 piece.
How did you come up with the name ‘about:blank’?
Jack: about:blank is the page that appears when your web browser has nothing else to display. It’s not a page on the internet, but rather something internally inside your browser. You can’t actually get rid of or remove about:blank—it’s part of the system and it’ll always be there. The bottom line is that about:blank clothing is exactly what it sounds like: blank, minimal pieces designed to last, focusing on contemporary unisex streetwear, with a nod to sustainability.
What efforts are you making to ensure you remain sustainable?
Perry: A goal of ours in the next couple of years is to ensure the whole collection is fully sustainable. However, a year into the business, it’s not financially viable at the moment but we’re doing what we can. Our packaging is made from recycled materials, whilst our poly bags are fully biodegradable. Not only that, we recycle all of our old samples.
Tell us more about the manufacturing process.
Jack: We currently manufacturer everything between Turkey and the UK. The reason for this is that when we started the brand, the Brexit situation in the UK was uncertain, and we didn’t know how this would affect working with Portuguese factories. Turkey has a rather unique relationship with the EU and trade deals were already well established with the UK, so we decided that would be our best option to start with. If I’m honest, I think we’ve landed on our feet. We’ve a great working relationship with an independent factory who also really believes in the brand, which has allowed us to grow so quickly.
In terms of your creative process, how long does it take, start-to-finish? Are there multiple revisions to a look?
Jack: This is a good one. We don’t currently adhere to traditional fashion calendars, in terms of working so far in advance. This is so we can be quite flexible and reactive to what’s working and what’s not. But, this also means we’re constantly updating our designs. The average piece goes through about four or five rounds of sampling and revisions before the final launch, but we never release anything we’re not completely happy with.
Perry: We’ve actually just cancelled a trouser which went through four rounds of revisions—it wasn’t 100% correct, so it’s gone. Some may say this is a waste, financially, but if you don’t fully believe in something, how can you honestly sell it?
What are some of your proudest moments since launching the label?
Perry: Selling out all of our box tees in one day was absolutely crazy and totally unexpected. It’s an amazing feeling to think that so many people actually want something you’ve created.
Jack: The reaction to the box tees was surreal but, for me, it was seeing Disclosure wearing our tees whilst playing in London—we had no idea Guy had actually purchased it, and suddenly all of our friends were sending us images and posts on IG. Yeah, that was pretty mad.
Perry: A second is also seeing our brand name next to others online. We’ve recently gone into luxury retailer Brother2Brother, and seeing about:blank in a list of names next to Alexander McQueen, AMI Paris and Balmain is actually crazy. I don’t think that will ever get old.
Major celebs are wearing about:blank, but who has been the most supportive?
Jack: We’ve had a few big names wear the brand—a few footballers, most recently Rio Ferdinand, of all people, which was totally unexpected. Disclosure has definitely been the most supportive, though, wearing our stuff time and time again at different venues.
What is the ultimate vision for the brand?
Jack: To be the go-to, one-stop-shop for all things minimalistic and contemporary. It’s not just about sales, but more trying to establish a community and a lifestyle around the brand. We want to inspire and encourage creativity in others.
Perry: Further to what Jack said, we’d love to build a global presence and establish ourselves next to other minimalist designer brands and be sold in retailers such as SSENSE, Selfridges, END. and Voo Store. We’d also love to have stores in London and New York, but that’s definitely something for further down the line.
Be sure to check out about:blank on Instagram and head to about---blank.com now to shop the brand’s full range of offerings.
