Blood Brother

Image: © Sleame Carter

In 2011 Nicholas Biela and James Waller took the first step towards a whirl wind adventure by joining forces and starting their own company. But the two of them started more than just a company, they started a brand, a (fashion) family who are making their mark and giving us innovative collections. Clothing by Blood Brother makes you look good and when you look good you feel good, so no more throwing on a pair of loose cut jeans that are falling at your waist. Now it’s time for tapered legs and sparkly jackets, but how did they get to where they are today? Where did it all begin? We spoke to (founders) Nicholas and James and they took us back to the very beginning starting with the name “Blood Brother”

Nicholas: Every one always asks but we didn’t do the pact, we should start changing up the story and say that we did, that we slashed each other open, but no it wasn’t like that, it was really more of an evaluation of where we were and what we wanted to conceive. Blood Brother’ a brand that stands for a lot of things and we had (and still have) the ambition of creating a sense of community for young creatives, whether that be providing events and parties for new editions throughout the year, or through collaboration with different artist, and photographers. It’s like a family atmosphere.

But what does it take to actually start a clothing brand? Other than both having a passion for fashion, both James and Nicholas studied at UAL, James was studying “Fashion Managing, Buying and Merchandising” and Nicholas studying “Fashion Design” but what was it that actually led them to choosing these courses?

Nicholas: I was feeling quite uninspired, you have an opportunity to easily go into a main frame job whether that’s public service sector like nursing or policing. Those jobs are easier to obtain, but there are other career moves where you have to take that gamble and risk. I was studying a psychology degree, thinking of going into some sort of criminal investigative role and I was feeling uninspired by the course, you can get into the police with a fashion degree but you can’t get into fashion with a police degree, so I learn’t how to make suits and make patterns. To go to a university and a college that can give you those key skills and fill your ambition as a designer is more of a risk at an early stage, but there was the grand aim to have what I have today... to have a brand and a business. That’s something that doesn’t come over night rather it comes over years and years of hard work and you need the courage to go and seek that.

James: With myself I did A levels in physiology, sociology and biology, basically everything about people and was working on a Saturday in a shop selling designer clothes. I got taken on a few buying trips with the owner and realised that it’s not about going into stereotypical public service jobs ( like Nick was saying ) it’s about following your passion and enjoying what you’re doing at the end of the day. I changed it up anddid Business Management at LCM which is connected to Nick because it’s the same college but he did design. We soon realised that whilst he could create the product I could figure out how to venture and sell it, how to fill in the gaps. That’s how we met and how we stumbled into fashion together, we both started off doing one thing and entering another, you can always change your decision and things have a way of working out.

Nicholas: Sometimes it’s good though, if you do something else and then come at it from a different angle.

James: I once did an internship as a journalist and then realised I didn’t want to be a journalist…I still love journalists, I just don’t want to become one myself. You have to do the things you don’t want to do as that’s how you learn, whether that’s learning that your skills maybe of better use elsewhere or how the industry works.

Image: © Sleame Carter

Overcoming your fears is the biggest challenge you have to face, everyone has a fear of failure but, if you don’t try you will never succeed. Before co-founding Blood Brother, Brand Director James was a sales executive but what does it take to make that jump from working for someone to working for yourself? How do you push yourself to make that jump?

Image: © Kaptured By Kloe

James: I think timing, when ever you start up a business it’s an opportunity and a platform, when you each have the resources you can just set up a business. Being a sales exec and managing the wholesale of somewhere else gave me the knowledge to launch our products in the right stores like selling to Harrods. My old job gave me the best practice and skills.

Nicholas used to work as a graphic designer and you can see how a person could link graphic design and fashion design to one another, but he told us what it was like linking it all to Blood Brother.

Nicholas: First you need to find a space to work, I found a space (as that was a main priority) but through doing this what I really found was my strengths as a designer. I’ve always loved graphics, I love having a graphic communication with people, that’s the DNA behind my design skills, to have a graphic communication with the customers. At one point I had a gap between working in graphic design and starting Blood Brother but it was a process, a solid and important process.

Startings your own company is scary, it’s a whole new world that you would be taking a hold of, what was it actually like leaving everything behind and venturing out into this world?

James: It was petrifying, we were young men only 26/27. We had the basis of a product that was quite unique visually, Nicks designs were really unique ( at the time ) and it was an opportunity that we wanted to seize but, we had never run our own company before. There was a lot of stuff that we didn’t know that we had to figure out.

Nicholas: We had equal amount of pride but I think James forgets how confident he was. He wouldn’t have made the jump without that balance of pride and confidence that elevated us both.

James: He’s right there was blind belief that we could do it, and we have. It wasn’t easy, we were setting up our own company, willing to risk loosing everything we had, risking your name by not achieving, not being able to pay your bills, your rent, it was scary but at some point you have to roll the dice and gamble. I’d rather gamble as a 26 year old than a 36 year old; it’s daunting and tough out there to be a young designer, but it’s just as rewarding as it is scary, for every barrier there’s a reward whether it’s getting into a good store or getting paid!

No matter your career path you will face challanges but it’s about believing in yourself, believing that you have the ability and the talent to overcome these challenges. Blood Brother opened doors for both James and Nicholas, but they themselves had challenges that they had to overcome, just as you would with any career chosen.

Nicholas: You see very little in the press about running a business and it’s a heavy weight around the ankle, you’re trying to move quite quickly, trying to challenge yourself and move up against the runnings. Trying to profile yourself as a brand against some of the most prestigious brands in these stores, you tell me how we’re going to punch hard when we’re sitting trying to figure out a cash flow, or a budget, or legality, and trademark.

James and Nicholas: There are a lot of hidden potholes, running a business is completely different to being a creative director, or brand director. Trying to find a showroom, or the best trade showroom to go to when you begin, finding out that a stockist wants you but then they don’t actually place the order, how do you import clothes from Turkey? These were things that got in our way and we didn’t appreciate these things would be so challenging but, they are easy to overcome.

‘Log In” was the SS18 collection, the boys told us what it was all about and what made it successful, as well as an insight to the AW18 collection “It Could Be You”.

James: I think Log In was really really great, it was successful in the application in that we facilitated in stockist and stores made sure we covered basis for commercial point of view, but equally creating an environment and energy at a fashion show which we felt was going to best engage people with our universe, from a brand point of view we succeeded; hopefully we’ll see when we get our product into other stores, we’re really happy with quality and new factories, we’re making stuff in the UK now which is a big success for us. Log In was a digital escapism in two words.

Nicholas: James is right in a heart beat in short it was a digital escapism, an alternative, a virtual reality, the freedom that we want to celebrate rather than talking about things that are a bit down beat and drab, we want to to talk about things that are exciting, fast cars, fast women. We’re doing fashion so why not, we want something positive something to enjoy rather than talking about the political landscape, all things seem quite dark and we don’t want it to be all bad.

James: For the AW18 “It Could Be You” collection we were looking to bring continuity to it, to bring an interesting message again for people to engage with our level of excitement. We went into fashion and both believe that being in the industry should allow anticipation, excitement, and enjoyment, some of which have been lost. Collections seem a bit intense and were a brand thats derived from passion, we care about our product we want to see boys in our clothes want to welcome people into our brand.

Both Nicholas and James had a dream to create something great and phenomenal. They had no idea how to do it but they took it a day at a time and pushed long and hard to see their vision come to reality. This new line of clothing they have created really embodies the theme of the collection which you can see. There are always hurdles that must jump when working towards your end goal, but you have to continue to push forward and work to overcome these taking one day at a time.