Interviews
Unknown To Well Known
Jemima Hunter
May 10, 2021
Hampshire raised, Joe Granger and Callum Vineer embarked on their fashion journey at only nineteen, subsequently gaining over 84K followers and dressing some of the UK’s biggest names in music like Lil Yachty, Post Malone and Ski Mask the Slump God. Their London based brand, Unknown, started officially in 2016 based around the British street theme culture with a target market of seventeen to twenty-six year olds, establishing their unique selling point as ‘not following trends and just making clothes we want to wear ourselves.’
Granger spent a year at college and worked a ‘number of random jobs’ including working in retail, fixing play stations and trying out an occupation in gardening. Whilst Vineer started his working life part time in an ice cream van and fish and chip shop, which all led to the making of the entrepreneurs established today. Since becoming friends at college, it became clear Granger and Vineer had a similar taste in clothing and realised there was a gap in the market for high street luxury pieces.
At only sixteen the two formed a clothing brand named Bleak Apparel an independent streetwear line that included several tie dye designs with graphic logos, which later funded their Unknown brand. After the success of their first company, the pair knew the fashion industry is where they could distinguish themselves.
When starting out Unknown, Vineer and Granger started distressing hoodies in their parents shed, grating every individual piece and after posting on a Facebook group, they sold out of stock within twenty-four hours. Neither of them attended university or studied fashion so it was a learn on the job commitment. Starting from scratch with Adobe Software to understanding manufacturing and marketing techniques, paid off as their drops ‘started selling out 1,000 pieces in less than a minute now…it’s kind of crazy’ Granger exclaimed.
The entrepreneurial partners stated that ‘collaborating with A$AP Mob in just our second year of business’ was the biggest achievement since starting out as it quickly led to brand recognition and a larger audience. Now being tweeted by London Fashion Week and stocking to influential artists Vineer and Granger are demonstrating how hard work and aspirations pay off.
With all successes in life, there will always be some critics’, as the pair have previously experienced first-hand, ‘You just have to ignore it, the positives almost always outweigh the negatives’ Granger exclaimed. With a confident outlook on life and a goal to ‘continue being able to put out products we love and for them to be loved by our customer too’, Vineer and Granger are onto big things, aiming to develop their business as far as they can with quality control and technicality of their pieces.
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