80S CASUALS X PEACEFUL HOOLIGAN
Ahead of our collaboration with 80s Casuals, we caught up with founder Dave Hewitson to ask him about the Casual Culture of the 1980s and how the brand was born.
What makes 80s Casuals the original terrace brand?
Back in 2003 when the brand started out we were the first to put the 80s Casual culture onto t-shirts. Nobody had thought about printing tees that properly captured the style and attitude of the 80s terraces. It was an original idea of ours to put images of the clobber onto a T-Shirt such as the adidas trainers and the iconic jackets. Lads who went to the games and wore that gear became the target audience. Our designs came straight from that world using our own experience of growing up and living it, not some fashion outsider’s idea of it. 
How did the brand start?
Back in the early 2000s fashion was full of ripped jeans and tight t-shirts. Not something a 40 year old heading towards mid-life would want to wear. No one was making the kind of gear we actually wanted to wear ourselves. So we started printing tees that meant something to people our age and would trigger nostalgia of 80s football in a good way. No hype, no overpriced nonsense, just proper stuff for people who knew. 
You’ve got a background in print and publishing—how did that shape the brand?
I wrote ‘The Liverpool Boys Are in Town’ Book back in 2004 to highlight the Casuals Clothing Culture that had started in Liverpool and grew throughout the land over the years. I could remember all of the trainers and clothing worn so that knowledge went straight into the design aspect of the brand. Between myself and the co-partners at the time we were able to reference the best bits from the era which would also lead to the 80s Casuals Book being released in 2010. That Book actually documented the era but the T-Shirts have also done something similar.
What sets your gear apart from other retro brands?
Authenticity. The internet has made it possible for anyone to start a brand and print T-Shirts overnight. Even if you weren’t born in the 80s, you can still start up a Casuals label by googling the era. We didn’t just slap a design on a shirt and call it "Casual." Our early prints were insider nods, stuff only proper lads would get. And because we lived it, we knew that the details mattered. That’s why we were able to collaborate with Fila and Ellesse within 10 years of starting up.
You’ve expanded into music and film—why?
The 80s weren’t just about the clothes. Music, Film and the Football tied the period together. Running the vinyl label Eighties Vinyl Records and putting out books like Spike Island - Unseen keeps the culture alive in the same way that the tees do. It’s all connected. We tend to release stuff we’d buy ourselves that you may not find anywhere else, like Soundtrack LP’s of Awaydays, The Football Factory and The Firm etc to Books on The La’s, Flowered Up and The Stone Roses.
What’s next for the brand?
More of the same really and staying true to what we’ve always done. No chasing trends, no watering it down. The people who get it, get it. Plenty of new stuff with the same mentality and then mixing it up a little with one or two cool collaborations, whether that be Subbuteo Casuals or a Coffee brand, because who doesn’t start the day with a great Coffee? 
Any advice for new fans of the culture?
The only advice I’d give to new fans of Casual Culture is to make sure you know about its History. Read a few books, google a few websites etc There’s more to it than just wearing a pair of retro adidas. The Culture changed the High Street and has a lasting legacy in that everybody now wears training shoes yet before the Culture began in the late 70s, no one ever wore trainers on the street. They were only used for Sport. The 80s Casuals Culture has also become a part of the Art World as more and more Artists reference the early 80s sportswear as seen in the recent Art of The Terraces Exhibition in Liverpool.
80s Casuals—The Originals. Since 2003.