Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Tadashi.
Luke, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It’s impossible to pinpoint a beginning to my story. It could be the first pair of jeans I made 5-6 years ago; it could be the first trip to Paris two years ago when I pitched Bristol Studio to buyers and was flat-out rejected by all of them; it could be about two years ago when I decided to bring on my two childhood friends who knew nothing about the clothing business, but whose character and integrity I trusted beyond measure.
But it’s most realistically 15-20 years ago when my love for the sport of basketball took root. As a kid, I was immersed in the game – playing AAU throughout my childhood, reading SLAM magazine whenever I could, and constantly inventing new moves in the backyard with my friends. It was everything about the sport – on and off the court – that inspired me. There was a spirit that surrounded the game – it was palpable to me.
One day after practice, I must’ve been ten years old, I noticed how the older kids would flip their sweatpants and hoodies inside-out after practice. Why? I’m not sure. But it would create this incredible stylistic effect – that even as a ten-year-old, I couldn’t get out of my head – were the pockets, now exposed, would now fall just-so on either side of their pant legs. This is where our signature sweatpants with exposed pockets come from. Most of our garments were born in a similar manner – birthed from direct experience or memory forever imprinted in my mind’s eye.
Bristol Studio began as Bristol Cut & Sewn in 2015 as a denim company. At the time I was infatuated with raw denim; I loved the idea that you would wear a garment and over time it would transform, becoming a 1/1 piece that reflected your story. However, I quickly realized denim was not my game – it was extremely challenging to separate myself from the millions of other denim brands on the market. And I didn’t yet know enough about denim or garment construction to make a better product than what was already available. Beyond that, I was missing the personal connection to the clothes, which for me is everything (I later realized).
Some people can create a company that has nothing to do with who they are or their story – for example, a mass-market brand like H&M or Forever21 can create an entire business predicated on lowering prices to beat out their competition. Their business is effectively created out of a need (people who need to pay less for their clothes) and a business model that addresses that need. I learned early on, this is not me. Even with denim, though I loved the aspect of it telling a 1/1 story, that wasn’t enough. I realized if I’m going to wake up every day and build something, it has to be something personal to me – it has to be my story.
So pretty quickly I decided to transition the brand and use it as a vehicle – a diary almost – for recording my story. And that for me is my love of basketball, the sport that changed my life and shaped who I am. This is a game that introduced me to some of my best friends, including my two partners, MAASAI and Jake, who have been instrumental in building the brand. This is a game that taught me how to work hard and lead a team of people. This is a game that taught me some days you win and some days you lose – so never get caught up in the highs of victory or lows of defeat. This is a game that showed me style lives on and off the court and that your manner of dress can be a reflection of how you play and who you are. It showed me the power of style – specifically the style of my favorite NBA players – to inform and speak to a broader social conversation.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been anything but smooth. As discussed in my previous answer, I completely pivoted the business early on. We went from selling denim to being a basketball-lifestyle brand. I had to dig deep into my personal story and my family history for inspiration, which took all my time and forced me to explore parts of myself I never had before. I had a different business partner when I started 5+ years ago and the synergy was not there. I had to navigate that while keeping the business alive.
One of the biggest challenges – and still remains a challenge – is educating people on what we mean by basketball-lifestyle. Because the immediate response is – Nike? Jordan? And yes, those are basketball brands, but those are sport-first brands. We are spirit-forward. What I mean by that is we are inspired and birthed out of the “spirit” of basketball. This is a culture over performance.
A great example is our twice-weekly basketball league that we host in LA. It’s a pick-up game made up our closest friends. And yes, we are playing the sport of basketball, but those two hours are about so much more. It’s about connecting with good people and a game we all love. It’s about being a part of something greater than any one person. It’s about experiencing the spirit of this beautiful game.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I would say our originality. We are willing to take the risk of doing things differently and building a brand that has never existed before. Basketball-lifestyle is not a pre-defined space, we are creating it each and every day.
If you look at our design-language, it’s our own. We are proud that it doesn’t look like any other brands out there. (That’s one of the greatest challenges – selling something original and new that consumers aren’t comfortable with). But we are willing to invest the time and energy into telling our story and showing people why it’s worth buying into and being a part of.
I’m also extremely proud of the basketball community we’ve built. Like I said, our brand is centered around a twice-weekly basketball league. As a small brand, hosting this (renting gym time, coordinating invites, creating jerseys, documenting it) takes a ton of resources – both time and money. But we feel this is as important, if not more so than the clothes, so we continue to put it on. The league makes us no money. But it gives us something far more valuable – a place to play the game we love with the people we are closest to and to us, that’s worth any amount of money.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I’ve listed quite a few already. But I was always happiest and at peace, dribbling a basketball. Even when I was alone, with that ball in my hand I felt totally at home and relaxed in my body.
Other favorite memories revolve around my late-grandmother who grew up in the house with me. She raised me every bit as much as my parents. Actually, the first collection I ever designed was inspired by her and my family’s history. She grew up in Japan during WWII and immigrated to America after. After she passed, I was so inspired by the old black and white photographs she had, but that I had never gone through until that point. I also found an autobiography that her husband (my grandfather) wrote. I never met him, so it was like I was meeting him through the words on the paper. That was the collection that no buyers would support or buy into when I first went to Paris for market two years ago.
In addition to our design being influenced by memory and experience, I’ve been strongly inspired by Japanese design for some time. As a kid, I visited the country often and everything I saw always stuck with me. Then growing up, I immersed myself in it more, researching the rich fashion history in Japan. Many of their signature techniques – deconstruction, raw, imperfection, a-symmetry – really resonate me and if you look closely, you can see in our designs. More than anything, the Japanese take an unconventional approach to “beauty” or at least how we in the West perceive and understand beauty. To me, Japanese design rejects many conventional Western notions of beauty. The result is a body of work that has forced me reflect and question my own understandings of aesthetics and beauty. These are all ideas I try and weave into our work at Bristol Studio.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bristol-studio.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/bristolstudio
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
