paperpac

paperpac

today i met up with marcus rise to have a chat about his new menswear brand, paperpac.

dorrian: what is paperpac and how did it come about?

marcus rise: paperpac started about six months ago now, the main sort of idea of it was to start up a contemporary menswear street brand. but i didn't want it to be just a brand, i wanted it to be a lifestyle. so the main aspirations for it later on in life is to do events, parties, seminars. i started to notice the youth in london are very ambitious and very creative, everyone was starting to do their own things in their own specific fields whether it was art, music, sport, fashion and i wanted to make a lifestyle brand that represented that for the people that have no dough but a lot of ambition. the whole paperpac name, i'm quite into the rat pack, that old school style of swagger, sinatra, nat king cole, dean martin so that's where the pac side of the name came from. paper is just another word for money on the street so i brought the two words together and created paperpac.

d: is it just yourself involved in paperpac?

m: at the moment, it's just me but as it starts to progress and i'm going to look to get other people that are experts in their field involved to build up the brand.

d: is it predominately a menswear brand?

m: in terms of the brand itself, it is predominately a menswear brand, at the moment it's more streetwear driven so it's only t-shirts, hats, i've just got a sample made now for a shirt but i mean where i really wanna take it is very tailored, very limited. streetwear's good but me personally from the sort of style i prefer is a basic, stripped back look where it's staples of the menswear wardrobe, a nice suit, clean shirts, in terms of the designs on the t-shirts not too worked out so that's where i want the brand to go. i want to fuse streetwear and a contemporary menswear brand so not too dissimilar to what i'm wearing now.

d: where do you get your inspiration from? is it from the street?

m: i tend to get inspirations from all over the place to be honest. i got into fashion about three years ago and that's in terms of really getting into style, different silhouettes and how menswear is done. i get inspired by music videos, artists, people like kanye west, who has been a big influence. the time i started getting interested in fashion was around the time he started coming up and he is now seen as a style icon. i get inspiration from art that i see. magazines are a big, big inspiration for me because i literally just hoard, and buy magazine after magazine. it's weird because i seem to buy women's fashion magazines as opposed to a menswear magazine as it draws more out of me in terms of inspiration.

d: one thing i noticed about how your website differs from other brands is that it not only has the products for sale but you also share editorials that you've seen, youtube videos etc, how relevant do you think blogging is to the fashion industry today?

m: well blogging is as relevant now as any other media format because now people like bryan boy, tavi, denni the chic muse, what they're saying on the blogs, people are really listening to. blogs have sort of become the new newspapers, the new way to get what's happening and it's not too restricted because at the end of the day, anyone can put up a blog and you put your own thoughts out there and usually those thoughts are what the nation is thinking so there's no overheads and there's no-one censoring it. it's very organic, it's freedom of speech. so blogs are more relevant now than ever, more than other media source at the moment.

d: do you think blogging is a good way to get into the industry and to get your name out there?

m: definitely, why not? because at the end of the day, it's all in your hands, you can start up a blog today and within five, ten minutes you can put your thoughts out there. for instance if you want to get into styling, you can style your shoots, take the pictures and put them up on your blog and draw people into it. whereas back in the day, the only way your work would get seen was if it was in a magazine but now you can take your dreams and ideas into your hands, go out and do it guerilla style and put it onto your own space so i think it's a great way to break into the industry.

d: as well as selling on your website, have you found stockists for paperpac products?

m: yeah, i've found a stockist in rivington street in shoreditch called the wholesome store. they're a streetwear store that cater for big brands and small uk brands also. they're really trying to help small businesses and small brands, like myself, get set up and get out there and have a format for selling clothes as opposed to just selling them out the back of your car or just to your pals. the boys down at wholesome have done amazingly for me, they've really helped me out and they really believe in the brand and where i'm going.

d: have people been receptive to paperpac so far?

m: yeah people have been really receptive, more so to the caps that i've done because everyone's sort of going back to that retro, l.a. style of the snapback caps. it's as well as to be expected, the website's just come out, people are starting to hear about it. hopefully people will be as receptive to the cut and sew that i've got coming out and the small transition already that the brand is going to have. i'm really happy with how it's going, the main focus and the whole point of paperpac, is to motivate more young people to get out there and achieve their goals. if you want to be a stylist, go get those clothes today, take those photos today. if you want to be a musician, get your demo tape done, do it, that's the whole idea behind paperpac. it's about getting people to try break into these industries where it's very hard, the fail rate outnumbers the people that succeed. but we're the people that are going to be running these industries in ten years time, i feel if i can be a part of motivating the youth today to do what they want to do, i'll be happy.

d: what's the dream?

m: the dream? i suppose the dream is in years to come when people have looked on the site and been inspired by it and the brand itself and can say, paperpac and marcus rise were a big inspiration in where i am now and obviously, to be filthy rich, to live comfortably and support my family. the dream in ten to fifteen years, is to be one of the leading menswear brands, to be somewhere. the whole thing is that when i'm gone, i want people to see me in the same light as someone like alexander mcqueen. the mark that he left was immense and it will never be forgotten. he's probably my biggest icon in terms of fashion, bar none, he was a genius in the true sense of the word. from his shows, to the fabrics he used, the detail in his garments, it was all more relevant to me compared to your old school fashion houses like chanel. so to be anywhere near him, i'm laughing.

www.paperpac.co.uk

dorrian