16 October 2008 No Comment by sirdorian

It´s not Chanel, it´s 5Pre View!

Emeli and Diego are just two people (one from Sweden, one from Italy) who love to design tshirts and print them by their own hand. Their “one of a kind” products are taking over the world since acts like The Teenagers wear them and get photographed.

Since Henry Holland came up with a celeb related shirt collection, this piece of textile came back in fashion (ok, it never runs out of). It seems that innovative and good shirt designs can open the door into the fashion World.

5Preview are still underground, but music artists like The Teenagers or video directors like Francois and Jonas (Justice and Madonna) wear their stuff and help them in this kind of way to spread 5Preview all over the world. In 2008, their stuff is available in 20 stores around the planet and online shops as well. I talked to Emeli from my new favorite tshirt label who is only working with black prints currenty. They are simple but good – here is what she wants to tell us…

How did you like the Diesel xXx party last weekend?
In Milan it sucked…we just stayed for an hour but everything was too big, bad music, too crowded…I’ve seen pictures from other locations and there it seemed a bit more “hip” but Italy is always so Iatalian (and so is Diesel).

Any plan to design for companies like H&M or Topshop for something like a ltd special edition?
We’re doing a collaboration with swedish Weekday for s/s 09. They were bought by H&M last year for a lot of money but keeping their “underground” style. The founders are some of the few people in fashion business worth to look up to because when they started Cheap Monday the were without budget and now you find them all over the world!

When is the spring/summer collection gonna hit the stores?
After christmas I guess.

Your weblog is very good if you wanna get an inside look of your production and whats going on in the world of 5Pre View. So would you say that it´s a must nowadays to set one up if you are an independent designer?
It’s easier to manage than a website (as you can see our site is still “under construction)…and blogspot + google is walking hand in hand so when people search on our name it always comes up a lot of stuff. 5preview started as a coincidence-project and I think it’s interesting that people can follow the whole process.

You are also doing djing, so it seems that you have good connections to the music scene. So how does it happen that bands like Teenagers get the 5preview shirts? Was it a gift for them, or have you known them before?
We’re not DJing but it seems like everybody else does! Quentin from the Teenagers asked some shirts from us and we gave them to him, then he showed up with other that he bought (I guess)…They are friends of friends (as everybody in this Facebook/Myspace world!)

Guerilla stores are taking over the world at the moment, since Commes de Garcon started out with them, or better, they made them popular. So in which ones are 5preview shirts available?
We sell in approximately 20 stores around the world and some online shops. You can also get the shirts directly from us. Thats the easiest and fastest way. No guerilla stores for us right now. We both have fulltime jobs so 5preview is kind of a hobby and we have to organize the distribution by ourself, it’s a lot of work! you can’t imagine!

What things inspire you?
Friends that are making faboulous clothes, travellling (just sitting and thinking on a train), music (of course), fonts, drawings, sketches, old posters new posters…some classic desiger logos (hehe)…

How many people work in the production and what kind of print do you prefer?
It’s just the 2 of us. The shirts are made in a tailorshop in Abbruzzo in the east of Italy, then handprinted and distributed by us. I love the new Marc Jacobs inspired “Preview by 5preview”-print because its kind of sophisticated and also the Black Flag print because I grew up with their music…

How many pieces do you produce in every collection?
It’s just one T-shirt. The first collection is 9 prints the second one 7 prints. both are avaliable because we still have so many recquests from the first collection. Now we’re making bags and hoodies as well.

The gorgeous designer of Komakino are friends of yours, your also celebrate parties with the likes of Matthew Stone. So do you like the dark side of art & fashion?
Of course! 5preview is not that dark but we are! If you check out our wardrobe the most colourful pieces are melange or beige! We’re a lot more commercial than Komakino that are really courageous with their almost nazi-looking s/s 2009…Another friends is the label SKURO based in Rome ;really dark, just white & black everything oversized…also the new label VICTORIAN UNCUT with really nice (and commercialy working) pants and simple printed oversized T-shirts. You can find all those on Myspace.

Your home base is in Rome. Is Rome a good place to start with a brand and how’s the fashion scene there concerning the independent ones?
The labels I mentioned before are all based in Rome, but thats about it! But in Italy there is nothing new, they’re still living with the idea that they’re avantguarde in fashion and design but from the mid 80’s nothing interesting was created in this country…Maybe I’m a bit hard with the italians but as I’m from Sweden I see the country with fresh eyes, and the nordic fashion scene is a lot more intresting (maybe a bit predictible). I work for a big commercial italian brand for a lot of years and I think the italians are good doing that (Diesel, Sixty, Replay etc) not creating new things.

And your future plans?
A small 5PW collection, simple as the T-shirts, not oversize but with some interesting cuts.

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Text and Interview by Sir Dorian