IT ISOFFENBACH. NOTPARIS. NEVER WAS.

TWENTY YEARS AGO: OUT OF KASSEL, AIMED AT FRANKFURT, LANDED IN OFFENBACH - WRONG EXIT, RIGHT LIFE. THE AD-AGENCY FRIENDS BACK HOME LAUGHED THEMSELVES SILLY. LET THEM. LEAVING SMALL-TOWN TRISTESSE FOR THE MOST SLEPT-ON CITY IN THE COUNTRY ISN'T A DOWNGRADE. IT'S A PLOT TWIST.

NEW CITY, NO BOSS. THE AGENCY JOB WAS GONE, SELF-EMPLOYMENT WAS ON - AND A FRESH START NEEDS FRESH TYPE. I RUN ON TYPE-HEAVY DESIGN, MARC ATLAN SCHOOL. SAINT LAURENT HAD JUST DROPPED THE YVES: CLEAN SANS-SERIF, CITY UNDERNEATH. THAT CUT DEEP. SO MY NAME GOT THE SAME TREATMENT.

DRAFT ONE: MY NAME SET LIKE SAINT LAURENT, OFFENBACH WHERE PARIS BELONGS. BEFORE I'D FINISHED GRINNING, MAIL TWO LANDED: "DO IT LIKE THIS - OTHERWISE NOBODY GETS IT." IT READ OFFENBACH. NOT PARIS. IT WENT ON THE SIGNATURE, THE SITE, THE BOOK - UNTIL STRANGERS AT GO-SEES CLOCKED ME BEFORE THE HANDSHAKE: "AH, YOU'RE THAT OFFENBACH GUY." A LINE THAT INTRODUCES YOU BEFORE YOU SPEAK? YOU KEEP IT.

ALMOST TWENTY YEARS DEEP. TOP OF THE CRIME CHARTS, BOTTOM OF THE CITY RANKINGS - AND STILL: THE HFG, A YOUNG CREATIVE SCENE, TECHNO THAT MEANS IT, FOOD FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE PLANET, KIEZ LOYALTY YOU CAN'T FAKE. PEOPLE HERE TOOK WHAT THEY WERE GIVEN AND BUILT A CULTURE OUT OF IT. YOU DON'T GET IT AS A VISITOR. YOU GET IT WHEN YOU STAY. I STAYED.

HOW AN ARTIST SEES TRACES BACK TO HOW HE WAS RAISED - YEARS, DECADES OF IT. MINE RAN ON PRINT LONG BEFORE THE CAMERA: COFFEE-TABLE BOOKS, GLOSSY EDITORIALS, THE WAY TEXT AND IMAGE PLAY OFF EACH OTHER. THEN THE 2000S FILMS, BUILT FOR THE BIG SCREEN, BACK WHEN CRAFT AND TIME STILL SHOWED. I DIDN'T JUST WATCH THEM. I TOOK THEM APART: COLOR, CUT, SCORE.

THE PLACES THAT MARKED ME WERE NEVER THE POLISHED ONES - NEW YORK'S ROUGHER CORNERS, NEWARK OVER MANHATTAN, NEVER THE POSTCARD. OFFENBACH WAS THE SAME KIND OF JOLT. FIRST DRIVE IN, FIRST FLAT VIEWING, STRAIGHT OUT OF KASSEL BY WAY OF FRANKFURT - AND EVERYTHING THAT CAME AT ME WAS, PUT MILDLY, VERY SPECIAL. REPELLED AND WILDLY CURIOUS IN THE SAME BREATH. A HASSLIEBE FROM MINUTE ONE.

THE FIRST MONTHS - YEARS - WENT INTO WALKING THE CITY WITH A 35MM ANALOG BODY, SHOOTING WHAT LOOKED RANDOM TO EVERYONE ELSE. LAUTERBORN BEFORE IT VANISHED: PICTURE BERLIN'S GROPIUSSTADT CROSSED WITH A ROMANIAN PLATTENBAU, MIDDLE OF GERMANY - AND MEAN IT AS A COMPLIMENT. THOSE FILM ROLLS STILL COME OUT OF THE DRAWER. THEY'RE THE VISUAL ANCHOR UNDER EVERY SHIRT AND EVERY FIELD NOTE.

OFFENBACH TAKES A LOT - AND GIVES BACK JUST AS MUCH. IT HANDED ME A WHOLE VISUAL LANGUAGE: THE ROUGHNESS, THE EDGES, THE AESTHETIC I RUN ON. IT'S ALWAYS THE PLACES WITH A REAL EDGE - CULTURALLY AND SOCIALLY DIVERSE, NEVER STRAIGHT-LINED OR SAFELY BORING - THAT STAY WORTH IT. EVERY CLICHÉ THIS CITY GOT FAMOUS - INFAMOUS - FOR IS MORE OR LESS TRUE. BUT THE TRUTH SITS BETWEEN THE LINES. POOREST SOIL, TOUGHEST PLANTS.

FAIR QUESTION - AREN'T THERE ENOUGH SHIRT BRANDS THE WORLD DIDN'T ASK FOR? PART OF IT IS PLAIN PRAGMATISM: A TEE IS EASY TO PRODUCE AND A PERFECT CANVAS FOR AN IMAGE, A GRAPHIC, A MESSAGE - BETTER THAN MOST FABRIC OUT THERE. THE FIRST PLAN WASN'T EVEN TO SELL THEM. SMALL RUNS, HANDED TO THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH - STYLISTS, HAIR & MAKE-UP, MODELS, PHOTOGRAPHERS - THE MULTIPLIERS WHO CARRY THE NAME.

PRINT AND MESSAGE ARE HALF OF IT - THE OTHER HALF IS HOW THE THING FEELS AND FITS. SO MONTHS WENT INTO BLANKS AND SAMPLES, CHASING THE RIGHT GRAMMATUR AND CUT. NOTHING FLIMSY, NOTHING THAT FEELS CHEAP IN THE HAND - SOMETHING SOLID AND WERTIG YOU ACTUALLY REACH FOR. 100% COTTON, 240 GSM. BLANK OUT OF BANGLADESH, PRINT OUT OF GERMANY. A SHORTER ROUTE WOULD MAKE A NICER STORY. IT WOULD ALSO BE A STORY.

IT STARTED WITH THE ARBEITSAMT COLLECTION: PRODUCTION PRE-FINANCED, EVERY EURO IT MADE WENT STRAIGHT TO THE OFFENBACHER TAFEL. THAT PATTERN STAYS. GIVING BACK RUNS TWO WAYS - CARRYING THE NAME, KEEPING IT KNOWN AND IN HONOUR, AND PUTTING SOMETHING MATERIAL BACK WHERE IT'S POSSIBLE. WEAR ONE AND YOU HOLD THE SAME FLAG. GOT AN IDEA OR A COLLAB FOR THE NEXT ONE? COME AT US.

RUNS THIS SMALL MAKE ZERO ECONOMIC SENSE - WE PRINT THEM ANYWAY. MAKING REAL MONEY WOULD BE EASY: BLOW UP THE QUANTITIES OR DROP THE QUALITY. BOTH WERE OFF THE TABLE FROM DAY ONE. THIS WAS NEVER A REVENUE MODEL - IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT SPREADING THE NAME. THE PRICE COVERS PRODUCTION AND PACKAGING. THE WORK BEHIND IT NEVER CLOCKS IN.

THIS IS A HEART PROJECT, SO LET'S KEEP IT FAIR. IF A SHIRT DOESN'T FIT OR DOESN'T SIT RIGHT, SEND IT BACK - THE RETURN IS THERE AND WE'RE GLAD TO HANDLE IT. WHAT WE'RE ASKING: DON'T PLAY IT LIKE THE ALGORITHM TRAINED YOU. DON'T ORDER THREE SIZES TO KEEP ONE. CHECK THE CHART, ORDER ONCE. RARE SIZES EXIST IN SINGLE DIGITS - EVERY CASUAL RETURN IS A SHIRT THE NEXT PERSON COULDN'T COP. SPECIALS RUN ONCE AND NEVER COME BACK.