BU x Urban Industry Q & A
After a week away from the Q & As we're back in business with Urban Industry, a great store from the South Coast of the UK!
BU: Where, why and when did Urban Industry begin?
Urban Industry: Me and Vicky started Urban Industry back in July 2002, the store opened in November 2002 and we switched live the webstore in May 2003. The store's home
is in Eastbourne on the south coast of the United Kingdom. Probably like most store owners we thought our local town could do with some quality street wear!
BU: Who or what does Urban Industry represent?
UI: We've always wanted Urban Industry to represent the freshest street wear, clothing, sneakers and accessories. The main thing though was that we want to be accessible to people that don't read the latest hype blogs or the
right magazines so having premium brands is equally important as having slightly more mainstream brands to tie it all together.
BU: Where did the name Urban Industry come from?
UI: The idea behind the name is to describe the how taking our pastimes and passions like BMX'ing, skateboarding, graphic design, filming etc etc can be
developed into a small business and developed and built like any other big business. I liked the idea that a proper business could come not from going to university and learning about it but from a grass roots approach and from
doing what we liked to do.
BU: Urban Industry has had a lot of custom graffiti work done to the store, how did that start?
UI: We have 3 big windows at the store and when we had a few brands come down to do stock booking appointments it often came up that we could do something cool for the store using the windows. Eastpak stepped up first with German
artist Kabe and after that we had Butch from the Attai Press to do the front window. We also got Matt Sewell in to do our changing room doors which look great.
BU: Is there anyone else lined up for more?
UI: Not presently as we are moving but we have talked to a few brands for future collaborations
BU: What do the header graphics on the website represent?
UI: nothing too in depth, most of them are cool visuals that some of our brands have produced, we try to keep them fresh and may well do some seasonal banners as we go.
BU: What can we expect from Urban Industry in the near and far future?
UI: We're right in the middle of the 3rd move in 5 years at the moment. we're the gypsies of the street wear world! We're moving to a much bigger warehouse and shop fitting a destination boutique store into the warehouse
itself. We're adding in features like a small kitchen so we can serve customers coffee while they browse the goods. Lots of things in the pipeline including a Hip Hop Mix CD with Evil Ed, an underground UK producer and dj plus we're developing our our label. lots on the go!
BU: Urban Industry looks like one of the few stores in the urban/street scene that makes an effort to cater for women, is there a lot of interest?
UI: we're re-looking at our womens offering at the moment as in the UK womens fashion is going through a super cheap period where high street stores are pumping out cheaper and cheaper items. We can't compete with the more
expensive brands we carry and it seems women aren't that interested in the brand rather the look.
BU: Who is your target audience?
UI: I think our target audience is anyone who wants something different from their fashion and clothes, any age from 16 - 60. We have one 80 year old that likes Addict records bags and has bought 3 in the past year! We try to
appeal to the people out there interested in the off centre, anything out of the mainstream, something that has a story and a background.
BU: What word or phrase sums Urban Industry up best?
UI: The independent shall inherit the earth.
BU: and finally... what makes Urban Industry really stand out from the crowd?
UI: Hopefully the design and style that we put into our web store and forthcoming, new shop. The fact that we're not fashion snobs or elitest.
we're stocking the cool brands but we're still totally accessible for customers who are long standing street wear buyers or to the person buying their first Stussy t-shirt.
Many thanks to Dan at Urban Industry for his help with the Q & A.
Find out more about Urban Industry on our store page.
