In Ireland, you are never far away from a Taxi man with a political opinion and a huge urge to share it….. Well today – by my scientific reckoning – you are never more than six feet away from a bit of Superdry clothing either. You know Superdry clothing even if you think you don't. Look around: on the bus there'll be someone carrying a rucksack with Japanese writing. On a rush-hour train several suits will be wearing a lightweight jacket with too many zips. Turn on the TV and Jamie Oliver will be ripping up some basil for Sainsbury's wearing a checked shirt. Your guy in the local Centra is wearing a vintage-looking T-shirt with a huge number printed on it, which looks familiar but doesn't appear to mean anything. These are all Superdry clothes: sporty yet not technical; designed but not designer.
Superdry was set up in 2003. Julian Dunkerton, who owns SuperGroup, already owned a brand named Cult Clothing that sold vintage-looking, skater-ish clothing and logo T-shirts to students in cities such as Galway, Dublin, Limerick and Cork. One of the labels that Cult stocked was Bench – a skater brand known for its hoodies and T-shirts. When Bench's founder and designer James Holder left, Dunkerton approached him and ta-da the Superdry clothing baby was born.Since then the label has consistently outperformed the competition. It is the label most likely to be worn by a papped celebrity carrying a Starbucks. David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Neyo, Ben Stiller: celebrities all the way down the food chain to Cheryl's ex-mate Derek Hough are willing to actually pay for it (a feat in itself in the celebrity world of "gifting"). Superdry is a modern sartorial phenomenon. And yet it still flies under the radar.
And we here at NoPolka.com are dedicated to bringing you the latest trends, styles right to your door step, so we knew Superdry would be the perfect fit for our site. The appeal of Superdry clothing is hard to pinpoint, in some part owing to the broadness of its reach. It can't be put into a neat fashion category, as other high-street labels can. Zara fits into a box labelled "catwalk trends on the cheap".
Superdry clothing lives within a messy Venn diagram. It's sporty in a way that appeals to people who like the idea of snowboarding but who don't actually go; it's faux-vintage and authentic for those who don't like rifling through rails of second-hand clothes. It combines Americana with Japanese fonts, yet the company is based in Cheltenham. Its branding is a masterpiece, huge statement logos and tags, without being offensive or in your face. So with all that being said, I have put some of my favourite piece together from the latest range available on NoPolka.com.
Enjoy, Niamh xx
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