Vol 1: The Introduction

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VOL. 1 Let’s direct our focus to exploring the diverse processes and paths taken by people to get them where they are today. Within a community of creators, sharing wisdom is what helps instigate progress.

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THESE ARE THE

TALES 3

VOL. 1

Editor’s Note

First and foremost, a hundred-trillion thanks to everyone who believes in and supports our vision of empowering creativity and sharing the joys of art. Welcome to the first ever sticker-filled magazine.

The culminating experience that is VOL. 1 was insane!

We began by meeting every night, week after week, to ideate and obsess over art, process and stickers. Realizing that artists are in fact the thought leaders of society, the concept of GROSS as a platform to bring people together while spreading ideas and wisdom took shape.

Those days were fun; naive to be honest. As things progressed, we became completely consumed by GROSS and the opportunity to spread positive influences in a tangible and sticky way. Throughout the process, we’ve met incredible personalities, been humbled and learned a few things that we’d like to share: Gratitude is cool.

Persistence is crucial.

Make it, don’t fake it.

Please enjoy the features and have fun with your new supply of stickers. Tag @gross_mag in pics of where you slap ‘em!

Much love, Kevin and Victor

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VOL. 1

Table of Contents

AARON DE LA CRUZ (40–45) BAILEY MILITAR (108–109) BARNEY COOLS (92–93) CASEY GRAY (72–77) CHASING ROOFTOPS (70–71) DALLAS CLAYTON (106–107) ETAI RAHMIL (102–105) GATS (96–101) JASPER WONG & POW! WOW! WORLDWIDE (122–127) JEREMIAH KILLE (22–27) JESSE CORY & DAN ARMAND OF 1XRUN (62–67) NAT TAUBMAN (88–91) NEW YORK SUNSHINE (38–39) NTEL(114–115) O.TWO (84–87) ROMAIN LAURENT (78–81) SERGIO GARCIA (6–13) SHANNON & THE CLAMS (18–21) SLIKS (14–17) STICKS & STONES AGENCY (28–35) TRE PACKARD & PANGEASEED (46–51) TYLER SPANGLER (56–61) VARIOUS & GOULD (52–55) WINSTON SURFSHIRT (116–119) YOK & SHERYO (110–113) 5

Unfiltered

Sergio Garcia

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Unfiltered

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Sergio Garcia

Unfiltered

Sergio Garcia

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Story #2

I parked it outside of my place and the craziest thing was that when I went out in the morning, his radio was jacked too. It made me look like a crackhead. Like dude, what was happening?!

What would you consider your first big break? Maybe a “Mom, I’ve made it!” moment?

I won a juried show curated by an assistant curator of SFMOMA and it definitely was a tipping point for me.

It was a really, really weird scenario; almost like a movie. My car broke down a few months before the show.

One of the gallery owners here in Texas, a really good friend of mine, would let me borrow his ride a lot. Another one of my buddies had a shop I would airbrush cars for and he had an extra Honda Civic that he let me borrow one time. Literally on the day that I borrowed the Civic, I went inside a store, came out and the whole dash was gone. It was probably two hours into me having this car, so I called him and was like, “Dude, you’re going to super hate me man. The whole dash of your car is gone. There’s no A/C and no radio.” Meanwhile, I had to drive one of my tricycle sculptures down to the juried show in Houston, Texas. The way it worked was that first place got $5,000, second got $2,500 and third got $1,500. I ended up borrowing the gallery owner’s Chevy Tahoe to drive it down there. On the way back I asked the owner if he wanted me to bring it back. He said, “No, just keep it for the night.” I parked it outside of my place and the craziest thing was that when I went out in the morning, his radio was jacked too. It made me look like a crackhead. Like dude, what was happening?! People were going to think I was pawning radios or something.

The next week was the juried show and I really, really needed that bread to buy a car. I was hoping I would get at least third so I could buy a bucket; just roll it and I’d be super stoked. So anyway, I was trying to make it to Houston for the show and there was major traffic. I finally made it into this huge parking garage with all of these levels and went running down the stairs just trying to make

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it. The show had already been open for a couple of hours, so I was hoping I didn’t miss this juried part. I didn’t even really know how it worked. So anyway, I walked in and I knew my trike was already on the flyer; but they also had name badges with my trike on them and a Houston newspaper with my trike in it, which was weird. I got in line to get a beer and I heard, “Okay ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to announce the winners.” It couldn’t have been any more perfect. You could feel the tension in the room. Maybe it was just me because I was praying, “Let me at least get third. I could really use this bread.” The guy announced third and second, and it was kind of a dick move, but when he started saying, “Normally, you don’t put the winning piece on the flyer,” it was really quiet and I yelled really loud, “YES!” You could tell everyone was like, “Fuck that dude,” but I was just so stoked! I sold that one, a different collector wanted to commission a piece and another person wanted one too. It ended up being this big break that worked out — a tipping point.

Brother From Another Mother Making the decision to attend SJSU at age 30 to earn your BFA, what was it like to be the “old guy”?

HaaaaHaaa the old guy! Yeah, I was the “adult learner”; the annoying guy that was really interested in the content that the instructor was delivering. I was always inquisitive, raising my hand and asking questions. You know, it was a really great experience going to school at 30. I felt like I was there because I wanted to be, not because my parents sent me or because that’s what you’re supposed to do after you graduate from high school. Because of my age, I had really great relationships with the faculty, as well as the students. For me it was a good path. Had I gone to college directly after high school, I would have partied my way out.

Jeremiah Kille more and to push my work. Being an artist can be competitive whether people want to admit it or not. I try to go to openings in the city at least once a month. I always find that being around other artists’ work inspires and motivates me; that’s something that can’t be experienced in a small town like Santa Cruz, at least not on the same level. Honestly, in a perfect world I’d have a studio in Santa Cruz and in San Francisco, and split my time between both every week.

I can guarantee that any of the great masters were dedicated to their craft and set schedules to continue to hone their craft; that’s how one becomes great at what they do.

Grad school?

I was really wanting to go to grad school because somehow in my mind it made me more serious about my work and I wanted to push it to the next level. My adviser and other faculty told me that I had too many stylistic interests, and that I needed time to paint more and to develop a style. I was told that technically I was ready, but my work needed to mature. Luckily at that time, I had a mentor early on that had a very prolific career as an artist. She asked if I wanted to go to grad school so that I could teach and my answer was no. She said if I want to be a studio painter showing at galleries, I should just paint and forget about grad school. I took her advice and I’m glad I did because based on my instructor’s advice, I’d still not get into a graduate program. Eight years later, I’m still bouncing around stylistically. It’s something that I’ve had to come to terms with about myself.

Difference of being an artist in a place like Santa Cruz, California vs. San Francisco?

Well I think there’s benefits and drawbacks to both, and I’ve never lived and produced work living in San Francisco, so I can only speculate. I’d say that there are a lot of natural elements that I’m surrounded by living here in Santa Cruz that influence my work. Those same outdoor influences directly affect my productivity as an artist. I love painting in my studio, but when the surf is good, which it often times is here, there’s a big pull to ditch work and get a surf in.

When I think about being in the city where there’s a vibrant art scene, I think I would be motivated to produce

Early successes in art, first paid gigs, shows, big sales?

Fortunately, I experienced early success, otherwise I might have chosen a different path. Since the early good fortune, I’ve experienced a lot of highs and lows as an artist; it’s not the easiest profession by anybody’s standards. Luckily, I’ve stuck it out over the years and now it’s starting to pay off. Things are becoming more consistent in terms of shows and income.

I have to make mention though, my first painting I sold for a sizable dollar amount was when I was still in school and I owned my surfboard business that I was running full time (sponsoring a team of about six guys).

I was juggling full-time school and a business, which is what going to school at 30 means I guess. I was hanging work in Verve Coffee Roasters in Santa Cruz and someone approached me about my work. To this day, it was one of the only pieces of work that I’ve grown attached to, and I didn’t want to sell it cheap, even though I hadn’t sold before. I gave them a price that the piece was worth to me and they bought it.

That’s when I decided to pursue art and shape surfboards more peripherally.

Talk about the importance of having a distinct style.

Is the grass greener on the other side?

Haaaahaaaa, gosh that’s a topic that I’m constantly thinking about. I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that I’ll most likely never settle into one distinct style or subject matter; I just have too many interests. I think of art in terms of my music taste. I like a lot of different styles of music.

I’ve never been the guy that only listens to punk, hip hop or any other genre of music for that matter, and the same goes with art. I love different periods and styles of art. I actually think it’s a bit asinine to want an artist to produce the same style of work for an entire lifetime.

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Brother From Another Mother

Jeremiah Kille

I actually think it’s a bit asinine to want an artist to produce the same style of work for an entire lifetime.

However, when art becomes a commodity and becomes about money, then yes, it makes sense. If you buy a Jackson Pollock and hang it over your mantle, you want to make sure that your dinner guests recognize it as a Pollock. That all being said, yes, it makes some practical sense to me on a business standpoint, but I decided to be an artist to do what I want when I want. The other side of the coin in terms of how this applies to my art is that if I had a distinct style, I’d have three times the amount of work floating around (within any one style of mine), which would translate into visibility. A big part of being successful — in my opinion as an artist — is repetition; that’s why companies put up the same images and messages on billboards. It’s about repetition and being noticed.

Walk us through the process of a painting.

Plan or let it flow?

This is one area where I think my work suffers. I learned in school to do preliminary sketches and make constant iterations of those sketches until you work out the compositional problems. It’s much easier to work on a sketch pad and see the entire composition rather than what I’ve often times done, which is just launch into a 96” x 72” canvas. I guess that’s my impulsive nature. I get excited and just want to start painting. I’m going to spend some time thinking about my work as a whole body, and what message and content I want to get across. Part of that will be working on small preliminaries with iterations to work out compositions.

Ultimately, even if I have some kind of plan for a painting, I never stick strictly to a script. A painting feels dead and lifeless to me if I plan it out and then execute it to a “T.” I need room to play around and cover things up.

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Layering is a large part of what I do and that can’t always be planned; there needs to be moments of spontaneity in a painting for me.

When you’re at a block, what do you do?

There are definitely times when I don’t want to sit down and paint, and there are times it certainly feels like a job. In those times, historically, I’d go for a surf or blow off the day drinking beers in the redwoods on my mountain bike. More recently, I’ve been telling myself to shut up and paint because more often than not, I get into a groove after sitting down painting for a little while. Knowing this, it’s been getting easier to sit down to paint even when I’m not feeling inspired. I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions of artists and creative types. I can guarantee that any of the great masters were dedicated to their craft and set schedules to continue to hone their craft; that’s how one becomes great at what they do.

Yeah, I was the “adult learner”; the annoying guy that was really interested in the content that the instructor was delivering.

Jeremiah Kille

P H OTO : P RO JEC T G A L L ERY

Brother From Another Mother

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Brother From Another Mother

Jeremiah Kille

R KE

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Have a Nice Day

Sticks & Stones Agency

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Have a Nice Day

Ainsley, who wears the pants?

We take turns. If I feel like wearing the pants, I just give Sebastien a morning BJ. After that I can get him to agree to anything. :) Talk to us about the transitions from clothing label to fashion agency to current state.

One day while we were peddling our own clothing brand, the owner of a boutique mentioned she was looking for someone to take over her role as sales rep for a huge Australian label. The next day, Sticks & Stones Agency was born and within 12 months, we had 12 established, well-known brands under our banner. At some point we decided to quit our own label since it looked like shit hanging next to the other ones!

Then we decided we needed a blog since our Instagram was gaining followers at a rapid pace and we had started making our own content. Out of nowhere and within days of putting this idea out there into the universe, we were offered a free website in exchange for some advertising. In July of 2014, www.sticksandstonesagency.com launched. We quit fashion entirely by the end of that year. Now here we are. :)

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Sticks & Stones Agency

Sebastien, who wears the pants?

I like it best when we both wear no pants.

What occupations have you held in the past?

I was a social support worker for a long fucking time.

Looking after homeless youth and doing personal care for disabled adults helped shape me as a person. Real shit 101, you know. It doesn’t get more real than helping someone in their most vulnerable state. I am currently ⅓ barista, ⅓ Sticks & Stones and ⅓ housewife for Ains.

Describe your dynamic. What do you bring to the table when working with Ains and what do you let her control because she’s better at it?

I feel like I bring “me” to the table. I think my official title is housewife. She is the IT department and I am the arts and crafts section. Over the years we have learned to maximize both of our ideas instead of fighting for our own individual ones. She is an amazingly hard worker and I tend to fuck around with paint and ideas.

Somehow we make it all work. She is my god.

I worship her vagina!

Have a Nice Day

Sticks & Stones Agency

Best methods for managing chaos?

Good, healthy sex life. Yoga.

Acceptance, less resistance.

Breathing. Less worrying.

More trusting. — Ainsley

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Have a Nice Day

Sticks & Stones Agency

R KE IC ST

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Frothy Dunkers

New York Sunshine

Sharp styles, clean courts and soft ocean tones.

R

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Win by 2 or til high tide

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Frothy Dunkers

New York Sunshine

newyorksunshine.com @newyorksunshine

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Impeccable Let’s hear about your youth. What drew you into the arts culture?

When we first moved to Fresno, California, I was five or six, and hung out with older kids. My brother, who is seven years older than me, and his friends would watch over me. They were breakdancing, skating, biking, all this stuff.

These guys would roll around with a can of spray paint and go tag things everywhere. I remember thinking how cool it was that you could just go around and do what you want to be creative, like go spray paint your last name everywhere because that’s what my brother did, you know, De La Cruz. One time he took me to the side of the freeway and he drew a huge Batman logo. I remember thinking, “Wow,” and I didn’t know about the legality. I was just impressed that he could do that. I think I really became attracted to the idea of art and making it on a big scale at that young age. At that time, I wasn’t spray painting graffiti, I was just hanging out with these dudes who were doing it.

As I got older, the next thing I knew, I was leading the graffiti among my peers in 7th grade; that’s when I hit it hard. Around that time, my brother got into drawing buildings and I was competitive, so I wanted to draw buildings without using a ruler to make straight lines. My brother would also draw skate ramps and now he works in architecture. We regularly talk about how big of an influence he was on me.

I think in the past couple of years, I’ve really started to talk about my interest in structure and form; actually building a structure with my art and using it as interactive space. If it wasn’t for my older brother, I probably wouldn’t be involved in art. I was going out and doing it fearlessly at that younger age because I was surrounded by it.

Aaron De La Cruz

My parents knew what the other people were doing, so they didn’t care if we were out doing graffiti illegally. They told us as long as we did well in school, we could do our graffiti because they knew what we could have been doing instead .

Okay, so a lesser evil.

Yeah, exactly, a lesser evil. I think that’s kind of how it was perceived by my parents. As long as my grades were okay and we didn’t get caught, nothing else really mattered.

Meanwhile, all of my friends were getting heavily involved into gang culture — doing drugs, selling drugs, shooting at people and breaking into houses.

Did you guys ever get in trouble?

No, dude. At that time in Fresno, it was really country. It was off of 99 and Shaw, and we were surrounded by big orchards and cows out there, so it was kind of like a freefor-all. I never got in trouble. My brother would tag more for the skate mentality, like a huge 8 ball with two crossed skateboards. We reappropriated all of the things you would see on decks, like De La Cruz instead of Santa Cruz. It wasn’t really an act of vandalism, but more for the act of graffiti. Meanwhile, all of my friends were getting heavily involved into gang culture — doing drugs, selling drugs, shooting at people and breaking into houses. They would say, “Let’s not go to school. Let’s go break into a house and just sell all the things we take.”

We talked about how a lot of your friends were involved in gang culture, but did you know any other people who were involved in art?

No, that’s the funny thing. I had one or two friends in high school that would go out and write together, but I didn’t really have any other friends who were involved in it. No one in my family really did art either, but I think that’s one thing that made me want to do it; the fact that from day one everyone said things like, “Don’t do it because there’s no point,” and, “You’re going to be poor.” They just couldn’t see the future because none of them had done it. All of my friends who were into the whole gang thing were always talking shit, but because we had this history of growing up together as kids, they knew who I was. We were still homies because we all knew each other before we got to that “hard” phase. I think that’s where my confidence is rooted — I was doing this as a loner.

My parents were both field workers. They never had the luxury of education, which I think is why we value it so much. When I was 15 years old, I met an art teacher who encouraged me to take art classes in high school.

She told me that she was going to make sure that I went to college. I think that’s one instance that got me involved in education. I met educators who saw what I had and they fostered my learning, which was really good for me.

That’s really fortunate. Tell us more about your connection to education.

Yeah, it was awesome. My godmother is really into education and she helps kids at a city college get into UC schools. I think that’s where my mentoring inclination comes from. As a young kid, I had reading problems, so I would teach younger kids how to read, which helped to better my own reading skills. I carried it on when I was in college and after graduating by working in education for 10 years.

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Impeccable

Gratitude is part of this payback mentality I have where I owe it to education and educators that pulled me away from what I could have been doing and helped get me to where I’m at now.

I find pleasure in educating through art and did it for 10 years strong in Oakland, California for K-12. Even now if a student hits me up, I’ll stop whatever I’m doing and write however much information I can to acknowledge them because I know how important that was for me.

I think graffiti is best when it’s illegal; that’s why I don’t consider myself a graffiti artist, although some people think I am.

So, you were a teacher?

I taught after-school programs for three years at California College of the Arts (CCAC) and then after receiving my bachelor’s, I was able to teach. I moved over to a field called professional development and informed teachers on how to integrate art into the curriculum. I was working a lot in the educational field, but I felt like that was just one hat that I was wearing — the other being my artwork. Even though the school knew about my art, and all of the kids knew I had a graffiti background and wanted to learn, I couldn’t teach them. I learned by doing, and you have to mostly learn it on your own to create your own styles. I just always felt that I would never teach graffiti in a classroom. I think graffiti is best when it’s illegal; that’s why I don’t consider myself a graffiti artist, although some people think I am. I’m not out vandalizing shit, but I respect it. When I see people doing it well, and they’re creatively crushing it, props, but yeah, I’m not really doing that anymore.

Graffiti definitely has a lot of ambiguity to it.

Especially nowadays. Now kids are seeing artists like Kaws and all of these other amazing people making tons of money, and they instantly think, “Wow, I’m going to do this, get famous and make money off of it!” I guess that’s kind of cool in a way, but it’s also kind of fucked up. If you get in the game just for the money, it’s going to plateau and end so fast, since the money isn’t always there.

For me, it’s the fear and idea of doing something new; that fear drives me, but when there’s money involved, it isn’t the same. You can’t change for the money because if that’s what you’re doing art for, you’re just going to get bummed out fast. With my work, I know what people want to see, but if I only did the exact same thing every time, it’d probably drive me insane and I probably would have stopped years ago. You have to keep pushing and trying new things. From a graffiti perspective, it was just about getting up and trying to get to the most hard-to-get-to spots; that was the thing that I wanted to do and there was no thinking that I could do graffiti for a living. It’s just kind 43

Aaron De La Cruz of crazy that young kids are getting into graffiti and art like a sport, wanting to be famous.

I still get blown away by the fact that I’ve been doing this full time and that this is how I make my living.

It’s scary, but I’m very fortunate to be doing it.

What is one of the weirdest ways that someone has categorized or tried to describe you?

Everyone says that my art feels very Mayan. When I was a kid, my dad gave me a book on Pre-Hispanic art.

He would tell me, “These people are your ancestors. This is who you look like.” He would always point to the Aztec calendar and say, “See the big wide nose? We’re like the Olmecs; that’s why you have a big, wide nose and that’s who you are.”

So I’m pretty sure this style is ingrained into a lot of my work because I saw it repeatedly as a kid.

One thing that pisses me off about my work, which still happens to this day, though I’ve accepted it and now use it, is when people say, “Oh man that’s an awesome painting, but it would make a great textile, rug or bed sheet.” At first I was just trying to paint and have it be accepted as a painting, but people always want to take it and make it some type of decorative thing.

For me, it’s the fear and idea of doing something new; that fear drives me, but when there’s money involved, it isn’t the same.

Habitually Happy

Tyler Spangler

Draw your workspace.

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Habitually Happy

Tyler Spangler

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever recieved?

Try not to make your work so crazy.

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Scrupulous Talk to us about your average day. Do you switch it up? Does doing the same thing every day hurt your creativity?

It can be really difficult to motivate yourself when you’re a full-time artist and working for yourself. There’s no one else forcing you to work, so if you don’t, nothing gets done. But my typical day hasn’t really changed much, there’s just more to do than before. After an hour or so of administrative work, emails, etc., I crank up the music in my studio and try to get into a rhythm. I pretty much listen to techno and deep house music all day, as it lets

Casey Gray everywhere and was like, “Oh shit, what the fuck?

That’s cool.” It was like a coming out party in a way, like boom, school’s over, big solo show took off and I’ve been nonstop ever since. It was that night that made me think I might actually be able to have a career as an artist.

Okay how about your first career accomplishment?

Any “I’ve made it” moments?

Uhh, I mean I still don’t feel like I’ve made it, but there are a few highlights. I did a solo show at an art fair in London a few years ago that was fun. Juxtapoz did a 12-page feature on my work not too long ago, and that was exciting considering I’ve been reading that magazine since I was like 13 or 14 years old.

Casey's map of San Francisco drawn below.

my mind flow without getting too caught up in vocals and stops. In my old studio, I used to thump loud as fuck to a point where I couldn’t even hear myself talk or think. I can’t do that anymore since my current studio is sort of a communal environment, so that’s the biggest change after moving here. Another change is the fact that I’m stuck in this little, white box instead of my cavernous warehouse. Being in my new studio, I can see my work getting a lot more calm and not so psychedelic.

Tell us a bit about your first official gallery show and what was going through your head when the doors opened.

My first significant group show was in San Francisco and it sold really well, which was pretty surreal for me at the time. The next day, the gallery owner offered me a solo show that opened right after grad school ended. I wasn’t there when the doors opened because I got stuck in traffic and showed up late, but I walked into that gallery later on and saw all of these red dots 76

Scrupulous

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Casey Gray

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Step 1 Step . Go to sh 2 o myst . Enter co p.grossm ery p a ack i de 42069 g.com n you f r duf or a stupi fel, h ahah d a.

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What was school life like for you? Were you a party animal or more of a down-tempo dude?

What does your high school GPA tell us about you?

I was better at doing funny pranks on people than I was at sitting through class. I guess not much has changed haha. I wouldn’t say I was a party animal; that came later in life. I grew up salty as a margarita. You couldn’t get me away

Describe one of your first career accomplishments, and what you think enabled the success. One of your major failures and what led to the catastrophe.

Tough question! I suppose being able to break a brand (Zanerobe) into success in the USA would be quite an achievement, especially as our Australian market is quite different. We’ve managed to maintain growth in both markets, which is quite a juggle.

A major failure would probably be when I was overseeing production and we had around $200,000 worth of shirting come through with incorrect sleeve measurements (they were massive, like pirate sleeves) haha. I didn’t sleep for about a fortnight, until we negotiated to have them cut and made into short sleeve shirts.

Luckily, short sleeve shirts were in demand at the time.

What is currently on your physical desktop?

Computer desktop?

I can’t see my computer desktop because I’ve got 15 half-written email windows open haha! My actual desk is littered with samples, fabric swatches, sunglasses and Pantone books; that, along with four dirty coffee cups and empty mineral water bottles — pretty much a shitsty.

You’ve been getting your brands into some big-name shops. What’s that like for business? How has it changed the vibe of your office(s)?

These big retailers are the reason we’ve hit the ground running. We’ve been able to maintain the culture in the office by hiring people that fit in.

The main difference is that we’re under the pump

How about your parents? What did they do to aid you in all of this?

My mum was so supportive of everything I did as a teenager and I’m super thankful for this, as she allowed me to organically find my creative alignment with fashion. She also taught me to sew, which was important in the beginning.

Is there something you do or rely on for inspiration/motivation?

I’d say I heavily rely on nostalgic and retro/ vintage revisions of trends; this has been the platform for a majority of casual streetwear for so long. However, with activewear and technical fabrications starting to get a grasp on all aspects of apparel, it’s exciting, but also scary to have to be more experimental and innovative to keep up with these modern trends.

After leaving university, how did you land at Zanerobe?

I was working at a cafe in Sydney while at university and the owner of Zanerobe used to live next door. I got a foot in the door as a junior, after serving that prick soy lattes for a year hahaha.

from the beach and the surf. I was there before and after school, any available hour.

What details do you look for when personal shopping?

Being entrenched in the industry, I get to see so much product from various amazing brands all over the world, so I’m quite desensitized as to personal shopping in regards to apparel. It’s usually something I see that is completely random, wild or innovative that catches my eye.

Of late, I’ve been obsessed with size 5XL T-shirts (5x size XL) haha. They are like muumuus!

How do the Zanerobe heads feel about you starting Lapse and Barney Cools?

They are super supportive of everything I do. We are all mates. Zanerobe distributes Barney Cools in Australia and the USA, so we work together quite closely on logistics, warehouse and sales. In Sydney, my Barney Cools team shares a head office with Zanerobe and we all get along like old mates.

During the seven plus years that you’ve been with Zanerobe, how has the menswear industry evolved?

Menswear has evolved massively. I remember in the early 2000’s when guys were quite primitive in what they wore, and it was tough for guys to be experimental or different without copping it from “the boys.” Now with the innovation in menswear design, trends and creativity, the pride that guys take in their appearance is huge. This is amazing as it gives designers much more scope, flexibility and parameters when designing to challenge or educate consumers.

more than ever. We still fit in a game of table tennis every now and then, but it’s nowhere near as regular as it was.

Ol’ Mate

Nat Taubman

You’re going on vacation and can only fill your pockets, what is coming with you?

Sunglasses and cash (I’m assuming I’m already wearing swim shorts); that’s probably all I need to get into holiday mode.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee, and NoDoz (caffeine tablets) if required for late nights on a deadline.

Do you have super powers? How good are you at predicting the future?

I can talk to horses. I don’t exactly know what I’m communicating, but it must be positive or possibly flirty, as they come to greet me!

Describe a purchase that maybe you shouldn’t have made.

I bought a life-sized, fiberglass penguin for the office — those things don’t come cheap either.

91

P H OTO S : ENDL E S S C A N VA S

Sincere GATS

100

Sincere

101

GATS