Shirt Heads: Ranks
What do you do when you want a shirt featuring your favorite musician but it either doesn't exist or a vintage one—if such a thing exits—costs more than Greece's national debt? Well, you do what Ranks did and set up a label making the shirts you've been lusting after all these years. We spoke to the brains behind Ranks, illustrator Daniel David Freeman, to see what other new concepts they'll be introducing to the realm of t-shaped shirts.
Vintage accessories
VICE: So, how'd Ranks come about?
Daniel David Freeman: I was doing some work for Mixpak, the record label, and I saw that they'd done a t-shirt with Vybz Kartel on it. I'd never seen anyone do dancehall t-shirts before. I know Stüssy Deluxe brought out those Greensleeves ones recently with more of the old reggae vibe, but otherwise no one had done dancehall. So once Jamie and I had found some decent covers of records that we liked we were off.
You're super into old vinyl, right?
Yeah, definitely. That was the thing with the metal tees, actually, because that wasn't necessarily really about liking the bands on the flyers, but more about being younger and going to hardcore shows in London and getting, like, ten flyers shoved into your hands at every show you went to. Another idea for the next collection was to do a Sun Ra one and there's this guy called Salah Ragab, an Egyptian jazz musician, and I wanted to do one of him. So yeah, jazz-based, but with more of an afrofuturist feel, because I love all of the imagery associated with those artists.
I've definitely never seen afrofuturist t-shirts before.
Yeah, making t-shirts that we can't find anywhere else is a big part of it, actually. Like, I'd love a t-shirt with Salah Ragab on it but you're never going to find it anywhere.
Vintage accessories
Is the whole brand supposed to have a bit of a nostalgic feel? With the Guess-like logo you had before and using all the old artwork, etc?
Well, we're not allowed to use that logo anymore, Guess told us off. But no, I don't think it's trying to be retro, it's more just picking up on things we like—a Buju Banton t-shirt one day and a Nuclear Assault, Metal Mania, or a Sun Ra t-shirt the next. Nowadays, when people ask you what kind of music you like, we all say "everything"—which is true for most people—and, well, Ranks is kind of an expression of that.
Dan has an exhibition next week if you want to go and check out his work IRL.
PHOTOS: DANIELLA MAIORANO
STYLING: SAM VOULTERS
MODELS: HALUK AT STUDIO BOYO, MOLLIE
TEXT: JAMIE CLIFTON
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