Up until this point brothers Doug and Alex still had regular jobs and everything was done in their spare time, before work, after work and calling stores on their lunch breaks. Things were mental. They realized if they wanted to do this, they had to completely commit to it - and so they did. They quit their jobs and committed to the brand full time. Giving it 110% of their attention, nurturing the wild beast into something more manageable.
The quality issues were ironed out, they found an amazing supplier and moved out of their make-shift bedrooms and into their first office. Luckily, even some people from Australia’s largest surf and skate retailer City Beach had been keeping a close eye on the brand and the ‘Esther Shirt’ managed to make its way onto their shelves.
So much happened Over the next few years, it’s best to summarize. Suddenly, the brothers had entered the fashion world and this meant designing four collections a year to strict time frames. Stress, deadlines and pressure because a part of the daily routine. A typical day consisted of designing ranges 12 months ahead, whilst managing current seasons and simultaneously ordering for the next one. But the team ensured to make sure they had some fun along the way - and threw some wild parties.
Another milestone was designing a first full collection, 'Static Summer', which we are still proud of to this day. This is when the t-shirt company became a brand and introduced cut-and-sew products, a complete female collection and started moving in-line with the seasonal fashion calendar.
As the brand continued to expand, DVNT started to sponsor artists, musicians and even had a skate team! To date, a favourite skate clip is Nathan Watson's clip filmed by Nick Diomis (shown below).
Photoshoots and events began to have teams of people running them, rather than just a couple of mates. The DVNTeam was growing, the brothers soon realized it was not realistic or sustainable to be working 12-20 hours a day, every day! They had to find staff, sales agents, account managers and designers to manage all of the various aspects of the brand.
DVNT continues to expand and launched into new product categories such as denim, pants, accessories, skate-decks and intricate jackets, and stock began arriving in containers instead of satchels.
Our team was growing and we were receiving compliments and fan-mail. Customers were resonating with the brand and what DVNT stood for. The 'take no shit' attitude and authenticity saw people even tattooing the brand or the Molotov logo onto their skin.
Another incredible moment was being able to collaborate with artists that the brothers had always admired. "To be able to work with an artist you have always followed, appreciated or aspired to be like is an incredible feeling" - said Doug. "Seeing all of these insane graphics on the shirts of other brands and suddenly getting to the same level where you can also collaborate with those artists is an amazing feat". DVNT has always tried to work with bands, musicians, skaters or stores that embrace the DVNT values - and choosing artists to work with was no different.
Over the last decade DVNT has collaborated with artists and photographers such as Ben Brown, Matthew Skiff, Stay Bold, Chris Costa, Dale Bigeni, Mateusz Witczak, Will from Highscore Creative, Matt Smiler, Aleksandar Jason, Liam Brennan, Tyler Alberti and Andrew Diprose.
The team has also worked with some well known international models such as Tully Smyth, Nicole Thorne, Thomas Davenport, Chris Perceval, Rhiannon Tragear-Ragg, Lori McKenzie, Joao Forte and Ruby Gunnis just to name a few.
It has been a wild ride and THANK-YOU for sharing it with us. Without your support we would not be where we are today. It will be interesting to see what the future will bring and how the worldwide current situation will change the fashion and clothing industries. But rest-assured DVNT is here to stay and is excited to adapt so we can continue to bring you the best quality clothing and fight the good fight against mediocre.
