I understand that, I truly do, and I don’t begrudge anyone not willing to spend that on a t shirt, I was one of those people too. The real problem lies here with how the fashion industry has gone over the last 10-15 years and the consumers (us) willingness to let it happen.

A term that is banded around so much at the moment is fast fashion. What this essentially means is inexpensive clothing rapidly produced by mass-market retailers in response to latest fashion trends. Primark, I’m looking at people like you here!

If we’re honest with ourselves, we know we’re buying crap but if it’s £5 a t shirt do we really give a shit? If we ruin it, who cares, it was only a fiver, I’ll go get another one, right? How places like Primark can do this is by outsourcing all the work to factories more than often somewhere in Asia, where the working conditions are not as good, the wages are terrible and the workers are treated like numbers, not like people.

When we buy that £5 t shirt, we never give a thought to what went into making it, we’re just happy that we have something new to wear; got to love those endorphins! I’m not asking you to stop buying them because I sure as hell won’t but if we try and reduce it then these businesses will have to look at their business model and maybe we can bring about some good change.

So why me? Well because our manufacturing is done in the UK, so we keep the jobs here. I know the staff are treated well and their working conditions are immeasurable much better. Our fabric comes from a UK supplier, once again keeping us UK folk in a job. It all comes with a cost but if we can give someone a job, is it not our right to try and do so?

Now onto the main issue, most people think £60 for a t shirt still sounds unreasonably high. Well here’s a breakdown of my costs and if you still think it’s too high then maybe you’re right and I’m trying to fleece people for too much. Vote with your feet, if you don’t like it don’t buy but if you do, you may have taken the first step into changing this industry forever.

 As you can see the making of one t shirt probably costs more than most of your high street t shirts. These costs don’t factor in if you take advantage of our free returns which would add a further £4.40, my time and effort, which I currently value at £0.00 or the fuel costs, our manufacturer is 20 miles away so I drive there and pick them up and then drive another 10 miles to get the embroidery done before driving them 30 miles back.

So roughly 100% mark up if we leave out my costs and returns? I don’t think that’s too bad, I have to make a profit somewhere.

If you support what we’re doing please go ahead and buy something, follow our social media pages, ask someone you know to get you that special gift. Who knows, in the future our prices may come down but to do that we need to be selling what we have. We’re here to stay and we’re going to fox things up.

The post I like it but I’m not paying that! appeared first on Big Fox Apparel.

Currently we are a one-man operation; I do this in my spare time while I juggle a full time job. Standard office 9-5, soul sucking, boredom inducing job, but it pays the bills, so it’s not all complaints. In whatever spare time I have I’m here, doing this. Design decisions, ordering materials, delivery driver, marketing, invoices, order processing, tea making and anything else you can think of, I probably do that too.

So why Big Fox?

I, like so many others these days, am a larger fella due to my love of alcohol and shovelling food into my face. I don’t make excuses for my size and neither should you. I’m fat and I’m ok with that and if other people have a problem with it, it’s just that, their problem.

One of the perks of being a big man is the endless joy of scouring shops and the internet for some material that covers those lumps and bumps and still looks good. My problem has always been that I find something I love but surprise, surprise they don’t do anything larger than a 2XL, if you’re lucky. I don’t mind a slim fitting shirt, but I wish the fashion industry would stop expecting men who are 2XL to look like The Rock when we look more like James Corden. If you’re going to offer a slim fitting 2XL, then do some bigger sizes for us to slide our bellies into, so we can look good as well.

In the end I thought f*ck it, if no one else is going to do it, then why don’t I? That’s where we come in! The first thought was for a plus size men’s range but that quickly changed to an all-inclusive range. If I wasn’t going to offer small sizes, then I’m no better than any other fashion brand not offering larger sizes.

Then came the name, Big Fox. I wanted something to reflect what we do but still be somewhat marketable. So, we are Big Fox, for big f*cks. Embrace your size and don’t give a fox what anyone else says. Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength, then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it and it will never be used to hurt you.

Why should I buy from you?

Great question and one that can only by answered by you. I can give you the information as to why you should but what you do with that information is your choice.

1. We’re based in the UK, Newcastle specifically and we try and source all our materials from the UK, local to the north east if possible. I can’t guarantee everything is from the UK but I sure as hell will try. Fabric is sourced from a UK company and always will be but at times it may be small things like a label or button where it’s just not viable but we will try to be as transparent as we can.
2. The manufacturing is done in the UK. We use a small independent manufacturer close to home who try and use staff that have been out of work for some time. Mainly older women who have usable skills but because of the skillsets they have and their age they find it more difficult to find work.
3. We use models who look like real people. If you’ve had a look round, you’ll see that our model is not what you’d typically see. That’s me! Research shows that most people want to see real people modelling clothes. No one ever looks like the models in the adverts so how can you judge what something will look like on someone who’s not ripped to shreds with washboard abs? I’ve got a great set of man boobs and a gut to match, that’s what real people look like whether you like it or not. 61% of adults in the UK are overweight so why do we try and hide it?
4. We promote body positivity and mental health. There are some great things happening around body positivity at the moment but if you look the majority of this is for women. That’s great and so it should be happening, but men suffer too and because we are not as vocal about it, then it’s not seen as a big as a problem that it actually is. There lies the issue, silence. Men need to open up more. Suicide is still the biggest killer in men under 50s and that’s just ridiculous. I can guarantee that someone you know is suffering and more than likely you don’t even know. The stigma around mental health is slowly breaking down but so much more can be done. We want to shout it from the rooftops. Help is out there but the first step is to admit to yourself that you need help.

I could ramble on for days and I’m sure there’ll be more posts but for now I think that’s quite a lengthy introduction and congratulations if you made it this far. The last thing I’ve got to say is, go buy some stuff! You owe it to yourself to look and feel good.

The post Who the FOX are you? appeared first on Big Fox Apparel.