ALC Apparel

I first came across ALC Apparel when a friend suggested it as the place in Wellington to get my tattoo done a few months ago. Entirely confused by her suggestion I was intrigued at the idea of a tattoo parlour/ fashion retail store combination and booked myself in to be inked. When I arrived at the store, I was greeted by custom street/skate and tattoo art designed skateboard decks lining the walls, racks clothing designed in the same line, a tattoo station covered with past designs and inkspiration and the friendly faces of the ALC staff. Im a huge fan of tattoos, once you get one its near impossible not to get more and while I currently have six, I have five more ideas I cant wait to proceed with and even if I hadnt already decided to return to ALC to have my sixth inked, looking through their previous work and their specialisation in pin-up girl tattoos cemented them as the only place to go. While women with tattoos used to be stereotyped, theyve become more widely accepted thanks to reality TV shows such as Miami Ink and celebrity influences and surprisingly its the over 50yr old women that are the fastest growing demographic for people getting their first tattoo. The most common location being the ribs thanks to the likes of Megan Fox. Every time I get a tattoo, its a little f*ck-you to anyone who tells me not to. I like the way getting a tattoo feels. If Im depressed, its nice to get one and deal with the pain.Im not kidding when I say that if I ever lose a role because of my tattoos, Ill quit Hollywood and go to work at Costco. Everyone hates them because people are so closedminded about tattoos Megan Fox Around 80% of people who come in for tattoos have a design they love and admit it freely but there are a small percentage who feel they have to justify their choice, as if it is a requirement of getting a tattoo that there be a deep meaning behind it before etching it permanently onto the body. Today the tattoo I was having done was a design drawn up by a friend of mine- a naked bondage girl with a complementary quote to accompany it taken from Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet which references the intensity of passion. While the design was minimalistic, Cam Elgar one of ALCs tattooists was able to replicate shading from a photo that brought the girl to a reality I couldnt have foreseen.

Cam taught himself to tattoo while doing art and design at Massey University when friends in the industry encouraged him to pursue tattooing as an art form but he did it the hard way and highly recommends an apprenticeship for anyone wanting to get into it. Simon Morse, another of ALCs artists came from a background of comic art before setting up Illicit in Auckland, hes only been in the tattoo business for a year with ALC but already has established himself as a brilliant tattoo artist with repeat customers and the walls of the tattoo area of ALC itself covered in his designs. Tattooing is awesome because its not for profit. Youre not drawing something for someones company to make a profit from it, people ask you to draw it because they love it. Back in 1998, Guy Coney took a look at the numerous cheesy surf focused brands and seeing a major gap in the market, founded A.L.C Apparel. I just wanted to make something a lot more raw that reflected our party/ skate lifestyle. I had no idea it would grow this big. Influenced predominantly by skating and tattooing, Coney also draws a lot of inspiration from music and all the amazing artists he and the team at A.L.C are able to work with such as Simon Morse and Jarad Bryant and a recent work by Melbourne tattooist Ian Christensen triggered in him, a new breadth of ideas. As well as their own inhouse brand Alcoholic Clothing, A.L.C Apparel also stock a range of other brands such as Krew, Obey, Hellz Bellz, Black Market Art, Fallen, Supra plus a bunch more including an awesome new Australian Clothing brand called Afends. In our Headquarters store, we only stock brands that we think are leading the way in raw streetwear fashion. In an rare stolen moment from selling the Winter 2011 range on the road, I caught up with Guy Coney, founder of A.L.C Apparel to chat about A.L.C Headquarters and philosophy behind its inception. I saw on your site the La Familia page are these people who are part of the ALC franchise, contributing artists or people that ALC support? The La Familia page is a little out of date. But its basically all the guys we sponsor. Were about to add all the artists that contribute to our Artist Series Range as well. Do you prefer to go by ALC Apparel or Alcoholic Clothing? A.L.C Apparel is our brands name. We like that only our more core followers know what it stands for. Who is the ALC shopper? i.e. their motivation, their attitude, look, need etc? Its tough to define the classic ALC shopper because the brand seems to have such a wide appeal. Of course Skateboarders are a main focus. And also all the tattoo style guys & gals. But so many other types of people are getting sick of all the mainstream branded bollocks out there. And are looking for something fresh and different. Maybe thats why the brand is growing so quickly. Are there any plans to open additional branches of ALC around New Zealand or perhaps internationally? We dont have any real plans to open more stores at the moment. But we are stocking more and more stores around NZ and Australia. Weve also just done our first international co-lab tee with Black Market Art Clothing over in the states.Its pretty amazing exposure for us all over North America. I see from your news page that youve participated in the Hutt Valley Tattoo show, and the Decked Out skate art exhibition, are there any other events youve put on or participated in? Our Headquarters store is always participating and putting on exhibitions and events. Weve already done a whole bunch of instore exhibitions with the Artists featured in our Artist Series of clothing. And tattoo conventions/expos are always on the cards. We have booths booked at the upcoming Lower Hutt, New Plymouth and Hamilton Tattoo shows. Our 3 tattooists Simon Morse, Ali Reid & Cam Elgar are always keen to travel to shows. ALC supports some phenomenal skaters on its website are these ALC staff or just great guys you want to lend support to? We put a tonne of time and dedication into the skateboarding part of the brand. We have a fully sponsored skate

team who are constantly shooting photos for magazines, travelling for skate demos and competitions and who film full length parts for the skate DVDs we release. Were the only NZ brand to have released several full length DVDs and are currently filming for a third. The A.L.C skate team is Joseph Whaanga, Mat Kinsman, Karl Truell and Adam Kinsman. We also have several other guys who are on the flow team. Which is kind of a stepping stone to becoming a full team member. The lads have gotta prove they got what it takes before fully hook them up. The guys at ALC Headquarters in Wellington really have the experience and the artistic capability to produce briliiant artwork. Theyre creative and insightful and know tattoo art inside and out. The end result of my forearm tattoo was one even more detailed than the photo Id taken in. Cam utilised an immense amount of shading over the three hours it took to complete and it turned out far better than I could have imagined. Take a walk along Cuba Street and visit the guys at ALC Headquarters, whether its to rifle through their racks of skate and tattoo art inspired streetwear or to talk to them about designs for your very own tattoo. The friendly faces of Guy, Cam, Simon and the effervescent Jen are at hand waiting to help. Check out the NZ and Australian ALC retailers here. By Rhonda Snelgar