It’s been a not-so Lazy ride….Founded by Gemma Shiel from a North London Garage in 2001, Lazy Oaf is a design-led lifestyle brand with a history of doing things our own way. What started with hand-printed T-shirts sold from a stall in East London has now become an established independent brand, celebrating creativity, collaboration and community first, and the commercial bit second (sorry bank balance).
We’ve spent 20 years building a family network of creatives and collaborators who have helped shape the brand. We are inspired by a love of youth subcultures, streetwear, nostalgia, and most importantly a sideways glance at life. There are no pretensions and we don’t follow trends, instead we thrive on our instincts and what feels right for us and our community. We aren’t here just to make clothes, we are here to support and reflect our culture, use our platform for the stuff we care about, and do the right things for us and our community. We started from a DIY beginning, learning fast and making all the mistakes along the way, and we put that spirit into all that we do.
Our humour may be lowbrow, but our products are carefully crafted and built to last. We are anti-fast-fashion. Sustainability and social responsibility are massively important to us and are a constant work in progress. We take our time (about a year) to design and develop the best products, creating about 400 styles a year, unlike fast fashion giants who do double this a week! To minimise waste, we produce a limited quantity of 150-250 of each style alongside factories that we have long and responsible relationships with. Once collections are ready for the world, we shoot the campaigns in-house (mostly) then launch them in our stores, on our app, and online in weekly or bi-weekly drops to keep things fresh and interesting. We are a Direct2Oaf brand, you won’t find us anywhere else.
Lazy Oaf is driven with conviction and resilience - we have survived floods, fires and now a global pandemic. We know that growing a brand is a bumpy journey and we want to continue evolving and adapting, challenging ourselves to do better, remain original, stay connected with our communities and continue to nurture our culture, ensuring we are doing the right thing for our team, the planet, and all our peoples.