Gary Aspden
In Conversation
AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURIE PEAKE
Born in Darwen, Lancashire, Gary Aspden is a brand expert specialising in building and positioning brands with an emphasis on creating connections between brands and popular culture. He designs and curates the adidas Spezial capsule collection for adidas Originals.
ADIDAS SPEZIAL EXHIBITION SCHOOLS PROGRAMME, BLACKBURN COTTON EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2019, PRESENTED AS PART OF BRITISH TEXTILE BIENNIAL 2019.
PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TYMON
LP
You are Darwen born and bred, how do you think it's shaped your identity and outlook?
GA
The answer to this could be an essay!
As I have got older I have learned that Darwen has an incredible history but, growing up here as a teenager, in the 80s it was very limited when it came to culture and entertainment. This forced us to create outlets for that ourselves. Blackburn had cinemas, arcades, teenage discos and concert halls but, beyond the local youth club, Darwen had nothing. Me and my mates were a multi-racial gang of working class youths so it was very dangerous for us young Darweners to go into Blackburn back in the mid 80s due to the violence and racism.
Acid House appeared to put an end to all the racism and the violence between different areas of Blackburn and Darwen almost overnight - despite being demonised by the local and national press at the time.
We found Hip Hop - primarily through breakdancing which led to us becoming the best crew in Lancashire and we travelled all over the UK performing. After breakdancing lost its popularity we got into Acid House - another cultural movement and one in which Blackburn was at the epicentre. Acid House appeared to put an end to all the racism and the violence between different areas of Blackburn and Darwen almost overnight - despite being demonised by the local and national press at the time. Our lives centred around clothes, music, girls and football. Clothes were essential to the identity of myself and my peers, and my career has been informed by my personal experiences as much, if not more than, my formal education. I did my Foundation in Art at Blackburn College but some days just getting to and from college was like running the gauntlet down there. After an intermission of a few years, I went on to get a First Class Honours Degree in Fashion Promotion from UCLan as a mature student which has served to validate and package my knowledge to people who may not share the same reference points.
LP
As a designer for adidas, you work mainly in London and travel the world but live in Darwen. What does the area offer you, as a creative, and what potential do you see here?
GA
My time is split between Darwen and London - where I also have a house. I didn’t graduate until I was 28 years old and for many years I was London based where I established my career and reputation. In recent years I have engineered myself into a position where I can spend more of my time living and working out of Darwen. The graphic designer and photographer I work with on the adidas Spezial range I curate are also based here.
The area and its lack of pretence continues to be an ongoing source of inspiration to me.
Sadly, there is still a distinct lack of cultural activities in post-industrial towns all over the UK. These places offer huge potential but need investment. Culture, if given the opportunity to develop, will eventually drive commerce.
I personally believe that the historic north/south divide in this country is now being superseded by the divide between the major cities and the provincial towns. As Manchester and Liverpool have demonstrated, culture is an essential touchstone in economic regeneration alongside practicalities like better transport links. Despite there being cities with bigger populations, Manchester is regarded as the UK’s second city and this was arguably kick-started by the culture that has been born out of that city.
Sadly, there is still a distinct lack of cultural activities in post-industrial towns all over the UK. These places offer huge potential but need investment. Culture, if given the opportunity to develop, will eventually drive commerce. Darwen has a booming night time economy that has been driven by music venues like Sunbird Records and Bar 39 as well as the Darwen Live festival. These have all been set up independently by local people and have risen out of empty shop spaces in a high street that has been decimated in recent years. These venues have arguably been key in kick-starting a whole new lease of life for the town. They can only continue to thrive if there is acknowledgment of their needs and support from local councils and government. This kind of investment isn't easily quantifiable but it is necessary.
Creativity has a great opportunity to thrive in provincial towns as there are not the financial demands of the major cities
Creativity has a great opportunity to thrive in provincial towns as there are not the financial demands of the major cities - it's very difficult to be an aspiring artist or musician if renting a studio space is super expensive. This situation creates a scenario where the creative industries become solely the preserve of those who come from wealthy backgrounds which I personally believe to be really unhealthy. As history has shown us, the best art is rarely born out of comfort zones.
ADIDAS SPEZIAL EXHIBITION, BLACKBURN COTTON EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2019, PRESENTED AS PART OF BRITISH TEXTILE BIENNIAL 2019.
PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TYMON
LP
Your Spezial collection includes a line of trainers named after places in and around Blackburn that are worn all over the world. Why is that and what's the story behind those names/places?
GA
I choose those names because they are as good as anywhere else and deserve to be celebrated. I guess it's an acknowledgement of how my experiences growing up in this area have been intrinsic to what I do, plus, on a practical level, those names tend to be easy to clear legally which is very convenient!
ADIDAS SPEZIAL EXHIBITION, BLACKBURN COTTON EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2019, PRESENTED AS PART OF BRITISH TEXTILE BIENNIAL 2019.
PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TYMON
LP
You launched the Blackburn shoe here in Blackburn in October 2019, as part of the British Textile Biennial alongside the largest exhibition of vintage adidas shoes ever staged. Why was it important for you to do that? And why did you choose to do it in Blackburn Cotton Exchange?
GA
I had tried to do an adidas shoe in 2015 that used the Blackburn name but couldn't get the name cleared by the adidas Legal team. A couple of years later, I met with the local council after they invited me to come in and discuss the regeneration of the town. I told them about the Blackburn trainer idea and they said they would do everything in their power to help get the name cleared should we ever decide to revisit the idea. When we finally did they, along with Blackburn Rovers, were crucial in getting the green light on the usage of the name. Once we got past that I suggested to adidas that we should use the shoe as an opportunity to put something back into Blackburn hence the idea to make a limited run of the adidas Blackburn SPZL Nightsafe edition to raise money for the charity. Nightsafe were struggling financially, which for me is unacceptable given the incredible work they do with homeless young people in Darwen and Blackburn, so I wanted to find a way to try and do something about that.
I sincerely believe that what we did in choosing to do an activation with a major global brand in Blackburn over a major city was nothing short of visionary.
It was great that the shoes captured people’s imaginations in the way they did. I would like to say we chose the Cotton Exchange because of its historical significance but in truth it was because it was offered to us and there was nowhere else that could bring that scale that was that central to the town. It’s an incredible space but it brought its own set of practical challenges (rewiring electrics, building toilets, making provision for disabled access, etc.) but in overcoming those challenges we left the venue in a better condition for future events, although there is still much more that could be done there.
Getting the necessary funding from various sources to get the Spezial exhibition off the ground was challenging and could never have happened without the initial support from Laurie Peake and the team from the British Textile Biennial. I sincerely believe that what we did in choosing to do an activation with a major global brand in Blackburn over a major city was nothing short of visionary. It went against the current metropolitan marketing approach of adidas (and most big brands) but there was sufficient trust between my team and the company that adidas eventually got on board and supported the idea. Investing in an event in Blackburn was arguably a gamble for adidas but it was a gamble that paid off with the overwhelming response that the exhibition received on so many different levels.
We were concerned as to whether the infrastructure and footfall in Blackburn town centre could support the event. In major cities, you get a lot of visitors through passing footfall which was a concern in a town with a significantly lower population that doesn’t bring in many people from out of town, especially on weekdays. To remedy this there was a comprehensive education program that ran through the weekday mornings and an entertainment program of concerts and films for a number of the evenings. We pulled in a host of people including Dynamo, Goldie, Primal Scream and Blackburn comedian, Tez Ilyas. We made these events as accessible and affordable as possible and created the opportunity for new local talent (DJs, bands, sound systems, artists, etc.) to support and work with these established names. Our thinking was that these names would draw further interest and footfall to the exhibition itself with people having to collect wristbands for admission from its reception area.
It turned out that, whilst the entertainment programme created a lot of additional excitement, the success of the exhibition didn’t depend on it in the way we had originally anticipated. The exhibition in and of itself pulled in so many visitors from all over the U.K. and overseas - including the US, Asia and a number of different countries in mainland Europe. adidas is a brand that has such resonance with generations of youths, predominantly from the working class, all over the UK and this project felt in some ways like an acknowledgement of that. It completely energised the town and was hugely beneficial to many local businesses.
Jefferson Hack summed it up better than I ever could, ‘Conscious, purpose-driven marketing is the future of brand experiences; what Gary Aspden and his team have done in Blackburn may seem out of the box but it’s totally in the zone because they are pioneering a grass roots revolution in empowering youth culture. Community driven activations in a region that is so neglected brings an authenticity and sense of connection to adidas that money cannot buy.'
Community driven activations in a region that is so neglected brings an authenticity and sense of connection to adidas that money cannot buy.'
ADIDAS SPEZIAL EXHIBITION, BLACKBURN COTTON EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2019, PRESENTED AS PART OF BRITISH TEXTILE BIENNIAL 2019.
PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TYMON
LP
During BTB, you bumped into your old art teacher and it was quite a moving meeting. What part does/did art play in your life and career?
GA
My art teacher was a lifesaver at school - I won a scholarship to go to a very academic school in Blackburn where art was not seen as a priority subject at the time. I didn’t enjoy much of my experience in secondary school but art was the one subject I was really good at. My art teacher, Regina, was so encouraging at a time in my life where I felt pretty discouraged, unsettled and displaced. It was great to track her down and meet up with her after all these years - it was like ‘see I got there in the end, didn’t I?’
I sincerely believe that if a kid has creative energy and that creative energy isn't acknowledged and harnessed then it can become destructive. I have worked in and around the creative industries for many years but I neglected making my own art - there are reasons for that neglect but it’s a long story - there is nothing like making art purely for the sake of doing it and, in some ways, for my own wellbeing. This last year I have actually begun picking it up again and drawing and painting for nothing more than my own pleasure. It has so many benefits - I find it meditative and a great antidote to the stress of my work.
We broke a lot of new ground and it’s a project that I am very proud to have played a part in. I regard it as the highlight of my career to date.
It was also great to reconnect with other people from my past like Tommy Smith and Tony who were instrumental in the original Blackburn warehouse parties that I attended as a youth. They brought a great spirit to what we were doing and having their involvement in a number of the events was invaluable.
We broke a lot of new ground and it’s a project that I am very proud to have played a part in. I regard it as the highlight of my career to date.
ADIDAS SPEZIAL EXHIBITION, BLACKBURN COTTON EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2019, PRESENTED AS PART OF BRITISH TEXTILE BIENNIAL 2019.
PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TYMON
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