|
|
Scoots, Suits and Boots
Scoots, Suits and Boots,
brings together the best in
Mod
Clothing, Retro clothing and
the most stylish range of scooter clothing on the market.
Their
inspiration is the melting pot of styles, cultures, music and
ideals that makes the current worldwide scootering scene so
vibrant, whilst at the same time managing to stay somewhat
subversive and underground.
Here Digger
talks to owner Mick about
Scoots, Suits and Boots
Digger: Please tell us a
bit about the background to Scoots, Suits and Boots Mick.
Mick: I previously set up a builders merchants business. I
spent 12 years growing the business before eventually selling
it.
For a couple of years I continued to work for the company that
I had sold to, but the passion I felt for the business
disappeared once it became my "day job". In comparison the
extra time, and for a while the money, enabled me to pursue my
passion for scootering and its associated "scenes".
I already knew from my attendance at scooter rallies and ride
outs just how engaged folk where with the "scene" and that
Mods and skinheads in particular had an enduring passion for
clothing and "looking the part". Obviously, it helped that I
totally empathised with them!
So what happened really was a meeting of two passions, the one
for scootering culture in all its myriad forms and a
re-ignited passion for business.
The company has been trading online for two and half years,
and is going from strength to strength.
Digger: What is the main business for Scoots, Suits and Boots?
And what are the most popular lines?
Mick: Scoots, Suits and Boots .com is unique in that it
combines stylish riding wear with the clothing and footwear
that the fashion conscious scooter rider wants to wear. We
stock a mixture of well know brands such as Ben Sherman
alongside smaller, often new, clothing brands such as Art
Gallery Clothing. In terms of best selling lines, its Corazzo
on the riding wear side, and on the fashion side of things its
footwear, whether it's Ikon, Dr. Martens or Delicious Junction.
Digger: What is your passion for this sixties music and pop
culture?
Mick: I have quite eclectic tastes in music, but my journey
really begins with the Punk and New Wave movements of the
mid-late Seventies.
As a school boy I would regularly curl up under the bed covers
listening to John Peel on the "tranny",... back when the
sentence referred to a radio!
Then as I was leaving school, the Mod revival and 2-Tone
movements where in full swing, and I think both movements
blended Sixties influences with those of the Post-Punk era. My
number one favourite group of all time were The Jam, and I
think they demonstrated that point better than anyone.
That in turn led me to explore those influences, both
musically and in terms of fashion.
As I say my tastes are eclectic, but over the years I have
developed a passion for Northern Soul. It's a little ironic
really as back in the Wigan Casino era I just wasn't open to
it all. Even when I had joined the Mod movement and I
developed a healthy interest in Motown, I was still largely
ignorant of the Northern Soul scene.
It was only later that I discovered the joys of hearing tracks
one after another, that you had not heard a hundred times
before, and the therapeutic effect it had on my jaded ears.
Mick at work and at 'play' at rallies and events
Digger: Why is retro, and particularly Mod music and culture,
so enduring in people's minds?
Mick: My thoughts are that there is something quintessentially
British about the way that certain fashions and music have
been adopted by the Mod movement. By that I don't necessarily
mean that all the music and clothes are British, but rather
that we have this way of taking influences from other
cultures, often mixing them up, and then creating something
that we can relate to.
In turn that created a basis on which the British music scene
has built on since. Today's bands might say they are
influenced by The Who, rather than saying that they are
influenced by Blues music, even though The Who where
influenced by the Blues.
Digger: What are the most rewarding things about what you do
at Scoots, Suits and Boots?
Mick: The most rewarding moments are the simple ones really.
It's when we get emails from customers thanking us for our
service and when folk place nice testimonials on our website.
We work within a community and we can only be successful
really by adding some value to that community. Obviously we
want to make a profit, but we firmly believe that you only get
out of life what you put into it in the first place. Our role
is to provide style and fashions that our customers may find
difficult to get hold of otherwise, and then get that clothing
to them quickly and at an affordable price.
Then hopefully if we hold up our side of the deal, we will be
rewarded by having a successful business.
Digger: Who are your 'typical' customers, where are they
coming from and what sort of comments and feedback are you
getting from them?
Mick: Our typical customer are predominantly in the 35-55 age
group, and are mostly male.
This comes as no surprise to us really as we target a customer
base that is interested in scooters, the Mod scene and the
skinhead scene. Many of our customers would have been involved
in the Mod revival and the scooter scene in the years since
the 80's.
That's not to say that we don't have customers who where
involved in the original Mod scene as I know from various
telephone conversations, and relationships built up on forums,
that we most certainly do.
The encouraging thing is that their does seem to be renewed
interest amongst youngsters for the fashions etc. but sadly
most cannot afford to buy classic scooters, and its that love
of those machines that seems to be the most enduring aspect of
many sub-culture scenes.
Digger: Is The Net making a big difference to you?
Mick: Well in our case it made all the difference !
We only trade online, well except for trading at scooter
rallies etc., but apart from that I think that we are
experiencing a phenomenon in which for the first time masses
of people can indulge their passions and interests without
feeling that they are at odds with the rest of the people
around them.
What I mean by that is that since the Internet revolution, and
the social media aspect in particular, people have realised
that their are far more people who share their interests than
they could have imagined. In turn it has enabled those people
to gather together socially, and feel part of something that
they thought they had left behind.
Digger: What do you hope to achieve in the future at Scoots,
Suits and Boots?
Mick: Our aim is to become the number one destination for
people who are confident enough to count themselves as part of
one of our uniquely "British sub-cultures". I don't use
British in a jingoistic manner, our customers come from all
corners of the globe and they are drawn by a love of the
sub-cultures that formed on our little island.
I suppose you could say that we aim to become the "ASOS" of
the counter culture!
Mick and friends 'back in the day'
|
|
