A business born from one of Bristol’s vibrant subcultures

A brand born on the site of a former coal mine is paying homage to south Bristol’s place in one of the city’s most vibrant subcultures.

Toby Thorpe started sourcing and selling vintage trousers to his friends at Dean Lane skatepark six years ago.

Against the backdrop of an expanding industry of high-end and high-priced skate clothing, he became aware of the need for hardwearing and affordable garments for skaters to wear.

While selling vintage trousers remain a core part of the business today, Rerun Streetwear has come a long way since flogging clothes at the Deaner.

Rerun Streetwear now hold increasingly popular pop-ups and events – photo by Rerun Streetwear

Toby, 25, has gone from working in a one-bed flat in Brighton to renting an office-space and workshop in one of Ashton Gate’s towering former tobacco factories.

“We were just tinkering around on Depop to start with. After a while of selling at the skate park, we starting doing events and local markets. When we started getting the website going, suddenly I could afford to pay myself a little bit, and my friend Wilf could come on board”, he said.

Toby explained that the national lockdown, although “devastating for some”, produced a sliver-lining for the business with their website sales soaring by 400 per cent.

Success was helped by their innovative harnessing of social media. Rerun Streetwear have taken Instagram reels to a whole new level and have amassed nearly four million views on the site.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV52ASLsgZH/

However, Toby admitted the team has been forced to slow down on reel-producing, saying: “Since we’ve been actually busy as a business it seems a bit ridiculous to spend five hours on a 15 second video. But they actually had a big impact on our website traffic.”

Now, Rerun Streetwear drops new items on its website daily and one-off 90s workwear inspired reworks, created weekly by new addition to the team Frances Herbert.

It runs pop-up yard-sales in Stokes Croft, stalls at St Nick’s Market and skate boarding competitions and events at the Deaner, and has gained a following in countries as far-flung as Belgium, the United States and Australia.

At its core, the Clift House Road based business strives to “give people good quality clothing at a good price, with not too much environmental impact”.

While Toby describes the clothing brand as “inherently fairly sustainable” as they sell used clothing, he wants to work on offsetting the “carbon footprint involved in importing clothing”.

Rerun Streetwear is now a team of three (Wilf, Fran and Toby), but is backed by a whole community – photo by Rerun Streetwear

Beyond their sustainable ethos and social media presence, Toby attributes part of Rerun Streetwear’s success to the tight-knit community at the Deaner, bound by their shared passion and locality.

“We are really fortunate that everyone supports each other in the Bristol skate scene. Another brand that my friend runs calls Bruvver Bristol. Everyone at Dean Lane is wearing the clothes of their friends which is really cool.”

Main photo by Toby Thorpe

Read more: Fundraiser launched to transform old basketball court into skatepark

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