Dear Friends,
For the past 24 years, I have obsessed over product. From materials to construction, I’ve been consumed by the pursuit of quality, attempting to produce goods that transcend a particular season, trend or time, and stand in the face of throwaway-ism. In 1996, this passion led me to open a modest production management company called CYC Design Corporation. We served the Japanese market, an audience who, at the time, were ahead of the rest of the world in their appreciation of these attributes.
Japanese demand for the work we were doing afforded us the opportunity to open a small facility here in Vancouver. We began making our own garments, and through the recognition of our friends and peers, we partnered with some of the most influential and iconic labels in the history of athletic and streetwear, brands including Rogan, Supreme, Noah, Nom de Guerre, Alife, and Arcteryx. Through that success, we were able to launch our own brands – filling a void in the marketplace and making goods we wanted to wear, classic pieces with a singular focus on quality, starting with Spruce, which turned into wings+horns in 2004, as well as Reigning Champ in 2007.
Together with our partners and customers, we weathered the terror attacks in 2001, and the economic collapse of 2008. If we learned anything from those times, it was to lean on and support those we love, and to put our heads down and focus on what we do best. As we look at the situation we find ourselves in today, nothing in our history has prepared us for the reality of how COVID-19 has affected you, our community, and our partners and families. In the face of such adversity though, I am incredibly optimistic. I’m optimistic for the collaboration and togetherness—both inside and outside of the apparel industry—that we are witnessing as people come together to work through these challenges. I am optimistic seeing in real-time how people’s values are shifting, both in what they hold true, and how they view our industry. At CYC, valuing quality over quantity has been our core principal since day one, and now is the time to shift how we consume. Our industry is ready for a long overdue change, a change that we are ready to embrace.
So what’s next for us? We fight. The human side of this is that CYC employs a dedicated team of 177 people in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles – in our factory, stores and headquarters. Each one of those individuals obsess over detail and quality in the same way I do. Each one of those people long ago made the decision to work for a small independent design company that aligns with their values. We share a mindset, and the optimism that we’ll get through this together, along with you, our family. We are nothing without our customers, and we wouldn’t have made it this far without you. We’ve been a quiet, relatively faceless company for the last two and half decades, preferring our work to do our talking. Now is the time for us to show you who and what we’re made of.
Thank you for standing with us. Be well, be safe, and fight for what’s right.
Sincerely,
Craig Atkinson |
