New Clothing Line Captures Saint John’s Grit, Beauty
SAINT JOHN – A Saint John clothing retailer and clothing brand has teamed with a local photographer on a new line that will not only make you look cool but will also help support a local food bank.
Pristine, located on King Street in uptown Saint John, has teamed up with Mike Capson, a local photographer and co-founder of ICS Creative Agency, to create a new capsule collection, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Saint John Community Food Basket.
Capson has previously held photography exhibits in the past with the proceeds going to the Saint John Community Food Basket. He also offers his photographs on his website, where people can download for a donation, part of which would also go to the Food Basket.
“I take a lot of pictures of Saint John. I don’t like charging for my photos, so usually what I do is a pay-what-you-want price for any of the Saint John pictures on my website, then 25 per cent of the proceeds go to the Saint John Community Food Basket,” says Capson.
After discovering Capson’s photos and the initiative to help the food bank, Pristine store manager Matt Shields saw an opportunity to collaborate.
“I think Saint John is an interesting place because it’s pretty gritty, but it’s inherently beautiful and I’ve always liked the architecture. Mike’s photos for me just captured both the polished and also the honest side of the city,” says Shields. “When I saw that he was selling his photos and graciously donating money for a wonderful cause, I thought, ‘how can we get involved? How can we give back, but be creative and have some fun with it?'”
For Capson, it was a perfect fit.
“Pristine is a lifestyle brand, so it’s kind of a good fit because my images are a little darker, a little moodier,” he says.
The line’s first launch dropped earlier this month and features long-sleeve shirts, hoodies and t-shirts. The back features a photo of the angel on top of the war monument in King Square with “Pristine” text overlapped. Shields says the pieces highlight a city landmark many overlook.
“It’s not meant to be religious in any way, but it’s meant to draw an eye to this wonderful monument that we have in the centre of our city that often gets overlooked,” says Sheilds. “I picked that photo really because of the aesthetic, but also because of the weight that it has and what it represents, those that we lost in wars over the years. I think it’s important to acknowledge that. At the same time, it’s just really a badass photo.”
Since the first installment was released on October 9, it’s been selling fast. Available sizes are now limited. But the next release, which will feature a new photo, will drop on November 1.
“The line itself is sort of organic. One thing that’s nice about it is Mike has such a great inventory of photos that we can manipulate in different ways to bring to clothing,” says Sheild.
With a strong response to the line so far, Pristine owner Harrison Teed says the plan is to make the collaboration with Capson for the foodbank an ongoing feature in the shop.
“The important thing is that the money goes to the Food Basket and that it’s also coming back so we can continue to keep this moving forward as well,” says Teed.” This has been an exciting project so far and we’ve got a crazy response. So many different friends and people walking in and saying ‘this is awesome.'”