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Unit Four, the only Thudark store in the world, does not benefit from any change of change. Located in an industrial heritage in Poole, Dorset, in the short term of the headquarters of the exterior clothing brand, feels like a secret, its interior painted in matte black and full of old shipping containers and military -degree performance shelf. The label, founded in 2018 by the veterans of the Special Forces, Anthony “Staz” Stazicker and Louis Tensley, develops and sells the most technical clothes, some inspired by what the couple carried in combat.
Either in the use of Dyneema (15 times stronger than steel) within a textile or external garment tested until the situation of -40ºC in which it would be found if it is stranded in a glacier, this is not a closet designed for cosplay, it is designed to handle the confrontation. The founding principle of the brand came from an incident when Stazicker jumped from a plane to 14,000 feet and his jacket caused his parachute out of malfunction. “He emphasized the importance of manufacturing standards,” he says. “We take this very seriously. We don’t want our kit to disappoint anyone. “
ThudarkThe business of ‘S is flourishing, with £ 16 million in billing in the last 12 months from online and wholesale sales in process. The duo calls its fans base, a percentage of which makes the trip to Poole regularly to buy one of its synthetic jackets of best -selling commitment (£ 375) or mortar coats (£ 260), “plagues of kits of related ideas”. Now they have 120,000 kit pests worldwide in more than 100 countries. They have also created characters in characters for the recent launch of Blockbuster Call of Duty: Black Ops 6and have been called for film projects. “The costume departments communicate directly to use pieces,” says Tensley. “And last week, a great star made a massive order to give to other key cast members in a production.”
In the army, both men experienced situations in which they had to customize their uniforms. “You would be surprised how archaic some of the military systems,” says Tensley, dressed from head to toe in black and defending himself from the pet of the enthusiastic house, Arnie the French bulldog. “We knew we could do better, making outdoor clothes more lasting for the requirements we had. We used to cut the upper part of our socks and sew them on our wrists so you could keep more heat in a jacket. And we would place copper wire in our hoods to make sure they were suitable for storms. ”
The best heavy duty parkas
Berghaus Gore-Tex Trango jacket, £ 400
Canada goose Parka Recycled-Inylón and a crossing, £ 1.175
Napapijri polyester and recycled matter jacket, £ 500
Moncrito Greatoble cotton jacket, £ 2,005
Ka me recycled jacket-name, £ 139
Volleyball Airgel Martian Jacket, £ 2,495
After leaving the Armed Forces (10 years went together in the Special boat Service) they decided to create a business. While the initial idea was to design for the civil market, they quickly realized that they could sell former colleagues in the Army. Aesthetics has a primary appeal. As the fashion writer Nick Sullivan writes in the book Uniform: Order and disorder“As modern men, we lack heroic possibilities. Do not get medals to go to stores or clean the car. But clothes like this equip for an imaginary battle “. For designers like Paul Harvey in Stone Island Or Massimo Osti, he adds, “military details are the soul of modern male style.” Add to that list Nigel Cabournwhose £ 2,995 Everest Parka are inspired by the rise of the mountain of Sir Edmund Hillary of 1953, and Arc’teryxwhich launched its leaf line (application of the law and armed forces) in 2005, using promotional material with assault rifles.
At the headquarters of Thrudark, the complex cuts, the zippers, the pockets and the padding of the coats remind me a little of the layers of the sleeping sack made by the graphic cult label. The duo is delighted with the reference: the Griffin designer, the semi-Rective Jeff Griffin, has been a great support in the brand development, giving them presentations to the correct factories in Italy. “We conducted where Jeff lives in a remote ecological retreat in Devon,” says Tensley, “and he responded to the door in a shoe and a tartan touched skirt, with a missing tooth.” It is a total wild card and has a large archive of ancient military team. ”
The foundations of the Perennial Collection of Thrark are the load pants (£ 295), which use military -grade resistant ripstop fabric, the Wraith hooded jacket (£ 265), made of breathable temperature regulatory fabrics and the end of the parka days, with fortified external panels with Dynema, the same material used for the modern mobile armor. The price is surprising: that the parka, the most expensive article of the brand, is £ 1,300, while the last three -layer renegade parka, with a rating of 20,000hh (waterproof when it is submerged at up to 20,000 mm of water) is £ 550. “We maintain our margins of gain deliberately low,” says Tinsley. “The equivalent labels would charge two or three times for quality.”
Thrudark represents the culmination of the love story of men with the technical fabric. “The convergence of civil and military clothing began as a result of the Gulf War in 1990,” says Andrew Groves, a professor of fashion design at Westminster University. “Faced with the shortage of kit, the soldiers began to obtain their own team, much of which was a superior American issue, which they referred to as ‘Gucci’.”
Today, Thraudark is the Gucci of the world of clothing inspired by the army, but they are also the Goths. “We have a little marina and gray, but if it were for me, we would do everything in black,” says Stazicker. “The name of our brand arose because our special forces operations always carried out at night. The idea of going to ‘Trudrk’ also represents the idea that everyone has adversity that they are going through. For most people, no night vision glasses will involve, ”he admits. “But it is a universal experience.”