Two decades of wearable news
T-POST® #189
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Okay Peter, spill it: what’s the T-post origin story?
– Back in 2004 I was living in Stockholm, working in sales and recruitment, putting up some pretty great numbers, and hating every second of it. One day I ran into an old acquaintance who ran an ad agency in Stockholm, and it turned out he was looking for someone with sales experience to boost his team at his agency Vardag. I jumped onboard. At Vardag we’d do this creative exercise where we’d take two unrelated products or services and try to merge them. Like a coffee mug that’s also a phone, or a bike that doubles as a coffee machine. It’s safe to say most of these ideas didn’t really pan out, but along the way the concept of a magazine printed on a t-shirt was conceived, and it stuck.
So, it was an instant success?
– Haha, far from it. At first T-post had like five subscribers – all of whom worked at Vardag. For a long time, it was just a fun project, something to keep the creative juices flowing, but we kept at it.
They’ll have to pry T-post from my cold, dead fingers.That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
When I left Vardag I kept T-post under my wing and put all my focus into growing the brand. I moved back to my hometown Umeå and made it my life. It became a bit of an obsession.
And what was the big break?
– It wasn’t any one thing, but little by little we started getting traction with new subscribers and attention from other media. By 2007 we had 2000 subscribers. The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Wired and Esquire Magazine wrote articles about us, and we were experiencing a bit of a hype. It was all about hard work, luck, and timing.
This was just as Facebook started taking off, and everyone started sharing and promoting stuff online. That gave us the boost we needed to keep reaching new subscribers.
What are the most memorable moments these past 20 years?
– T-post has always been about collaborating. Different writers, artists, photographers, and graphic designers from around the world have all made their mark. I’ve been a lifelong streetwear fiend, and getting to work with some of my heroes in the industry was incredible. My first visit to New York in the 90’s I went to the Alife store and was blown away by the vibe, the décor, the effortless cool. A few years later I found myself working with Alife founder Tony Arcabascio on T-post – it was just surreal. We’ve worked with Eric HAZE, Ricky Powell and Jeff Staple, created a special edition for the cult film Kung Fury, made the first wearable TED X talk, and released the song UÅ with Random Bastards.
In 2012 I got an email requesting a subscription for Jay-Z. I figured it was just a prank, but a week later I got another mail from his people politely informing me that “Jay-Z is awaiting your reply”. That’s another “pinch me-moment”.
What are the collabs that never happened?
– There’s been quite a few that just fell through for one reason or another. We had talks with the team behind the global launch of the Barbie-movie a couple of years ago. The idea was us creating a special edition of T-post interviewing Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, and an original design full of Kenergy. But you know what – I was kind of relieved when it didn’t happen. I’ve always feared losing control of the brand, of T-post losing its identity. And doing a huge collab like that could spin out of control – you never know where that would lead us.
Has that come close to happening before?
– In 2016 we signed a deal with Urban Outfitters in the US, with T-post entering five stores including a huge flagship-store in New York. It was thrilling. But once I got there, they’d unpacked all the tee’s, thrown away the packaging and hung them up in a corner. The folder is a huge part of T-post’s identity, and of our story. We just sort of got swallowed. It was worth a try, but these huge chains are not a great match for us.
So, what’s next for T-post?
– One thing I’ve learned over the years is to expect everything. I do know we’ll never run out of stories to tell, that’s the beauty of what we do. 20 years in this business keeps me on my toes and inspires me to stay curious. We got started at the same time as the entire magazine industry was crumbling, and we’ve weathered a lot of storms, but we are still here. In the end I love street wear, arts & culture and finding feasible excuses to work with truly inspiring people, so they’ll have to pry T-post from my cold, dead fingers. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
