We have this running joke in the office. A few years back 2 English guys came into Reed Space and rifled thru some designs really quickly and left saying (in full thick English accent) “Everything looks a bit like Maharishi dunnit?” Now every so often we just bust that line out for a few laughs.
Its funny because in fact, much of it is true. They could very well be one of the most knocked off brands around. You might say, well didn’t they do the knocking off by appropriating camo from the military? There’s truth in that, but to the level at which they did it? Think again. Their massive DPM Book is the be all and end all reference for anything remotely related to camo. And when I visited their headquarters out in Shoreditch, its evident that camo is not a “trending” pattern they are incorporating. Its a way of living. Seems like for founder Hardy Blechman, it’s his mission in life to remove all negative and violent connotations from camo and reposition it as the work of art it truly is.
The MHI offices feel like you’re walking inside of a huge tree. Stairs sort of begin and end wherever they want. Some are barely wide enough to fit a human. Others start in the middle of a floor. And no grand entrance or anything. Even if you worked there, you could easily walk past the non-descript door.
Maharishi is the exclusive distributor for Medicom. So as you can imagine, toys are everywhere. They often make their own designs to be produced by Medicom as well. Not too many clothing companies I know have an on staff toy sculptor. Here’s a special Nike x Michael Lau collab they recently got in the mail. Nothing adds to your office like 3ft tall figures of Kobe, Roger Federer, Ronaldinho.
This corner, I must admit, was creeping me out.
Hardy and Damian of MHI, unboxing a bunch of goodies sent from Medicom.
The H behind the M. And I.
And off he goes. One thing we have in common…our preferred mode of transportation: The Honda Zoomer.
Damian, thank you for lunch as well. Hope to see you in NYC soon.
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After the visit to Shoreditch, it was back into Soho to visit Wes at Foot Patrol…one of the best sneaker stores in all of Europe. Picked up some goodies like the freshly dropped New Balance joints with the removeable velcro “N”. Good looks Wes!
And finally, after a long day, I sat back with some friends for dinner and a beer. Nah, I haven’t had a beer since ’93…so its Ginger Beer for me. Fentiman’s…the best ginger ale I have ever tasted.
