(Originally published August 2005)

Ben Velez is Global Brand Director for fashion brand Triple
5 Soul (T5S). He’s worked at the brand since 2001 but was involved with
the brand for much longer. He’s worked with the Gravis and Analog
brands for Burton and worked extensively on the Maharishi camo book.
Recently T5S has developed a new brand Subscript and made steps to
establish UK brand Boxfresh in the US market.

Tell me about your target market - what critical cultural and consumer changes are taking place.

The most critical cultural and consumer changes that our market is
going through, is, quite simply, a cultural “growing up” and
sophistication of tastes. Our consumers have been so bombarded with
brands/designers trying everything every which way that they have
actually been trained to be more discerning and not so face-value level
about cultural referencing, etc. All in all (and I say this not in
reference to AGE but cultural acumen), our consumers are “growing up”
quicker.

Technology allows for such an expedited communication of subculture
that it has become fairly easy for people to dig far beneath the
surface, as well as individuate themselves from mass culture on a much
broader level. Consumers are, therefore, way more savvy about design
and beyond, which is an exciting milieu to work within!

Mash culture, youth not watching TV, cell phone culture, etc, etc.
How does a brand create relevant emotional connection (and just plain
old awareness) in this changing landscape?

I think for many brands there is a continuing desperation to stay on
top of this. I can only speak to its relevance to how we market our
brands. It is really a clichéd and expected answer, but this simply has
never been a problem for T5S as we remain an independent brand composed
of cultural adherents and creators, so our collective natural interest
organically follows these cycles as it’s how we all live ourselves.
Shit, I don’t watch TV, listen to the radio (other than AIR AMERICA)
etc my damn self!

About being an ‘independent brand composed of cultural adherents and creators’ - how do you recruit for such a specific fit?

Honestly, we continue to work with young talent from the
ever-growing community. It’s not so much a recruitment tactic as it is
an organic process. Either the candidates that walk through the door
are like-minded or not.

Any brands that catch your eye? Why?

Um, well, being that this is a brand/marketeering site, I’ll be
honest. I’m sort of immune to branding and marketing. And if I’m not
entirely, I try to be! That being said, I tend to really not get swept
up into specific brands. Strictly 501s and old Clarks for me, please!

Apple is the one exception – not because of marketing but because of my (guilty pleasure) technology addiction…

How does T5S specifically connect with its audience?

It’s always been a music and art-driven brand and continues to be.
We just keep integrating great music and art events and make certain
that our constituents are as much invited and welcome to take part as
industry folk.

On specifics, T5S is getting ready for our first annual SOUL
SESSIONS Tour – hitting our major markets with a host of T5S music
friends/talent (Hollertronix, Platinum Pied Pipers and a slew of
others) in support of F05 season. Continuing to put out seasonal
limited edition SOUL SESSIONS music series of in the public eye talent
doing mixes that are complete departures from their traditional M.O.s

You recently opened a store in Williamsburg? Great party, nice
store. How much is the objective there about driving retail sales
versus creating a brand experience?

The
objective there is really way more about brand experience than it being
a profit center. Based on location alone, this shop is not designed to
be a wheelbarrow of money – our Soho shop falls way more into this
category. We run all of our home events out of the Williamsburg space
and, again, mix our crowds between neighborhood fans and the industry,
intentionally.

You’ve recently started to develop two new brands in the US -
Boxfresh (US distribution) and Subscript - is this a defensive move?

I wouldn’t call it so much a defensive move as much as an offensive
one! Honestly, T5S has a great deal of brand equity and is not in
danger of going anywhere soon. However, we have made the collective
(and oft times more challenging) decision to focus on growing our
business to be more involved with what we consider to be smaller and
more alpha streetwear boutique accounts. With this decision was the
obvious hand-in-hand understanding that if you are not pushing your
brand to chase all of the monster multi-door accounts, your brand
retains cleaner distribution and image for a lot longer but also has a
self-imposed glass ceiling in terms of ability to grow. Taking on
Boxfresh and Subscript is not so much a defensive move as much as it is
a part of the realization that, in order to keep T5S where and how we
want it, we will need to rely on other revenue streams to allow it the
safety to remain as such.

OK, so let’s say I am a brand manager working for a large well
known brand who in the past did well selling to the young adult market.
Now, my target market seems to even rejecting the idea of my brand. Any
tips on how I reconnect with the audience?

Reinvention seems to be the key. Reinvention via new / diffusion
lines and projects. Most importantly is to simply stay in tune so that
such things don’t end up needing damage control! But when necessary,
having been in this position in minor-league scenarios at other jobs,
my instinct has been to pull back visibility (rather than continue to
communicate the wrong message), thus creating some mystery and wonder
about current activities, and when ready to re-enter the public eye
with new blood/branding/product, it actually becomes a welcomed thing
instead of a forced one. This is all very much hypothetical and not
grounded in the actual facets that make such situations unique…

Thank you.

www.triple5soul.com
www.boxfreshusa.com
www.subscript.com