Lifestyle pioneers Avalaan are bridging the gap between life, fashion, art and sport like no other UK brand. Stranger travels to their mash up world to talk war, art and partying on roofs.

Logan Hall opens the door looking tired and hung over but despite that he still looks young for his 25 years. Hall's stairs to the penthouse flat are decorated with tens of pairs of shoes. On every level Etnies spill over Vans in dangerous shoe towers, occasionally punctuated by skateboards and guitars. "Sorry about the staircase," Hall turns to me, promptly tripping on a white loafer. "I call it the stairway to heaven."    It definitely looks like it has the potential to end up being some unlucky soul's stairway to heaven. "Don't worry, I'll take you up on the roof later for a cup of tea, there is much more space up there. We had a party on there the other night," he cheerfully patters away whilst I eye up the rickety paint ladder propped against the tiny loft window. I'm not instantly reassured.

A man emerges out of the hallway and holds out his hand. Hall whips around. "This is Sam Windridge, the other half of Avalaan. You can call him Windy though". Windy smiles. "Basically, I am the product dude," he says, laughing at his own expression of the job title. Hall leaves to make tea leaving Windy and I to scroll through some of the photos that have been taken for the new Avalaan catalogue. Windy is also a member of the Familia creating some of the art that he carefully compiles and places through the clothing that Avalaan produce.

Sam Windridge

After assembling a business plan on the top of a pool table in Windy's garage three and a half years ago, Avalaan began to carve out their own niche in the territory of lifestyle brands. Merging together a group of talented friends and individuals and christening them the 'Familia', the duo proceeded to collaborate to bring together what they believed could be one of the most innovative lifestyle brands in the UK. The Familia have evolved from a small starter group of professional skaters and skiers from around Europe who doodled in their spare time, to a collective that now includes full-time artists, photographers, musicians and athletes. Avalaan have recently taken Amelia Horne under their Familia umbrella. Singer, Horne is in the process of creating her first album with the label Curved Digital. Other recent additions to the Familia include tipper Music, dubstep duo Smokelife and renowned UK skater Amir Williams. This eclectic collective represent the brand. They are sponsored by the support of other members of the Familia and by the occasional Avalaan hoody.


"We work with some ridiculous artists," says Hall. Guys we respect, great artists like Amit, LuLu, Plaster, G-Man, Sceptic and obviously Windy. These guys are responsible for the great imagery that we place on our product." Described as the lifeblood of the brand, Hall has been quoted several times professing the necessity of this group of friends to the growth and progression of Avalaan. Working with people who they believe share their ideals and lifestyle, allows Hall and Windy the enviable opportunity to include their most inspirational and talented friends within their own business. I assume it would also be an excuse for some good parties. "Yeah, you could say that," Windy agrees. So, how and why did two friends who bonded while skiing over the French Alps decide to take the risk of investing in the creation of a new lifestyle brand?

"I guess I wanted an excuse not to go to uni. I loved design and I could pretty much be my own boss and just go off snowboarding. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into!"  Focusing on menswear, Avalaan started out designing high quality ski and snowboard apparel. The eye-catching products gathered well-received reviews in UK industry magazines including including White Lines, Dark Summer, Sidewalk and as well as European publications such as Transition and Onboard. Windridge and Hall soon expanded Avalaan into the streetwear market, incorporating high fashion men's wear pieces such as fine knit cardigans into its original base of tees, hoodies and jumpers. Launching its first women's collection for this spring/summer, the girls' clothing range incorporates most of the men's style yet features more subtle artwork. With new female designer Liesel Corps now on board, the girls' clothing is set to top the more refreshing high-end fashion so rarely seen in skate brands.

Windy and Hall are now relocating all Avalaan paraphernalia from the penthouse to their first Avalaan shop, located on Bristol's Gloucester Road. Hall nods. "It's going to be scary. Now our sales will rest on the shop. Before we were just selling on the net, shipping to Europe or distributing to other UK stores. Now we're going to have our own and it's amazing, but pretty daunting at the same time!"  Windy smiles. "It is going to be good having a proper office for a change though."

As the creative director of the company, Windy's role is to take on the visual image of the brand from the apparel to the website. Sourcing the material and deciding on the manufacturers coincides with deciding the specifics of the cut and stitching. With no professional training or qualification in fashion or clothing design, the quality of product produced is a testament to playing it by ear. Wherever they go as Avalaan they are asked time and again where they manage to source their high quality fabrics and the designs admired by both sport professionals and regular punters. Proving that they are not just two ski season dropouts, Avalaan are holding their own against much bigger brands such as Fenchurch who would happily squeeze them out of the market if they could.


Hall agrees: "I've learned lots about myself and how business works. I've learned people are not nice all the time and are not always as genuine as you think. It has ended up turning me into a bit of a cynic which I hate." Windy - the more sceptical and quieter of the two - laughs and stubs out his cigarette, leaning back in his seat. "I have a belief in the brand, a belief in myself, a belief in Logan and a belief in the Familia. We're going to be OK because, although we may have started out a little naïve, we're stubborn and determined." Windy's confidence in his friend is touching.

I assume that the strain of moving a close friendship into an even closer working relationship might end up creating rifts in both areas of you weren't careful. "We're great mates, which is awesome," says Windy. "We work really well together most of the time, but can be a bit like a married couple. On a work and friend level we are really good in our own different areas but obviously sometimes it can get a bit stressful. It's taken a couple of years to separate those two elements of our relationship."


For a few years, Hall's life looked like it was going to take a very different path. At 15 he signed up for Royal Marines training and became set on becoming an officer. After completing the training he made the decision to leave and then a few months afterwards, the Gulf War began. What, I ask, had given Hall the urge to take on and then drop such a demanding career? "Because it was a challenge and it was the hardest thing you could do," says Hall. "I decided to leave eventually because it was too structured for me. All the shit like starching my trousers and polishing my boots you know?" Hall pauses. "I did a lot of traveling when I was in the Marines and I gradually realised that there was a lot more to the world than running around shooting guns at each other. Massive respect for the guys that do it though, it's a hard job and you have to be 100% dedicated. If I had gone to war I would have gone 110% so I had to make the decision if I wanted to take it that far, and I didn't. My path took me somewhere else." Hall ponders for a moment and fiddles with the end of his sunglasses, flicking them with his finger.  "I did think about re-applying when I resigned. After the Gulf War started, I seriously thought about going to help my friends but I had left in my head and couldn't just step back in, I don't think it was mentally possible."


It seems like both Windy and Hall have used Avalaan as a vehicle to escape being institutionalised into a 'regular' job. Being their own boss is a huge part of the attraction in running the hugely encompassing business that is Avalaan. Presenting the brand as 'a lifestyle choice' Avalaan professes its idealistic concepts of design and 'unhindered thinking; choosing to see the 'beauty in scribbles'. Is the brand Hall and Windy's representation of what they believe to be the perfect lifestyle, an expression of being free of a cynical marketing ploy to win over the next generation of customers jaded by the Volcoms and Quickslivers of this world?


"Beauty in scriblles, beauty in art, a walk in the countryside. That's what's really important. I want Avalaan to be more than a logo on a T-shirt. We want a voice that says something. Buying Avalaan is like contributing to a revolution." Hall leans forward and laughs. "What I mean is, you can do what you want, drugs, skate, be an artist, sing. Explore your life and creativity however you want as long as you don't hurt other people. At least that is what I hope to say through the brand."



Watching the way Hall talks in naïve idealism about Avalaan, any self-consciousness is not apparent. I question if this schpeel came from constantly selling the brand, but Hall already seems aware that what he is saying may not be totally comprehensible to me. "I know all this sounds a bit deep OK, I am not used to doing interviews," he explains. "Pushing me to think more about what I believe in, or what the brand stands for us something that we are about."

I ask him what he stands for. "I don't know everything I stand for. I want to be free to choose, to learn, to change my mind, to evolve. I am not going to have a constant schpeel that I reproduce because the brand is not set in stone. Avalaan is a constant change and we try to show that though the people we work with. The world is constantly moving so why do brands have to be stagnant? It's like they are dead; we're not dead, were alive, growing and learning, what's the harm in that?"

Indeed.

(Interview by Carly Klineberg)

Visit the Avalaan homepage here for more info about events and the Familia