In detail with Russ Gator, founder of TSPTR

April 16, 2021

TSPTR stands for Truth, Symmetry, Pleasure, Taste and Recognition, the five design principles of Louis Sullivan. We've collaborated with them on a collection of goods for SS21. Like us, TSPTR has a solid view on responsibly sourced products, apathy to 'fashion' and a clear grounding in vintage clothing and counterculture. 

We catch up with Russ, a confessed reclusive and co-founder of TSPTR, in his bolthole in Brighton. We asked him to give us 10 songs he's currently listening to. There isn’t much he doesn’t know about counterculture and all that comes with it – literature, music, injustice, politics – with a long history of teaching that subject to undergraduates. 

Whilst a little unconventional, Russ’s route into clothing was through his studies in counterculture. Clothing has always been a way of expressing freedom and personality and so it seemed perfectly natural that someone with that background would start his own brand. In fact, TSPTR isn't his first clothing brand – Russ and Dan previously ran cult brand Heritage Research.

He started printing Snoopy onto tees without approval. But when the Schultz family found out and he met them in California, they loved his anarchic take on product and the rest is history. TSPTR has since reissued all kinds of influential Americana artwork, from mid-century protest to the Grateful Dead. The brand also goes above and beyond when it comes to research, collaborating with the likes of John Lofgren, Rivendell and Saucony.

 

Click here to listen to Russ's playlist on Spotify. Here are some of his favourite tracks:

 

 

SHOP THE DAWSON DENIM X TSTPR LIMITED COLLECTION.

 

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