Let’s Talk Fashion Tingz with Sane Active
A conversation with Sane Active about Gorpcore, starting a brand with your friends and running a DTC independent label
I have exciting news to share: You can now read Fashion Tingz in the new Substack app for iPhone!
Gorpcore has become a cryptic word in the realm of fashion over the past few years. Hiking boots, camping chic, utilitarian vibes and functional outdoors wear are at the heart of this trend, but many brands are adopting a copy-and-paste approach to jump on the Gorpcore bandwagon before the trend dies down. Items that you would've never thought to be trendy are now where it's at, think thick fleece jumpers your grandparents would wear and parachute cargo pants that are now firm favourites among the fashion elite.
But one brand hoping to disrupt the Gorpcore market is Sane Active. Founded by two brothers and hailing from Switzerland, a place famous for mountainous views and picture-perfect landscapes, Sane Active’s minimal branding and eco-conscious materials are designed to get better with age.
As a myriad of brands get in on the outdoorsy look, Sane Active have one thing working in their favour - they’re making Gorpcore activewear affordable. I sat down with the Sane Active founders to get a peek into life behind the brand, as well as the inside scoop on where they're headed next.
Meet the founder/s of Sane Active.
We are Cedric, David and Pascal - three young fashion enthusiasts from the small country of Switzerland. Cedric and David founded Sane Active about a year ago, and Pascal joined shortly after.
The idea is to make activewear accessible and affordable and this came from our aspirations. Sport and activity have always been an integral part of our lives and with the Gorpcore trend accelerating, this aspiration naturally grew and the Sane Active brand was born.
Our origins and backgrounds have an incredible influence on the brand. On the one hand, it's David and Cedric's roots in the Ivory Coast and Senegal that influence us and bring in a different kind of activity. On the other hand, it's our job: David and Cedric both got to know the fashion world in front of the camera, as models and learned a lot about it. Pascal, with his work in London, has got to know the good as well as the bad sides of the fashion circuit too.
Everyone is getting in on the Gorpcore and activewear trend. What do you think you do differently vs your competitors?
Even our basic idea of making Gorpcore and activewear accessible to every financial group makes us fundamentally different. We recognise this trend's growth and also the accompanying problem of its overpriced nature, and we want to close the Gorpcore financial gap.
We are characterised by really reaching out to our audience and keeping them in mind when we design, we want our creations to be as simple and flexible as possible. In the end, we succeed because we are part of the target group we try and reach.
Why is a brand like this important and why now?
I guess we have to go back to the beginning of the pandemic. In the spring of 2020, when big cities were shut down and going out was impossible, young people were drawn back to nature.
We, as Swiss natives, have nature and mountains right on our doorstep and have noticed in our local environment that the demand for quality and affordable activewear is there without the products to match. I mean, who can spend over 500 euros on a jacket just for hiking?
Trying to run an independent DTC brand isn't easy. Production issues, coupled with inflation and a supply and demand crisis… the list goes on. What difficulties have you encountered trying to run a brand like Sane Active, if any?
One of the biggest challenges in our work is attention to detail.
From the beginning, our strategy has been to compete with the big players. For us, this means that we have to achieve the same quality with our advertising, videos and photos on social media as the big brands do, but with a minimal budget. We also don't have the means to place large paid content and have realised that it is difficult to attract the attention of our entire target group.
How has the Gorpcore trend influenced your designs and the way you approach fashion? Is this a trend you think will stick around?
We would be lying if we said the trend does not affect us. It has certainly driven us to understand that sometimes less is more. Quality is more important than fancy design - it's almost a bit like sport, diligence and practice can sometimes beat talent and creativity.
I imagine running a brand with friends makes for some interesting convos and heated discussions. Do you butt heads, or do you all have the same vision? Who's responsible for what at Sane Active?
This is a question we hear so often and always have trouble answering. In the beginning, it had a bit of a school project vibe with your best friends in class, but it wasn't long before we realised that there was more potential behind it and without discussing it much, the professionalism of each team member became clear. Because we have been close friends for a long time, we talked about everything from the beginning. If someone doesn't like something or has a different opinion, it's discussed objectively and communicated honestly. Sometimes it's hard when an idea is shot down, but in the end, we don't have any major disagreements.
As for who's responsible for what at Sane Active, we began working on the brand and the work structure materialised by itself. Cedric is certainly the Head of Design and has the responsibility there, David is much too creative for office work but has been given responsibility for operations, and Pascal is a daily nuisance with new, ridiculous and absurd ideas - b addition to throwing ideas into the room, he has to keep the strategy and digital tsks in check. In the end, everyone helps each other out and makes sure that their own affairs are taken care of.
Where’s Sane Active headed next?
Certainly across national borders. We have slowly established ourselves in the big cities of Switzerland and now it's time for us to become internationally active. We want to get our message out into the world and find new people who share our views.
The Sane Active rainjackets just dropped. And they are a vibe.
Share this post, feel free to comment, and subscribe to Fashion Tingz to keep in the know about all of the latest fashionable goings-on.