BLCKSMTH Apparel
Wrestling merch, particularly t-shirts, tends to be very clichéd. So much so that when you Google 'iconic wrestling shirt' the top results are black t-shirts with white text (nWo, Austin 3:16 & Just Bring It!). As a lifelong wrestling fan, Allan Smith saw this & realised there was an opening in the market for a more fashionable form of wrestling merch. Thus the idea for BLCKSMTH Apparel was born.
BLCKSMTH Apparel is a London-based clothing brand that fuses wrestling merch with sportswear, particularly football shirts. In a recent conversation, Allan told Pario how this concept first formed in his mind.
"Being from England & being a big West Ham football fan I noticed that in the last 4 or 5 years football shirts have become more of a collectible or fashion item... You see a lot more people wearing them out now whereas before they'd just be something you'd wear to a football game. You don't necessarily need to be a football fan to wear a football shirt anymore."
Another element that played into the development of BLCKSMTH was, as we mentioned earlier, the clichéd nature of traditional wrestling merch.
"A big thing for me was that I don't want every single thing I wear to say, 'this is wrestling merch'. I wanted BLCKSMTH to be something you could wear outside at any time, not just at a wrestling show."
While those 2 ideas swirled around in Allan's head & coalesced with the creation of BLCKSMTH he told Pario his first intention was much more personal than what it has since become.
"To be honest, it was just making something that I wanted. I wasn't interested in making money or filling a gap in the market. I didn't have any intention of it blowing up."
And boy oh boy has it blown up!
Since creating the first BLCKSMTH designs in mid-2021 Allan has since gone on to collaborate with several rising independent wrestlers, Impact Wrestling stars, & even formed a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
In terms of those first one-on-one collaborations, Allan explained that his focus was to partner with up & coming wrestlers who embodied the "sporting presence" of wrestling. People like Billie Starks, Leon Slater, Josh Alexander, Speedball Mike Bailey & Steve Maclin.
"I wanted to have a partnership with them to help get them on the ladder of high-quality merch with something they could be proud of & happy to wear themselves," explained Allan.
Then suddenly New Japan Pro Wrestling came knocking & before he knew it Alan was designing merch for some of the biggest names in all of professional wrestling.
Under this new partnership, Allan has been tasked with designing jerseys for NJPW factions Bullet Club & United Empire so far, with more to come.
Speaking about the United Empire jersey Allan told Pario, "Personally that's my favourite weave I've ever done. I showed a preview to Will Ospreay & he was really excited. So if he likes it then I'm sure everyone else will like it as well."
Looking to the future Allan has a few dream collaborations he would still love to do.
Most pressingly a crossover with All Elite Wrestling for their All In show at Wembley Stadium in August is at the top of the list. But outside of that dream collaborations for Allan include Rob Van Dam & WWE's Imperium or Street Profits.
"Aesthetically RVD's ring gear is something that I think would fit really well on a piece of sportswear," said Allan. "In WWE, I think Imperium really suit the mould because they're very sport based & maybe the Street Profits as well because they already wear tracksuits & jerseys to the ring."
Follow BlckSmth Apparel's Creative Journey on social media at: @blcksmthapparel
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