Oliver Sykes
Drop Dead Clothing is owned and run by Oliver Sykes, lead singer of Sheffield-based deathcore/ Emo band Bring Me The Horizon.
His band’s last album, released in 2010 was the wonderfully named ‘There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret’, a title too long to fit on the average T-shirt. But then again, his designs are far from mainstream so anything is possible.
Drop Dead began life in 2005 with a few t-shirts,hoodies,bags etc but thanks to word of mouth popularity the label has risen rapidly in popularity since then.
Sykes’ heavily tattooed image features prominently in the label’s catalogue and publicity. A point in his favour is the fact that he designed a Meat Sucks T-shirt with all proceeds being donated to PETA.
Photo taken in Drop Dead store.
His designs are brash and bold with cute cartoon heads given the postmodern treatment of having part of the skull severed to expose bits of brain. They are designed to be loved by teenagers and loathed by most parents (although I count myself as an exception that proves the rule).
Most goods are sold on the internet although they are doing well enough to open a flagship store just off Carnaby Street, London. From there, my daughter bought a sweatshirt with the slogan STEEL FUCKING CITY emblazoned on the front, a wry reference to Sheffield’s lost industrial heritage.
The Drop Dead store is just round the corner from Liberty’s where designer T-shirts start from £75 and look nowhere near as cool or cutting edge as Sykes’ designs.
