ELLIS GILBERT & CONVERSE ONE STAR'S CULTURE OF COMMUNITY

Infusing Soho streetwear style with a focus on giving back, Soho Yacht Club is striving to do more for the community on a personal level. Championing direct action and grassroots fundraising, the label has quickly built a charitable network linking likeminded individuals from all different walks of life. Founded by Gilbert, alongside Che Shariff and Harry Clements in 2021, the fledging brand has already found favour for their bold aesthetic principles and their concentration on creating positive change through limited edition streetwear drops – a celebration of community, subculture and how small actions can create a system that benefits those in need.

Launching in April last year with “The Breakfast Club” tee, Soho Yacht Club established their modus operandi from the offset. Donating their profits to a local school to feed children in need over the Easter holidays, the brand immediately presented their dedication to cultivating a culture of contributing to community. Continuing their charitable nature, the brand recently set up a book exchange in Soho to celebrate World Book Day – offering a limited-edition t-shirt in exchange for donations of children’s books/studying material for local primary schools – a further commitment to utilising forward-thinking streetwear style as a method of instigating change.

Sitting down with co-founder Ellis Gilbert, UrlfreezeShops discuss the Converse One Star’s connection to community ahead of the launch of the One Star Blocked, the importance of community to Soho Yacht Club and how small actions can create a chain reaction of positivity.

How does the Converse One Star connect with you and the community?

For me, the One Star is an interesting shoe because it can be worn by so many different people, whether it’s a pro-skater or a local fashionista, and it has that bang for buck value. The shoe lasts so long and still looks great when it’s well worn – I’ve got my Patta One Stars from about four years ago that I still wear every other week that are amazing. It’s just a great heritage style. There are a lot of kids now who don’t really realise how iconic Converse is in basketball – Michael Jordan used to wear Converse before he started his own sneaker line. To see One Star’s timelessness and how it is passed from one generation to the next is inspiring – it’s an undefeated shoe. It really was at the start of when sportspeople became superstars, and that shoe has such a strong hold on that era, going from being a sports shoe to becoming a part of punk music, subculture and beyond.

What do you find inspiring about working with the community and the people around you?

When I was younger, my dad used to coach my football team and the amount of people that I’ve seen since then who would say that they appreciated when my dad would come and pick us up, take us to football and coach us all for free. He would do it because he loved it and he genuinely wanted to help kids. Sometimes when you’re younger, it’s easy to be swayed into doing bad things, and you need someone who would give you that little boost to get you into a more positive mindset, to forget about whatever hardships you’re going through and have a bit of fun, but also to be there if you need someone to lean on. I can remember the amount of times he’d have a conversation and say “wait outside the car for a second, Ellis”, and I didn’t realise the importance at the time, but when I see people who I used to play football with ten, twelve years ago, they say “it was so important to me to have been able to speak to someone about my problems and to see someone do good.” It’s seeing those small inspirations and seeing how that has transcended from one age group to the next, throughout different communities. Sometimes people only need to see a little bit of good for their whole outlook to change.

Soho Yacht Club has a specific connection to community and giving back – was it always the intention to start a brand that was inherently connected to community?

It was literally the only reason that we started the brand in the first place. I’ve got two older sisters and two little brothers, my mum works in a school and my dad is a youth worker, so I’ve grown up always going to these big community events where they’d either be putting on talks or hosting workshops, trying to teach young people a variety of skills. I’d always play football at these football fun days, too, where there would be games like penalty shoot outs or cross bar challenge. I was always so fascinated that you could go to these events and meet people from so many different walks of life that you might never have come across otherwise. To me, community and community events changed my life. As soon as I had the opportunity to do something like that, I really wanted to make sure that I was doing something that was bringing people together but also putting a different spin on things. Streetwear sometimes has a bad reputation, with items like tracksuits and balaclavas - people often try to taint it and suggest that it isn’t worth as much as other creative pursuits. I wanted to show that a small thing like a t-shirt can actually change people’s lives. We did a release called “The Breakfast Club”, where we managed to feed 15 families of 4 or 5 people for two weeks and build a garden at a local school for kids going through bereavement from the proceeds. That was our first release and seeing the feedback and the amount of people who are willing to get involved is amazing. We’ve been working with Reuben Dangoor, who has been advising us on the graphics, Clint from Corteiz has helped, and Patta donated 200 hats to the school in winter, just to help keep people warm. To see all of these people, who haven’t necessarily worked together before, come together to help and to be a part of that is amazing.

Transforming the idea of an exclusive “club”, Soho Yacht Club is a club that is open for everyone – an inclusive platform built to help the community. How has the brand been received by the wider community?

I know some people who live in my area who wear the t-shirt who are 60 years old, and they really respond to it, saying that it’s great to see something that is giving back to your own area. A lot of the time, people often donate to charities that they’ve seen on TV in a faraway place, which is of course great, but it’s also great to do something on your doorstep that boosts your community, that in turn can boost other communities. All of a sudden, something small sets off a butterfly effect. The amount of people who I’ve spoken to since I’ve worked with them who have said that they now have their own project, such as a book club, or community running club for women or people of colour, is mad. It’s amazing to see how much can come from something that starts off quite small. The way it has been received by the wider community has spurred me on to work even harder on it.

How do you decide which charities or community organisations to work with?

I was working at Clifton Primary in Southall when I started the brand, and for 80% of the students, English is their second language. A lot of their parents couldn’t speak English either, so they were finding it difficult to tap into local communities and access the things that they needed, whether that be food banks, or just basic resources. It’s incredibly difficult to do that if you don’t speak English. So we would go to those people and offer to help, connecting these people with other people that I know who can speak those languages – people are more inclined to help when they can see how their charitable contributions are helping others directly. We often end up working with charities who we’re connected to on a personal level in some way. At Christmas time, for instance, AJ Tracey did something with us – he’s from West London as well. He’d bought a load of turkeys, and we went around and gave them to different foodbanks with about 500 crates of vegetables, which could feed about 1500 people. It was mostly just through word of mouth, through the community. With social media, everything feels so far away and unattainable, whereas one small gesture in the real world can create a chain reaction from being given something to giving back to the community themselves. It’s just about opening people’s eyes to this, or just showing them how it can be done.

It must be rewarding to see your work with the brand in the real world, as a tangible thing that is affecting people’s lives in a direct and positive way. Is that what specifically drives the brand?

It definitely is. Even my little brother is proud to say, “my brother works for himself, he has his own company.” Sometimes I do something without really realising the effect that it has, then when you reflect on it, it makes you think that you’ve got to work even harder and involve more and more people. I’m going to be working on a project that involves hand dyeing pieces with natural dyes, so I’m going to try to get my little brothers involved in that and hopefully they’ll then pass on that information to someone else.

It’s like yourself, you started off working in the UrlfreezeShops store and now you’re doing interviews. You might not have known the initial steps of how to get there, but now you do, you can show other people the way to do it – that you’ve got to do the groundwork first to get to where you want to be. It’s a lot of stuff that you don’t learn in school. It’s more so about having the personality and a bit of confidence to want to learn more and help others. It goes hand in hand because when you’re helping others, you’re often doing better for yourself too, because you’re not thinking about getting something done for just yourself, you’re thinking about getting it done for ten other people too. I’m then hoping that those ten people then help ten other people – then suddenly that’s a thousand people.

What is it about Soho and its community that specifically speaks to you?

I started working in Soho when I was 16, so it’s always been a big part of my life. I’d gone to Woolrich and there was a guy from up North, John, working there and I gave him the only copy of my CV that I had - I only had one because I couldn’t print out any more at the time for whatever reason - and I was honest about wanting to work there because I really liked the store. He texted me as I was walking up the road, asking me to come back for a chat. He gave me the opportunity because I was really honest with him. We just hit it off, and he started to show me loads of different brands and types of styling – his approach was a bit different because he was from up north – he’d always look out for me. Moving on from that I was working in Stone Island for a bit and met loads of people working there, one of my best friends still works there. After that I was working at Patta, which completely changed my life. In London, Soho is at the forefront of change. They’ve had so much subcultural activity there with fashion, music and the gay scene – people feel comfortable to be who they are in Soho. There are a lot of different people from different backgrounds, and it has become a social hub. I might be sitting next to someone in the Blue Posts pub on a Friday, after finishing my shift at Patta selling clothes, who is a banker, or sitting next to someone who has started up their own coffee shop, or some skaters who are down from Manchester visiting the city. All of a sudden, you’re friends and meeting up once a week exchanging so many different things on so many different personal levels. It’s an amazing place.

Place clearly holds importance to you and your creative output – what does Elthorne Park mean to you?

I went to Elthorne Park High School, which is literally right next to the park. Growing up, you’d finish school for summer with a half day and everyone would be there in their best outfits. It wasn’t until year 9 or year 10 when I decided that I wanted to dress nicely, to wear the latest sneakers. I remember wearing my sister’s camouflage Chuck’s thinking I was going in the best outfit. So many things happened at that place. It’s also where the local carnival is held, so once a year, everyone would be there, from all different age groups. There would be live music, food, fairground rides etc. There are so many good memories there that are rooted in community. It’s funny going past there now, ten years after I left, I see kids still doing the same things that I used to do. It’s like a lasting local tradition, going to Elthorne Park and hanging out after school. It still has that importance.