Yes No Maybe

Yes No Maybe is a London-based streetwear label, established by Ben Farleigh in 2004.

The brand produces t-shirts, sweatshirts, headwear, and accessories featuring original designs by Farleigh and other designers, as well as images taken from popular culture. A number of Farleigh’s designs play with the idea of indecision suggested by the brand name. Many of Yes No Maybe’s products are finished by hand, using spray painting or bleaching techniques.

Collaborations

Yes No Maybe has collaborated with a number of designers and manufacturers. The New Era Cap Company has been producing caps for Yes No Maybe since 2006.
Manchester singer-songwriter Gideon Conn always wears Yes No Maybe hats and t-shirts in performance. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsfTklAA_DE] Yes No Maybe produces official Gideon Conn merchandise, [http://www.yesnomaybe.co.uk/products.aspx?search=gideon%20conn] and Conn designed YNM’s “Ransom” t-shirt.Artist and toy designer Candykiller has produced several designs for Yes No Maybe.Glamour model and writer Alex Sim-Wise appeared in a Yes No Maybe photoshoot in 2007.The label features a design from prolific UK “scribble artist” Jon Burgerman.Yes No Maybe has produced a cap to support Chanty Poe’s 2008 debut album, “Yeahh”. [http://www.punxsoundcheck.de/news/?cat=2]

Inventions

The “Streetglam” range is created using a secret bleaching technique; each piece is individually created by hand. This was first pioneered in 2005.In 2007, Farleigh created the 4-way t-shirt, which can be worn inside out and back to front. Farleigh also designed the New Era 59Fifty Velcro Patch cap in 2008. [http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/blog/?p=8513]

Early History

Having graduated from De Montfort University with a 2:1 in Product Design in 2002, Farleigh started experimenting with t-shirt designs, using obsolete screen printing equipment inherited from his father’s business. Most early prints featured designs scavenged from books and comics, and included the phrase “Yes No Maybe” as a slogan. Farleigh continued by experimenting printing on other items of vintage and second-hand clothing, such as dinner shirts and boiler suits.

Keep Calm and Carry On

This World War II poster design introduced by the Ministry of Information in 1939 and was rediscovered by the owner of Barter Books, one of Britain’s largest second-hand bookstores, in a box of old books from a customer’s attic. [http://www.barterbooks.co.uk/keepcalm.php] Yes No Maybe is the original producer of the Keep Calm and Carry On t-shirt, which first appeared in 2004.

References

External Links

http://www.yesnomaybe.co.uk/ Yes No Maybe homepage

http://www.feedmecoolshit.com/2006/07/yesnomaybe/ Feed Me Cool Shit