A few days ago Kris Bennett announced that Square One Apparel is coming back on to the BMX scene complete with a fresh new team. Why did the man behind the brand decide to breathe new life into a company that’s been on hiatus for more than two years? We’ll let him do the explaining in this interview…
Here’s the statement taken from the Square One Facebook page:
Square One Apparel was started in 1999 by me, Kris Bennett. After many different paths it was eventually laid to rest in the Spring of 2008. Recently though, Mike Szczesny (Square One’s first ever team rider) and I made the decision to resurrect the brand. We had originally planned to hold off on the announcement until more of the things we have planned were in place. We’re just too excited about it though, so we figured why not get things started. We have a new team in place, and shirts are available now. Much, much more is in the works though, so stay tuned. Square One is back and will soon be bigger and better than ever.
The current team for 2010 is as follows:
Ryan Jordan
Mark Mullville
Brian Wizmerski
Shawn Walters
Jusin Inman
Dan Foley
Justin Simpson
Mark Potoczny
Dave Thompson
Van Homan
sq1appare.com
Now on to the interview with Kris Bennett…
When did you originally start Square One and how long was it around for?
I started Square One in 1999, and it was around until the Spring of 2008.
Why did you decide to stop doing the clothing brand, and when was that?
I think the exact month was April of ’08. I think we just took on too many projects at once, and none of them got the attention they deserved. At the time we had a bike shop, a screen printing business (Ink Division), and Square One. At times I think that the printing business and shop got a little more attention, because they offered more of an instant return. When you’re struggling to stay afloat and pay bills, that’s what you gotta go with. We just did what we had to in order to get by, and I think Square One ended up suffering as a result. It wasn’t on purpose or anything, that’s just kind of the way it went. So eventually it just got to be too much, and we threw in the towel on it. Todd, Bert, and Jason stayed there and kept Ink Division going, and they’re still doing print jobs for a lot of companies in the BMX industry, but that was the end of Square One, at least for the time being.
How long has it been off the market, and why did you decide to resurrect it?
It’s been gone for almost two and a half years now. Even when we shut it down, I always knew it would be back at some point in some capacity. It was always something I had kicking around in my head, and then a few months ago Mike Szczesny approached me. He asked if I ever thought about doing it again, and I said heck yeah! Let’s do it. It just didn’t seem right not doing it. In some way or another, good or bad, it was part of my life for ten years. I missed it. Plus, Mike and I have both gained a lot of business sense outside of BMX over the last few years, so it feels like we’re in a better position now to do things the right way and really make it work.
What does the next year or so look like for the brand and the team?
For now we just went ahead and had some designs made up and got them printed. We figured it best to just get it out there and get the ball rolling. We have a lot of bigger plans, but we didn’t want to wait to let it all hit. The plan is to kind of just roll through the rest of this year pretty loosely. We’re making plans though and 2011 is going to be our first official year back in full force. We also have a new team consisting of some of the original guys and a handful of new guys. There are still some of the original guys out there with commitments to other teams, but we’d like to try and do what we can to get back as many of those guys as we can.
Square One has some pretty notable videos in the past (Wide Awake Nightmare)… Any plans for a full-length video?
Yeah, looking back I think that our videos, or more specifically Wide Awake Nightmare, were really what made Square One what it was. I think that could be one of the mistakes we made toward the end a few years ago. It was a weird time for BMX and it was a huge debate I kept having with myself between Web content and full lengths. The conclusion I’ve come to is that the full length is still necessary…especially for companies like Square One that get their identity from their videos. The difference now is that you can’t look at a video as a profit-generating product anymore. Nowadays a full-length video is more comparable to a magazine ad than it is to a T-shirt or a hat. It’s an advertisement rather than a product, and that doesn’t necessarily make it obsolete, just a different category on the books. So after that long winded answer…no solid plans are finalized yet, but there will be a full-length video coming.
What will be new or different with your company this time around?
I think it’s important to learn from the mistakes of the past. This time around we plan to just stick with what made Square One so appealing in the first place. I had a period where I was getting too caught up in what other people wanted to see or buy. I’ve learned that we need to do our own thing and let the attitudes and personalities of the company and the team shine through. That’s what resonates with people. Not trying to keep up with the latest trends. That stuff is so transparent and it ends up being really lame.
What else should we know about Square One?
Ummm, I guess just that we’re back! We’re a company that is very strongly rooted in BMX. From a clothing standpoint, there aren’t many of those around anymore. We wanna come back and fill the void left by companies like us and Little Devil. That stuff was so badass back in the day and you don’t see many things like that anymore. There are a lot of bigger name clothing companies involved in the sport now, and that’s cool too. If they’re here for the long haul and they’re taking care of riders then that’s awesome. More power to them. I just think we can bring a brand and an image with a unique authenticity that some of those companies can’t offer, so that’s what we plan to do.
