Six years of sold-out drops propels Massey student’s clothing brand to more

Massey student launches new website. Photo / Supplied

Massey student and co-founder of BushLeague Finn de Hamel described the brand as “slightly above average”, with a big emphasis on community. 

The fashion label is set to open a brand-new website in early October – accompanied by its largest clothes drop yet. 

The industrial design student said, “We keep it as organic and ‘naturally us’ as possible because that's what people buy these days; they like to buy an image, they don’t want to just buy something because ‘it’s cool’.” 

He first imagined the brand with his friend Max Paterson in intermediate maths, 14 years ago. 

Their first release of 50 branded caps in 2017 sold out within two months, setting the stage for many other “sporadic” drops over the years. 

Previously, the co-founder would advertise clothing drops on his social media stories and by word-of-mouth, which would be enough to sell out. 

But it didn’t always go to plan: In year 11 the pair lost $900 dollars when their socks didn’t sell. 

“We literally had to rebuild from $100 in our account and order four shirts, because that’s all we could afford, sell them, order six shirts, sell them, that type of thing - until we built up enough money.” 

They’ve since been careful to ensure what they release will sell, with inflation also taking a toll as manufacturing hoodies had nearly doubled in price since they started, De Hamel said. 

The pair have refined BushLeague, with Paterson now handling the financial side at University of Canterbury, and De Hamel working on the creative side in his Wellington flat. 

De Hamel said the co-founders reinvest every sale back into the brand, rewarded when they see people wearing it. 

“When people are willingly wearing a T-shirt, especially in a city like Wellington where fashion is quite a thing, and this person has gone: ‘this is the shirt I want people to see me wearing today’ - that makes me really, really happy.” 

BushLeague sourced its manufacturing from China - but never used sweatshops. 

“Every time we work with a company, we ask them to send videos of the factory floor, where its most often just a bunch of bored old looking guys.” 

The brand had also used local materials, like leather from New Zealand brand Xavier Napoleon, which was sent to China for manufacturing into hats to be released this year. 

Since studying at Massey, De Hamel had “100%” noticed an upgrade in BushLeague’s designs, “being surrounded by creative people all day every day”. 

However, an industrial design student himself, he doesn’t think a fashion major is a prerequisite to work with clothes as he’s incorporating design theory from many majors into the brand. 

De Hamel said in five years they plan to be “a stable brand that's doing four drops a year and pretty widely known”, hence the new website. 

“It's definitely something I enjoy as a side hustle, almost as a creative break … purely whatever’s in my head I can do. There’s nobody telling me ‘no’ or ‘yes’ or ‘that doesn’t fit the marking criteria’.” 

He would advise others who want to create their own brand to “understand manufacturing methods” and said “you’ve got to be awfully passionate about it”. 

“You can learn so much stuff from YouTube. Where there's a will, there's a way.” 

De Hamel quoted something he heard last year: “A lack of budget forces creativity”, which he said resonated with BushLeague’s history.  

www.bushleagueofficial.com will go live early October with their biggest drop yet of hats, tees, hoodies and more. In the meantime, updates can be found on the @bushleagueoffical Instagram page.