The Problem With Circularity

We produce 92 million tonnes of textile waste globally per year, with projections rising further by 2030.
Circular fashion has a long way to go.

Voluntary schemes like Remill, has recovered over 100 tons of clothing in the first two years of opening the scheme to all brands.

This is why we don’t have a branded logo tag. So that you can recycle your tee or hoodie.

This is what recycled fashion looks like. Recovered, prepared for remanufacturing.

Asking people to change behaviour

I don’t think this is impossible, we do it all the time. Asking businesses to change, that’s another thing altogether.

Some fast-fashion retailers (you know who) add thousands of new products every day.

Which has been designed for speed, scale and profit rather than longevity, repairability or what happens once it's out in the world.

With fast fashion being increasingly the affordable choice, this is only going to get worse.

Poverty and Sustainability are linked

This is a tough one.

People living with fewer resources are often forced into behaviours that look sustainable from the outside. Having fewer options available isn’t the same thing as sustainability.

Being able to make ‘conscious choices’ is a privilege.

It shouldn’t have to be.

Does building circularity into a streetwear ARG help?

I don’t know yet. Is it going to help solve the worlds problems, probably not.
I’m bothered when business push recycling issues downstream, but in this case, downstream is where the t-shirt is.

People do need to be more invested in what they buy, how often they buy, which brands they support.

I don't know how you resolve these two conflicts.

Will change be regulated?

Many countries are developing textile waste regulations, but much of the sector still relies on voluntary participation.

Regulations are coming, but slowly.

How can a game fix this?

Well, that remains to be seen.
But if we are going to ask people to participate, then surely, we need to build something better. Not more expensive. Just with more meaning.

Not saying I’ve solved that.

Cash for recycled bottles (and t-shirts😉) aside.

Which I’m down for. But, we need so much more. Nobody has solved this yet.

I’m trying.

Conditions, Myths and Cards

You ever have that wtf have I done moment? How about several of those in a short period? Welcome to my world.

I’m pleased to say nothing is broken. Creativity is flowing.

But I have butterflies the size of chickens in my gut because now I am also a TCG designer.

Classifications in The Canis: Characters, Tokens, Conditions, Entities.

Don’t Panic

As I’ve been building this sustainable streetwear world, I have been thinking about art.

Everything you see on garment or on a physical product, I have dawn myself. In a world increasingly filled with AI-generated imagery, authenticity matters.

Like everyone else, I use AI while developing ideas. The Canis is still young. A couple of months old, give or take. Honestly, I've completely lost track of time

The cards on the site are version one mock-ups. The final thing I know will take longer, I am not even sure if people care enough to want them, so a lot remains to be seen.

I’ve been panicking about TCG’s because, I’d like our cards to be really good.

I've spent enough time around things like D&D and trading card games to know how much work goes into them. I'm not trying to dethrone Pokémon, Magic and D&D. Far from it. If anything, I'm increasingly humbled by the ridiculous amount of effort that goes into building these worlds and systems.

It’s okay, like I said, don’t panic. But I am not going to try sell you version one mock-ups just so you know. Like I said, we’ll do them properly. The same goes for the comics.

Writing The Canis

Everything is completely intertwined with The Canis, I move when it moves.

From writing the mythology to character development, it genuinely has been unfolding.
Partly through my own reverse engineering genius, and partly through completely strange moments of insight.
Like at midnight last night, suddenly thinking, we have a sun eater, we might as well have a moon eater.

Don’t ask, I have absolutely no idea what that is. (Please not another worm)
Anyway.

Okay, bye

So much to do.

Building Streetwear Mythology

I grew up in the era of gaming magazines, comics, album covers, flags and posters. I thought Gerald Brom had superhuman abilities. Mythology and fantasy were my textbooks.

I can talk to you about stories, systems and art for days. The Canis is my attempt to build mythology, collectibles, comics and game mechanics into a streetwear brand.

What’s left of what was on my wall in the 00s.

Mapping game to garment

The first part was easy, ARG mechanics slot right in, designing the characters and mythology, however, can be painfully slow.

I just spent the entire weekend drawing a new version of Sun Eater and the villain, both of which were canned. I’m torn between game iconography and art and have not stopped testing concepts.

Comic books

Accompanying the core range and TCG’s are comics. This is where the story unfolds.

The next generation of art is in progress; provided I stop canning them.
The rulebook is done, version one. The first series of cards is done as well. As the visual language evolves, so will these.

Never thought that kid cutting art and articles out of gaming mags would be designing TCG’s but, there we are.

Star maggots

Sun Eater is part of The Originals; the first batch of my old teenage art I used to start the shop. Weird, misfit art. In its own right.

Reworking this doodle into a re-usable artifact of The Canis has been one of the biggest challenges to date. Raptor is on this list as well.

Due to an obsession with cosmology (Et Al) we have star maggots and axiomatic entities.  

Building worlds

I used to complain about my to-do list. Now, I miss it.

It’s been fun and challenging but it’s the start of mythology.

ARG game mechanics, rules, cards, comics, and an evolving world all mapped to our core range.  
Can’t stop now, this giant world keeps rolling.