Maker | Swark
Ben Ashby
We recently fell in love with the brand Swark. They are shirt designers from Europe. We asked if they'd share a bit of their story and their brand....
We are two girls from Tallinn, Estonia, a hidden gem of Northern Europe. We are in a constant search for adventures, challenges and the awesome little things that make the day. Based on our philosophy that every day can be a fun day, we created a lifestyle brand SWÄRK – men’s button-up shirts with a twist. The name SWÄRK comes from an Estonian word “särk”, which means “a shirt” - as it’s more than just a shirt it’s a swärk.
We believe in the secret power of colorful socks. And just as the right pair of socks can lift the mood, a right shirt can too. That’s the kind of shirt we wanted to create – a nicely fitting button-up that feels great to wear and lasts plus has this ”secret power”. We want guys to always feel the “It’s my day!” vibe when wearing one of our shirts.
And why would two girls make shirts for guys? We had made so many clothes for ourselves before and it just seemed natural to follow a new direction for a change. Plus digging into a whole new world of “shirtology” seemed challenging and exciting.
Finding a manufacturer that shared our values was quite a journey, but we were lucky to find our ”jackpot” – a local company who is easy to work with and pays as much attention to quality as we do. And most importantly: we can be close to the whole process and work with real people. It’s a lot about supporting our local community too, especially being from such a small place.
Working with loads of different people is the best part of our job. It’s awesome to discover an inspiring print by a young designer and next see it on one of our shirts. There’s a lot of that kind of excitement created by the people around us. Not only by the ones we work together with, but also the ones sharing the SWÄRK spirit. And the excitement is what keeps us going. It really does feel more like a community than a brand.
