Shibori Threads Is Heavy Music’s New Fast Rising Streetwear Brand

Since its foundation, the heavy music scene has consistently fallen short in delivering high quality and long lasting merchandise apparel. In fact, it’s safe to assume that most fans of heavy music can share similar anecdotes of disappointment, specifically with buying a band t-shirt only to discover its boxy and uncomfortable fit, not mention its colorless design. While this routinely common scenario is still prevalent throughout today’s scene, the marketing and design behind band merchandise is beginning to change considerably.

Much of this change can be found in the Canadian streetwear brand, Shibori Threads. Founded by Kyle Anderson and Leo Valeri, who are also members of the newly popularized extreme metal outfit Brand of Sacrifice, the duo started Shibori Threads with the intention of producing highly personalized and long lasting florescent band apparel. In keeping with the norm of other high-end streetwear brands, Shibori Threads has primarily focused on outputting limited apparel drops. However, the major difference between Shibori and other boutique brands is Shibori Threads is rooted in heavy music culture — the brand started and continues to operate in a collaborative manner with some of modern metal’s finest acts.

From legendary bands like Killswitch Engage to more recent artists like Spiritbox, Shibori Threads has worked with a myriad of metal bands in producing what’s likely the artists’ most well crafted and unique garments to date. In doing so the small brand has garnered significant traction over the last year with routinely climbing to the top 1% of global Shopify stores during drop periods, and grossing an estimated $1.1 million in sales over 2021. It’s no question that what Shibori Threads is touting is a stark contrast from what’s long been considered the tradition in heavy music merchandising. However, Shibori Threads has only proved their brand and products to be a welcomed and necessary change to the world of metal apparel.

Speaking with Shibori Threads founders Kyle Anderson and Leo Valeri, the brand owners discuss what inspired them to start this metal streetwear brand, how the collaborative process works, and why florescent garments makes sense for metal music.

So how’d things start for Shibori Threads, what inspired you to start a boutique metal streetwear brand? 

Kyle Anderson: We had sort of experimented with some custom dye garments with our own band, Brand of Sacrifice. We found that there was a want and desire in the scene for other bands to have some more colorful and interesting designs, but there wasn’t really an outlet for it. So we just decided to collaborate with some bands we had toured with, and we found that was extremely successful for a launch and then it started to snowball and we had many people reaching out to us. But I think it came from finding a gap in the market, specifically with custom dye garments. 

Leo Valeri: Before we even started Shibori, Kyle and I both shared a love of streetwear and men’s fashion in the alternative scene. Like Kyle said, with all of our peers’ bands their merch was all black with a generic design. I think you’ll find that even today that seems to be the ‘meta,’ so when we started to introduce some of this more colorful custom dye merchandise with Brand of Sacrifice, we saw the spike in interest and it just snowballed from there.

Objectively speaking, well-crafted florescent apparel hasn’t been tradition for heavy music. Were you surprised with how large the demand for Shibori Threads ended up being?

LV: Yeah I’m consistently surprised, especially with the growth every time we do a drop. Early on it was pretty interesting to notice how many people took an interest to colorful tie dye in metal, because it was so uncommon. But if you really think about it the music that metal musicians make it’s very energetic and colorful in its sound, so I think it’s a natural match to put out apparel that fits that sound. Since then the growth has been consistently astonishing, and it’s really humbling to see the popularity rise. 

KA: I think what you’re saying when it comes to merch, the quality typically isn’t really there. You see a lot of Gildan branded boxy t-shirts, and I think people want some higher quality soft garments that are going to last the test of time and fit the way they want them to. We took the time and built up the infrastructure utilizing a number of different factories and companies to source the cotton that we would want to wear. It’s all custom, it’s all cut and sow, so we take that extra step to really give someone something that they’re going to be able to want to wear for a long period of of time, and it’s still going to be bright and vibrant and fit just how you like it. 

You’ve worked with a number of artists within the metal scene. What was the initial process like when you first started collaborating with bands?

LV: Well starting out, like we said it was just basically us reaching out to our friends saying “hey we’re starting this company, we’d love to have you guys be involved in a pilot and get us off the ground, and we’ll make you some amazing merch and your fans will be really happy,” and of course they’d get a big part of the proceeds as well. I think another sort of facet to this passion project was the ability to pay it forward to the bands during COVID when touring wasn’t necessarily something everybody was able to do, especially at the height of COVID when it first began. I think fans were looking at different ways to support their favorite artists during that time because they weren’t on the road. This was an excellent way for them to do that, by getting a collectors item from your favorite band and something that you can hold on to forever, and it’s bespoke, it’s completely unique, what you have is yours and nobody else has it. So we just started reaching out to our friends and as popularity grew through word of mouth, the Shibori Threads brand name started to spread. Eventually we started building a network with folks who manage these bands and became friends with those people, and so I think it was just a natural growth progression to sort of building that network and expanding it to the point where it is today. 

How does the collaboration process end up working now? Do the artists help formulate the clothing designs in any capacity?

KA: I say we would typically pitch an idea to them and if they like it they’ll jump on board immediately, and that’s often the case. For example, we decided how cool would it be to give a band like Dance Gavin Dance, who’s a post-hardcore style band, a black metal design. They were totally on board with it because they’d never done anything like that. Then there’s often other times where bands will want to utilize other brand identities that fit their most recent record, and we change it and accommodate in that case, but often it’s from my brain or Leo’s brain and usually they’re on board with it.

How many bands in the scene have expressed interests to collaborate with Shibori Threads so far? What bands are on your wishlist to work with?

LV: I mean I definitely have a wishlist and I think this year we’ve already crossed off a few and they’ll be coming later. One in particular I really want to work with is Slipknot. I think we could do something super crazy for Slipknot, but we’re also taking a step back and looking outside of heavy music. Kyle and I are big gamers, so we’re looking at some of the bigger gaming franchises to work with this year. We’re just looking at other aspects of pop-culture and seeing how we can incorporate some of that metal identity into some of their brand identities and designs. But yeah, I think from just an artist stand point Slipknot would be a great one, and there are a few others I can’t touch on yet because they’re not announced but we’re crossing them off. Definitely some big artists we’re happy to be working with.

Do you ever envision Shibori Threads collaborating with other music genres or non-extreme music bands?

KA: I think we’d be happy to work with any band in any genre. When it comes to the example of Dance Gavin Dance, well they are a heavy band in some ways and they’re sort of the prototype to working with a pop artist that wants to have a metal flare with a tie dye design. I think that’s something that could definitely be done and I think it’d be very interesting for that fanbase. Whether it’s a pop artist or hip-hop artist, that’s something we’re highly interested in and we’re trying to make those things happen. There’s a few on the list that Leo and I have that are outside of the metal world for sure. 

Has the success of the merch business spilled over to your band in any significant way, or vice-versa?

LV: Well I think so, I think both ways. I’m pretty sure most of the folks who listen to Brand of Sacrifice know we also run Shibori Threads, and I think because of that they’re more inclined to support us and pick up some cool gear. And at the same time I think when you’re at a show and you see someone wearing a Shibori Threads hoodie or a sweat suit, people are going to ask about that. I think that clothing can be a really cool gateway into music, and I think it has been historically, so we love contributing to that in the scene where we can create something that’s completely unique and will peak people’s interest, and it’ll potentially get them into artists that they never would have listened to before.

Overall, what’s the dichotomy been like between being successful business owners whilst also being members of a prominent up and coming extreme metal band?

LV: It’s definitely been interesting and time consuming, but in a good way. I think in some ways it’s almost like living two different lives because with the band there’s a facet of creative expression in terms of the music, and then when we’re talking about Shibori Threads we have to think creatively when it comes to designing the merch. Running an apparel business during COVID can be really challenging, I envy some of the other streetwear brands that were able to start up well before COVID because there’s a lot of differing constraints that you have to work within. But I mean, both the band and Shibori Threads, the way they’re growing it’s really exciting. We get to sort of think outside the box in the way that we market both projects, and come up with ideas for collaborations and things like that. I think in some ways they work in tandem because we featured Brand of Sacrifice in Shibori drops before, and we’re going to do so again with our upcoming drop. It’s definitely interesting, it can be stressful sometimes but in a good way. 

KA: Prior to this I was on the road for about two months straight with BOS from October to December, and every single night I saw Shibori Threads clothing. So I think that’s a really cool sign and while they’re almost two separate lives in the way we were talking about it regarding creativity, it’s cool to see them come together when you’re actually physically at a show in the metal scene.