THE FORBIDDEN RELIGION APPAREL
Sam and Prestige presenting their latest drop; Ss19-20-s5 part 2. (Image: @yashnarendran)
The Forbidden Religion Apparel is a clothing brand made up of two young and talented boys from Liverpool. Meet Sam, the ‘mastermind’ of the duo, and Prestige, the ‘creative of the duo’ who at the age of 19 and 20 have put together an exciting future for fashion.
The duo first met in Year 6 and believe it or not, they hated each other, but became close friends after playing soccer together in Year 8.
The name is a tribute to Western Sydney area and attitude. It’s a resemblance of where you’re not needed, but wanted. It’s a religion - but it’s forbidden.
The project was born in November of 2017, after the boys decided they wanted to create a clothing brand. But, because they didn’t know anyone in the industry at the time, they were off to a rocky start.
‘The first time was a bit eh’ Sam joked. ‘But nothing comes out perfect’ Prestige follows.
After their first try, they started to watch more videos to gain inspiration and guidance on how to make designs in general, and when they put it into action, that’s when the ball started to roll. With every new season drop, they started to get better and eventually they evolved.
‘Things are going pretty well but we need consistency, with going to university and working, it’s hard because life is so fast now. It’s not like high school’ Prestige spills. ‘But, I feel like everytime we drop something we keep evolving, we keep getting better and better, like even though there might be a three to five month wait, it’s worth it’ Sam charms.
Music is a key component in their two to three week creative process, especially when it comes to curating their fashionable attire. Whether it’s for a shirt or a bucket hat or a bum bag, music plays its part. They aim to have their brand understand someone’s emotions and put it into fashion. Anime is also an inspiration.
The Forbidden Religion Apparel presents season 5 Ss19-20 Part 1. (Image: @degenerate.art)
Most of their promoting and marketing comes from release videos. Each has to resemble the specific design as much as possible. When they drop their ‘seasons’, they get a lot of their promotion and exposure off the people who vibe with their brand - and it seems as though it’s working in their favour.
They do fall victim to stock running out but just like most brands, but they don’t surrender. For them, sometimes their sales go crazy and they stress.
‘You just have to make it (the products)’ Prestige laughs.
‘For our next season, we have heaps of stock because we learned heaps from the past. Now we’re trying to plan ahead and make everything fast-paced, we’re just trying to keep going and going’ Sams says.
Sam and Prestige hope to experiment and collaborate with different rappers and sports people in the future, and with their brand being promoted recently in Jaecy’s Repeat music video, it can only be onwards and upwards from here.
The Forbidden Religion’s future goals are to evolve and expand. They hope to have pop up stands, create an event, and collaborate with bigger brands like Acid Rain and Westside.
Shop their their latest drop by using the link below, and you might want to hurry, more and more items are selling out.
https://www.tfra17.com/
Sam and Prestige presenting the season 4 collection featuring aspiring Western Sydney artists; Geraldine, Josh, Danielle, John Charles, and Emmanuel. (Image: @degenerate.art)
