Having already called on the talents of Daily Paper and Places + Faces, Havana Club continues their successful run of collaborating with the best of Europe's streetwear brands by launching their latest collection with German newcomers PREACH. Having only been founded by Julian Lutz & Asem Chaudhary in 2019, the brand is steadily building a solid back catalog and continuing its mission of making their brand as accessible to the people as possible. By providing desirable streetwear staples that the 'bank account can handle', PREACH wants to create a culture and community you don't have to be rich to be a part of.
Under the capsule name of Fearless, PREACH has produced a summer-ready collection drenched in pastel tones, featuring references to Havana Club, photographic prints, and PREACH's signature handwritten touches. Experimenting with the idea of 'repainting the old walls with new ideas'. A Havana Club collaboration would of course not be complete without a re-working of their iconic Havana Club 7 rum bottle label, which PREACH has done expertly. Incorporating a distinctly harbor side tile graphic and reworking the famous Havana club Giraldilla statue logo that is also featured throughout the collection.
PREACH co-founder Julian Lutz checked into our Berlin HQ to discuss the collection and how starting his career as a nurse has benefitted his journey into streetwear.
What was the catalyst for starting PREACH?
Everything is now so high priced. I really didn't like it because there are more and more people, youngsters, and professionals that don’t have that much money to just buy a T-shirt, for example, for 200 euros.
And there should be something... What else can I buy when I don't want to spend that kind of money but still want to have the aesthetics, comfort, and quality. That was missing in the market 100% and we really wanted to offer that. That's how everything started one year ago.
You are using the name Fearless for your collection with Havana club, explain the concept behind this?
The name Fearless came with the development of our own collections, which is somehow like a timeline. We started with the Birth collection. There's an idea that there's a beginning for everything – when an event or idea becomes a belief or course of action. It's an evolving process. Now there is the Fearless Collection which has been inspired by our shared community with Havana Club. When you move into a new city, especially if you're a young person, you're really uncertain of yourself. You see people around your age doing crazy stuff, and you're searching for your place, but you have to be fearless.
We should not fear expressing ourselves. The way I grew up you have to be like this, this, this, this, this and you cannot be out of the box. I see that kind of development in the younger generations right now. Everyone's thinking that we have to force ourselves to think out of the box and grab the opportunity to branch out and do whatever you want to do, like me, I was a nurse and now I'm doing fashion.
A nurse?
I grew up in a small town. I had to move away as soon as I finished school, so I worked as a nurse for four years. During that time, I was not even close to working in fashion.
How does the nursing experience crossover into your world now?
It's the way I approach almost every day, especially if you're growing a brand or a company it can be really stressful and you have to travel a lot. I'm grateful for everything I have done. I am one of the happiest guys because I had the opportunity to build something I really wanted. I can create, I know that I'm healthy. That, to me is the most important thing, and that I can give back to people. That's how it influences me the most. Whenever I get to know someone, I give them a chance. For example, we had a shooting and one of the models is studying graphic design, so as soon as she wants to do something like a small collection or whatever the doors are open.
Your color palette for the new collection has some heavy summer vibes, where did the inspiration for this come from?
The colors are taken from the sunset. If you look at the sun, at a certain point you see all the colors in the sunset. Also if there are clouds, you get that reddish kind of coral color coming through them, and you have the light blues and the purples. Color always brings some kind of hope that's why we put in heavily into the collection. Where there's color there's hope, so the idea is to believe that you can do whatever you want to do.
I like how you adapted the Havana logo into the collection.
The statue's name is Giraldilla. She was the wife of a governor who was on a journey to discover new territories. Every evening she went to the top of a tower from where she could overlook the sea in the hope of seeing her husband return. Unfortunately, he never returned. Nowadays, the figure is a symbol of hope and love. In this collaboration, the figure stands for a generation full of hope and with a straightforward approach to change and breaking old habits and structures.
You have this interesting conceptual message coming through your collection and the marketing about ‘repainting old walls’. What’s the thinking behind this?
Everything nowadays is new, new, new, new and new. Me, personally, I like the old stuff. I love old buildings. I love also old figures, museums, paintings, whatever. So the idea is to take what's existing and repaint it with new ideas. Repainting the walls is what you see also in Havana. People paint everything to make it more colorful, they basically take what's given and renew it. The whole idea is not to force or to create something new all the time, but to use what's given and make it yours.
So that's the idea behind what we try to do. We don't want to implement something new. Be humble and brave enough to do whatever you feel like. There will be people who will fight against it and there will be people who will support you. But as long as you believe in it, you're the only person you need to convince.
Check out the lookbook and video above and head over to Havana Club to buy the limited edition PREACH bottle and shop the collection at PREACH. Add PREACH & Havana Club on Instagram for further news and drops from the brands.
