Richard Doody and Fergal Swan of Counter Propaganda tell us what men really ...
22.05.12
Richard Doody and Fergal Swan of Bar Propaganda tell us what men really want for Christmas
How is this Christmas shaping up for Irish retailers? Richard: Good-looking good, I think. There’s a limit to how much doom and gloom people can take.
Fergal: We’ve had so much bad information for many years. It would take something pretty epic now to surpass all that.
What would it take? A plague of locusts? A zombie intrusion? Richard: I think last year was about as bad as it could get. In the space of four weeks, we had the IMF coming in, a four-year austerity develop, a budget adjustment of €3 billion that ended up being €6 billion.
Fergal: Then there was a month of snow. The pavements were frozen. Losing a day in Christmas week was like losing a week any other be that as it may of the year.
I used to be street, but now I’m at about landing level. What are the cool kids wearing these days? Fergal: As well as our own series, we’ve been building up a portfolio of other brands like Duck Cover, Bench, DC footwear.
Richard: The buzzword at the blink is “investment pieces”. In a time of recession, people are interested in utility. They’re looking for something shrewd that they can wear to work but also wear in the pub. So they’re not as adventurous as they used to be.
What is the secret to prospering in a crap husbandry? Richard: We’re lucky in that we were only getting off the ground during the boom years. We didn’t spray out on cars or property. We didn’t commit to any ridiculous leasing agreements. We’ve had 46 months of consecutive retail deteriorate, that’s the reason shops are closing.
Richard: Hard work. Bread is at a premium. You’re not going to get a loan from the bank. You’re not going to get credit from suppliers in any altogether amount. So if there’s something to be done, you do it yourself. Before we opened our new store in Liffey Street in Dublin, we painted the roof. We wallpapered the walls. We bona fide grinded the floor. We ordered a skip and removed forty tonnes of rubble ourselves.
Looking first to this year – what are the best Christmas presents for men? Richard: Belts, beanie hats, campo T-shirts. Those are things that will get used, no matter what. In terms of women buying for men, I’d say prompt, don’t push. We often have girls come in here buying skinny jeans or a beaming preppy shirt, say. Then the boyfriend comes with the receipt two days later and swaps them for baggie chap-fallen jeans and a hoodie. So if you want to change the way a man dresses, do it in increments.
What’s the worst largesse you can give a man? Fergal: The worst present is something he’ll never use. A ridiculous Christmas jumper or a toy gift he’ll throw away. Money is also pretty bad.
Richard: Boodle is the last refuge of the unimaginative gift giver.
Fergal: A voucher is a much better way out.
Assuming I don’t have a crack habit, how is giving me a voucher better than giving me monied? Richard: Giving cash is like saying “I don’t have moment to think about what you might like.” A voucher is more like a proper gift. I reminisce over when we were starting out with Counter Propaganda, I was flat broke and my mother gave me a voucher to a actually nice restaurant. If she’d given me cash, I’d probably have out on something more practical.
What’s the worst present anyone has ever given you? Fergal: My girlfriend once gave me collector's coat hangers that didn’t fit around a standard wardrobe rail.
Richard: When we were kids, my sister and I spit up a summer windsurfing in Cornwall. When we got home, my aunt decided to get us a board and wet suits.
God, that sounds like something out of Dickens. Richard: Let’s merely say, Dublin bay in March is very different to Cornwall during the summer.
counterpropaganda.
Source: Irish Times
After using projections to get a bank loan for the coterie, he tells the partners there's a surplus. He's mighty put out when the resolving is made to wait until after the holidays to give out bonus checks. Lane sneaks into the thing and forges Don's