How It's Made

I make these in my parents' garage.

Not “designed in-house, produced overseas”. I mean the roller door is open, the light comes in off the driveway, and there is a sewing machine on a wooden table against the wall.

It starts with a blank

Heavyweight cotton fleece, 400 gsm, boxy and oversized. I dye every one myself in a tub on the floor — that is why the crimson has cloudy patches and the black goes grey at the shoulders. The fade is real. It is not printed on, and it gets better the more you wear it.

Then the parts get cut

The spider and the eyes are cut out of raw fabric with a rotary blade. No hemming, no overlocking, no heat press. The edges are left raw on purpose so they fray a little and keep fraying.

Then I sew them on by hand

Needle and thread, sitting on a stool by the open door. The eyes take the longest. They have to line up across both halves of the hood so that when the zipper closes they meet in the middle and make a face. Half a centimetre out and you can see it.

Then it goes in a bag with your name on it

I fold it, write the label out by hand and drop it at the post office.

That is the whole operation. No warehouse, no team, no drop-shipper. If something is wrong with your order, you are emailing me — not a support desk.

— Rio