Hamburg, June 18th 2018: We are live! Three enthusiasts from Hamburg thought about it for a while and after months of preparations, planning and working hard, INCYLENCE was born. The online shop went live and we sold our very first product: Stripes Blue was the design of choice from our very first customer.
We started with zero expectations. No one of us had any experience in fashion. What united us was the passion for the product and a common idea of what INCYLENCE should represent. We wanted to create the best possible products with fair production in Europe and cool, exciting and outstanding designs and colors. Our head of design Pavel is referring to it as “playful seriousness” – we work with geometric elements (bars, lines, dots, diagonals, …) and contrasts. As Pavel says "It is like a graphical playground, an unlimited amount of combinations of colors and shapes". Our goal is that you should recognize our socks without the logo or brand name all over the place. That is how we started and how we’re working ever since.
Who are we?
This is not supposed to be about us, but for everyone that jumped on board after we told the whole story about our background, this is for you: we are Max, Pavel and Alex. Max and Alex are from Hamburg and they are best buddies since the age of 3 or 4. Alex is a triathlete and in 2017 he was missing the perfect socks. All he could find was either great quality but quite boring designs in his eyes or a focus on the design but products that couldn’t meet the expectations for quality. “Actually you have to do it yourself” he said to his roommate Max when he dressed up for a training ride. Max was hooked immediately.
The two started to look for a designer who was passionate about the idea and product and willing to start working on the project. After several meetings with different people they knew that Pavel was the one! Born in the Czech Republic he was living in Hamburg for a while now and his portfolio was mind-blowing. We then started to work on the brand, the design language, logos, fonts, website and everything that comes with it. All of that while we had our main jobs.
Creating Memories
After a great start 4 years ago there was no point of return and we put the pedal to the metal and never took the foot from the gas ever since. We packed every single package and brought them to the post office on a daily basis for 6 months. No matter if we had a night out, a 6 hour training day or a day sick in bed. It was a fine line that we took and more than just once we went over our mental and physical capacities. Our living room was storage and office at the same time. We were at expos, we signed athletes, we created custom socks, we built new products, we hired people, we rented an office, we built a showroom.
We rarely took a breath and took a step back to realized what we did. Ideas were flowing, we barely said “no” and were driven by passion and visions in our heads. We’re doing what we think is cool and not what spreadsheets tell us to do. Projects are evaluated by coolness, community engagement and uniqueness, not by calculations.
Keeping the momentum and sticking to our values
Covid was a challenge. Plans needed to be adjusted, products were delayed, resources are limited and prices are increasing. We hired people and quit our jobs. Responsibilities increased and structures got more complex. In a way we grew up as a brand and as business people. A hobby became our livelihood. We can’t do irresponsible things all the time, but we promised ourselves to stick to our values and to keep doing what feels right.
It felt right to celebrate our birthday with a Limited Edition. We created a new packaging design and an abstract 4 and built a campaign around it. We went for 65% RECO® NYLON, which is a recycled nylon fiber, and put a special birthday patch on the right sock. This collection is a tribute to what we achieved and experienced within the last four years and a present to and from us.
We also want to say THANK YOU for your support over the last years, the feedback, conversations, criticism and shared moments. We can promise that we will extend our portfolio with exciting, fair-produced products that serve a purpose and fit in our DNA. We keep looking for the best yarns out there and get better and more sustainable year after year. We can’t wait sharing new stuff with you and create memories that last! #huntincylence #forthehunters
