BOLT's Top Five
As we approach a decade since we first opened our doors I thought it would be a good opportunity to look back at some of our personal highlights over the years. We have never been one to follow a strategy or a straight road and without a destination in mind its been a case of enjoying journey.
BOLT X EDIE
At the heart of what we do is design clothes and our collaboration with Edie Ashley presented the opportunity to design in a purely conceptual, artistic and importantly entirely authentic way. Our plan was to make a statement first and foremost, putting commercial restraints aside we aimed to use what we had to create as much noise as we could. There is nothing more liberating than designing without a customer in mind, and to manage your commercial anxieties in the face of creative freedoms and held beliefs. We had an amazing amount of fun over the two years and it was incredible to see our collection sold within one of Europes most prestigious shops at the end of it all.
Edie is the daughter of motorcycle rogue and respected designer Nick Ashley, and grand daughter to the infamous Laura Ashley. Our shared passion for motorcycling was the obvious starting point and we set off to create a collection of clothing that presented a homage to the heritage of motorcycling clothing and drew out the beauty within. Fashion inspired from motorcycle culture is no stranger from the cat walk but it often comes from outside, we wanted to explore the more obscure design details, from a motorcyclists attention to detail, and bring them to life. We recreated details from an old TT leather jacket from the 1930’s, a 70’s pair of scrambler pants and reimagined them in beautifully tailored garments that could grace a red carpet.
The collection was timeless, precious and rare, it was about making clothing to be appreciated, to be worn until they fell apart, repaired and worn some more. It was all about a meaningful journey and how best to navigate a way forwards that challenged the fashion industries destructive tendencies. We decided that the collection would be entirely made from found fabrics, re-using materials that already exist and creating value from that what was disregarded.
This set us off on numerous missions, we’d hear of an abandoned factory in the north being emptied by property developers and head on up to search through the haul. We came across rolls of vintage fabrics made on long lost machinery alongside boxes of old buttons and zips from the 30’s. We also visited Paris to collect the end rolls from the famous fashion houses picking up luxurious satins and crepe de chine.
We worked on the collection for over a year, often using the garage at Bolt for fittings, until we finally had a set of samples. The great thing about both Edie and her father Nick is that they have never been tamed by convention, they thrive for creating art, for doing things their own way and will never settle for anything less. We rallied around all our friends, including the incredible photographers Cole Quirk and William Watersworth, videographer Joel Kerr and a host of young and beautiful characters. Bundled together in a couple of vans we headed down to wales to shoot the collection. With a couple of motorcycles, horses, the welsh hills and bottles of home made scrumpy cider we spent a weekend fooling around. The photographs that emerged from the trip where incredible, I couldn’t have been more proud to see the collection come to life and see the spirit captured so eloquently.
The world of high fashion was new to me, and when Edie said that we should show it at Paris fashion week I couldn’t argue, everything so far along the journey had been a kick, Paris was sure to throw up some new adventure. We headed over and hired an art gallery in the heart of La Marais, overlooking a cobbled yard that felt reassuringly similar to our own space in London. The gallery was curated to present the clothes amongst the photography, films and an installation we had made, we wanted the clothing and art to balance in equal measures.
We had brought all our motorcycles to Paris with us, as well as tasty Mk1 Escort wide body estate which had been dolled up with a hand cut Bolt x Edie Livery. For the next ten days we raced around the city on our bikes, drank beers in the yard, and threw a great opening party that created a stir amongst the locals. The show was a success and we were soon approached by Matches Fashion who not only bought the collection but featured us as one of there five new designers for 2020.
On our return to London we started to plan for our launch at Matches Mayfair concept store, an incredible appointment only five story affair just off Berkley Square. We were to share the event with the brand Art School who had some wild plans for the party, including sourcing ten ex-playboy bunnies who were to be dressed as zombies. The event was planned for the 20th of March 2020, and as it turned out this was just a few days after the world ground to a halt with the onset of the pandemic and the first lock down. Unfortunately our launch never happened, and with the disruption over the next few years we decided to call time on the collaboration. It felt like we had a achieved what we set out to do, we made a collection, took it to Paris and sold it to a world class store.
2 . Bolt x Budvar
It started with a random phone call from an old school friend, someone from my childhood, and someone I had lost contact with since i changed schools aged 9. It wasn’t till I had met them a short time later when the reason came to light. He now worked in PR and his client, Czech brewery Budvar wanted us to build them a custom motorcycle and drive it to the brewery, some 1500 miles away in south bohemia. A crazy build and a road trip sounded like too much fun to turn down, it was a no brainer, let’s go!
We agreed to do the trip if we could use our own film crew to document it so myself and my friend, film producer Mark Gostick were flown over to South Bohemia to experience the local culture in Cesky Krumlov, a Unesco world heritage site. The old town built in the shadow of a gothic castle dated back to medieval times and it felt like little had changed since. As with each of our meetings with my school friend there was copious amounts of alcohol and before long him, and his partner in PR were ridiculously drunk ordering round after round of cocktails. It didn’t take long before things had gotten out of control, they had gotten so drunk one had collapsed outside in the snow whilst the other was dangerously close to upsetting the other locals in the bar. We took them back to the hotel and then returned to the bar with a sigh of relief, we were welcomed back with a round of free drinks.
On our return to London we set about finding a suitable motorcycle for the build, we had decided it had to be a JAWA to pay homage to the breweries heritage and finding one was rare, let alone one that could do a 1500 mile trip. Never the less we found an old CZ and with the help of Jake Robbins of Vintage engineering in Hastings we turned it into a hard tailed bobber. When finished we showed it at the Bike Shed show, raced it at Malle and gave it a final few test runs before we set off on the big trip to Czech.
Everything started well, and we soon made it to Amsterdam where we were greeted with a party at Rusty Gold Motorshop with our good friend Zoran. A snapped cable was easily fixed and the next morning we continued on into Germany. Some really heavy days riding, little sleep and more and more issues with the bike saw us finally roll into Prague with a blown engine.
It was obvious from the outset that pushing a vintage 250cc two stroke engine to its limit on a 1500 mile journey was never going to be without issues, especially when we had to rely on our completely inept and light fingered Italian mechanic. Anyhow this was only ever going to be the start of a great adventure, no one watches Top Gear to see them successfully complete their tasks do they? it’s how you overcome obstacles that makes it interesting. In between a heavy night drinking with Stan from the Denim Heads store we called around everyone we could who might have an engine and a garage to work from. Somehow we found a Farmer who had one just a few miles from the city, and then a garage in the former site of the original Jawa factory to fix it.
The owner of the garage had died just two days earlier, and he just happened to be the chief engineer for Jawa and in charge of their racing division over the years. His son and grandson greeted us, and despite the difficult time agreed to help us on our mission. We were shown their fathers workshop which had two TT winning Jawas on the work bench and the entire racing history of the company within the memorabilia on the walls. We added the new engine, welded up a custom 2 into one exhaust and set off the next morning for south bohemia.
We finally made it to the town of Budweiss when the battery gave way, literally a few miles from the brewery. One final hack later and we had gaffer tape as many household batteries as we could together and wired it to the bike like a home made bomb. It was enough power to run the lights but the engine kicked over, we were at least moving but we couldn’t stop or the engine would die for good. The final few miles required riding in the dark without lights, running every red light, including one rather hairy motorway junction before the brewery final came into sight. The barriers were down with a military guard, there was no way I was stopping now, I raced past followed by half a dozen other bikes. We had made it and we drank ourselves silly straight from the brewery pipes.
3. Black Deer Festival
The invitation to host a stage at a music festival came out of the blue and with the promise of large budget to realise any ambitions it really did seem to good to be true. We visited the site, an ancient forrest and deer reserve close to tumbridge Wells and it really couldn’t have been any more idyllic. It was an uncanny dry spell in the week leading up to the event as we helped out around the site putting the finishing touches to our area. At the centre was a 400 capacity stage indoor venue in the style of a motorcycle road house bar. A large L shaped stage created an outdoor stage the was encircled with a exhibition of vintage cars and motorcycles from The Baron’s Speedshop, Foundry Motorcycles and Paul Eastwards 1940’s Ford F100 pick up which we had painted up in a incredible Bolt livery by Ged Palmer over the weekend.
The Friday night went off really well, The Picture Books played a blinding headline set and as the late night venue and the only place on site with a 2am license ended with a packed crowd dancing to selection of rock n roll dj’s. Whilst the festival felt like a rather oddly curated collage of Americana it had brought together some characters. Next to our area were two old boys making noise with a bull whip, riding horses and spinning tricks with a lasso. They lived an authentic ranch lifestyle, rearing horses the old fashion way and riding motorcycles somewhere nearby in the south downs. I got to judge a bbq contest and having plate after plate of expertly cooked and artistically presented ribs was about the best way to recoup from the night before. Saturday and the Sunday saw a whole heap bands grace our stage, the days were sunny and built into long nights.
It was some time near day break on Monday morning by the time we had loaded our van to bursting point with three motorcycles, a giant light box and marquees. As we inched our way over the fields towards the festival exit you could hear the groan of metal upon metal, heavy objects jilted over the bumps and each noise sounded potentially expensive. The sun was soon to be coming up and the security guards had enforced a site wide curfew, if we wanted to go home we’d have to navigate our way out without being seen. I’m not sure who it was that had said a right when it should have been a left but before long we were deep in a forrest. Things gradually got worse and before long we were facing a gruesome looking muddy track that lead steeply down hill before us. Before I could say well we ain’t making that my friend Rui confirmed that there was no way we could turn the van around, it was onwards or we were stranded. I thought of the hours of work that we had put into the three custom bikes in the back, took a deep breath and signalled to head on. The weight in the back put extra pressure on the brakes, which were already struggling against thick mud, we came sliding down to the bottom before gassing it up the bank on the other side. We had made it, only to continue into the forest, we knew it wasn’t the right way, just the only way. The canopy of trees eventually gave way and we pulled out into a field, beyond which was a road. The only thing between us and freedom was a gate, and after all we had been through I was quite happy to go full Dukes of Hazzard and smash our way out, we gassed it again. And then in a moment of pure magic it just opened before us, like the very hand of god had come to our aid, or maybe a sensor, either way I was ecstatic to be going home.
4. The Hang Out
It wasn’t long into the first Pandemic that we started to think about how we could create a social event that abided by all the health and safety regulations that had been put in place. Whilst we didn’t doubt the severity of the situation we felt that the isolation and the strain on mental health was something we could impact upon. We knew that the space at Bolt was limited, to be precise, only 8 people were permitted in the yard at any one time. We needed somewhere big, it had to be outside yet weather proofed, and everyone had to remain in controlled groups of six or less.
After some thought it came to us, an outdoor cinema that showed alternative motorcycle inspired films. We worked with Chris from Reel Rebel Cine Club and purchased a giant inflatable screen, then some speakers and eventually Chris went on to buy a Vespa Ape and take it on the road. Alongside the film we served cocktails alongside a classic texan BBQ, curated speakers and photography exhibitions and a line up DJ’s to finish the night. A diet of of the news and netflix, home cooking and zoom calls had left a social and cultural vortex which we aimed to fill with our monthly “The Hang Out” events.
It was on my Birthday in August 2019 when we kicked off the first event at a old road house on the outskirts of London. The wooden shack was originally a military building and had all the charms of a mid-western 1950’s roadside bar, it was obvious we had to show “The Wild One”. About an hour before we launched the skies opened up and a fierce down pouring looked to put an end to things before they had even started. We sat at the bar with the rain drumming down on the porch outside when the first group of dishevelled riders turned up, it was on! We managed to build a makeshift bivvie from bar umbrellas and tarp, we huddled up on benches beneath, and settled in to watch the film. It turned out to be a great night despite the rain, no one complained, we had done something and at the time that in itself was precious.
We knew The Hang Out was going to be popular so we sourced a new venue, the incredible Silver Building, a brutalist concrete structure that overlooked the thames and took in the most awe inspiring views across London. Over the next twelve months we would fill the space with vintage cars and motorcycles whilst we ate, drank, danced and chatted, we rarely paid the films much attention at all. We’d set up under the giant overpass that amplified the revving engines, it felt like a scene from the futuristic cityscapes of Akira.
We ran The Hang Out once a month through out the pandemic and caught up with hundreds of friends at a time when we all needed it most. We managed to navigate all the regulations, even taking the event entirely online with home cook dinner and cocktail kits. That one was admittedly a bit shit but I am glad we gave it a go, there was literally nothing else happening at the time.
5. Press
Since starting our approach has always been to never pay for press. The money spent on adverts was surely better spent on doing something which could be written about later. Advertising relies on selling ideals and we wanted to tell a story grounded in reality. We have been fortunate to have had a great deal of support since the beginning from both the motorcycle and menswear press. I have to say a special thanks to Built Magazine and Mensfile / Clutch Japan who have been along with us consistently since our conception ten years ago.
Our feature as Cult shop in the Financial Times who to spend it magazine felt like an achievement, and reinforced our commitment to doing things differently. My favourite compliment was from Vanity Faire who described Bolt as a ‘modern day Alfred Dunhill’. Their incredible heritage and refined understated style is surely something we aspire to even if we never get the opportunity to have our name on cigarettes.
We made a series of short films during the build and ride out with our collaboration with Budvar which did well. It’s amazing we got it finished and started thinking back to how uncomfortable I am in front of a camera. The number of takes it took for me to just introduce myself and say my name would have driven any director mad. After a few months of release the PR team counted up over 1.3 million views which accounted to Budvar’s most successful campaign.