Lucas loves unique brands

The campus is sometimes just like a catwalk. Students talk about what they wear and why. This time: Lucas prefers clothes from small brands with a story.

Lucas (21) is not the only one wearing something from the brand Nude Project, but the large peaches on his back make him stand out from the crowd. The Business Analytics & Management student is wearing the black hoodie with white jeans and Adidas Sambas. He has just moved here from Belgium and enthusiastically talks about his hoodie, which he found on Vinted for 41 euros.

“Nude Project is a Spanish brand that was founded less than ten years ago”, Lucas explains. “During my bachelor’s, I went on an exchange to Porto and saw that friends there were going to new shops. Instead of big brands such as H&M and C&A, they went to tiny start-ups. I thought that was really cool. When we travelled to Spain, we went to Nude Project shops. They had really unique clothes that were slightly different from the status quo.” New clothes from the brand cost more than 100 euros, so Lucas often looks for second-hand bargains.

‘Unique’ brands are in. Small start-ups that were founded by young men in major European cities in recent years, and mainly sell jumpers and T-shirts with simple illustrations. Guys at the university are shunning big shops and shopping at brands such as Bram’s Fruit, New Amsterdam Surf Association and Suspicious Antwerp. “Suspicious is quite popular now”, Lucas says. “I feel a bit basic or something when I wear it. But I still like the clothes.” In the meantime, he continues to look for new brands that nobody knows. His T-shirt is from the French brand 64. “It’s a very small brand from the Basque Country. I met the owner himself when I was in his shop.”

If he can, Lucas prefers to buy his clothes at a special moment. Such as his beaded bracelet, which he bought last year when he got a spontaneous tattoo while in Portugal. At 3am, he and his friends got a tattoo artist out of bed, but because Lucas had alcohol in his system, he had to wait until the next morning to have three birds tattooed on his thigh. “The tattoo artist knew someone who made this bracelet and I quite liked it. I’ve worn it ever since, so I’m surprised it’s still there.”

When necessary, Lucas shops online. He needed a raincoat after losing his old one. “I’ve just bought one, but it won’t arrive for another four to six weeks. It’s from Buchan, which is a very small brand. It looks like a normal raincoat, but when it rains, a leopard print appears.”