Brand Profile: Spacecraft Clothing

mike lewis

• June 23 2009
• 1,596 views
• 2 comments

Hoffman caught doing his best pirate impersonation by Patrick Lennox Wright’s photobooth.

A trip to Spacecraft’s Seattle office is a pretty far out voyage into the minds of its designers and creators, who are definitely on their own trip. The journey begins long ago at a resort not so far away.  Founder Stefan Hoffman snapped a photo of an old snow cat at Alpental and began making stickers with variations on the theme. Hoffman says he was “fascinated by the idea that an image or object could contain intrinsic value; archetypal images as a kind of visual archeology of the mind.” A deep thought that became viral as Hoffman’s stickers began showing up across town, the country, and the globe.

The idea gained momentum as Hoffman traveled the globe, landing in Bali where he connected with the local culture and began working with family-owned studios to create shirts and stickers, before eventually hooking up with a Balinese mountain co-op that made knitted wares, giving birth to the Spacecraft beanies that have become the companies calling card.

In 2002 Sarah O’Brien-Parker and Hoffman joined forces to ramp things up and its beanies, shirts, and accessories have touched down on a growing number of retailers’ shelves, particularly in the Northwest and Canada.

With its growing number of accounts, the Spacecraft crew has reached a tipping point. Demand has shot up and production and sourcing have become increasingly difficult in remote Bali. To meet these challenges head on, Spacecraft has added two new members, with deep roots in the business and apparel communities, to its executive team and is branching out into unchartered territories. Kari Cassidy-Diercks, who was previously VP Corporate Sales with publisher Compendium, Inc., has joined her long time friends at Spacecraft as Chief Operating Office, and Paul Mainwaring, who joins the crew as VP, Production and Merchandising, drawing on his experience with Saks 5th Ave, Urban Outfitters, and Born to name a but a few.

Spacecraft is also currently looking for new production facilities and expanding its distribution, working with Ultimate Distribution in Canada, Sanskrit and FYI in Japan, Wave Distribution in Italy, and Sport Factor in Australia. All of these changes are focused on the brands lift off into new categories, deeper lines, and higher quality, more versatile materials.

“It’s a fresh challenge, but one that is easy to stand behind,” says Sales & Marketing Manager Ryan Davis. “Moving forward, we will still have a base in Bali and work with our partners to make amazing things, the only difference will be that we are adding new depth to our line with high quality woven’s, shorts and fleece that you should expect from a growing brand. It really is a win-win for us and our customers. We will make the products that we dream of and make them better than we ever have. Hopefully we just gain better resources to make the things happen that we can just dream of now.”

When we stopped by the Spacecraft office recently for the Sticker Gallery Release Party, the crew’s energy surrounding the recent changes (not to mention the party) was lighting the place up. We sat down with Cassidy-Diercks (KCD) and Mainwaring (PM) to learn more about their plans for kicking in the company’s second stage boosters in a tough economic time that Spacecraft is making every effort to look down on from a higher orbit.

Why are you working to expand Spacecraft’s production into new areas outside Bali?

PM: In regards to creativity there is a need at the company to be able to expand the palette. The company has been founded on amazing graphics and creativity led by Stefan Hofmann and to be able to allow him to be creative with more product is the major motivation in moving production to factories that have more production expertise. Previously Stefan had to choose fabric by being limited to what was available and now he’s designing his own fabric.  Beyond creativity, benefits of this expansion will include improved quality but we will also be streamlining logistics by shortening production times and increasing credit.

Spacecraft products have been produced primarily in Bali but we have been branching out with our production for years. Spacecraft has had the most success in headwear and accessories and the majority of that production will stay in Indonesia.  Stefan and Sarah have formed solid relationships with vendors in Indonesia and those relationships are something that we will continue to foster.

What new lines, fabrics, and features will we see from Spacecraft?

PM: The entire apparel and headwear line will be expanded beginning with the Spring ’10 line. Customers can expect to see broader spring fashions with knit hats, trucker caps, fedoras, shorts, shirts aatnd track jackets.  Fall ’10 will see a full winter line from sweaters to pants and all in between.  No longer is Spacecraft just about beanies, T-shirts, and hoodies – we will have a strategically designed, full entourage of apparel, headwear, and accessories that complement a true line focused around a Spacecraft-style story.

Kari Cassidy-Diercks and crew. Photo Patrick Lennox Wright.

Kari, I understand that you’re going to be working a lot on implementing standardized operations, procedures, etc. there. What benefits does this provide a very free-form, creative driven company like Spacecraft?

KCD: Organizing Spacecraft and implementing procedures is going to get Spacecraft closer to the core of what it has always claimed to be. We are creative people who want more time to participate in the communities we are involved in be it snow days on the mountain, surfing near the Bali office or screen printing posters late at night. It might sound like the implementation of standards is more work, but when it’s actually giving all the staff more freedom to pursue what they want to do independently, then you know that you are achieving both the company goals and personal goals of the individuals involved.

Spacecraft’s Bali office. Courtesy Spacecraft.

How do you feel that your experiences outside the action sports industry will benefit the brand?

KCD: As a small company everything must be done strategically, and Spacecraft has done just that by hiring several new staff that fit the current needs of the company regardless of what industry they have experience in. I provide a viewpoint on organization and return on investment that will allow Spacecraft to continue to be not only creative in its designs but also in its marketing and operations so it can be the best it can be with the minimum amount of resources. Nothing at Spacecraft has ever been just “industry standard” and our success in designs, hiring, and practices reflect that.   I am most excited about being a part of this creative, art-driven and proven brand while we take it to the next level. My passion is growing companies and all that comes with it.

What are you most excited about for the future of Spacecraft?

PM: Displaying the distinct Spacecraft brand on a much better quality product – and where the types of products available are completely open to the imagination.  Spacecraft will “Make it Happen”.

KCD: We will continue to be relevant to the action sports world not just in the Northwest but beyond. Our scope of influence is small outside the northwest and Canada – our brand has so much more potential. We will concentrate on building relationships with distributors globally and with sales reps domestically to take Spacecraft to the next level.  We will “Make it Happen”.

Here’s a look at some of Spacecraft’s current product: