The brainchild of three London school friends, clothing brand DONOTSUBVERGE was born from a desire to, in their own words, “create a fashion brand that is subliminally associated with music, particularly the underground scene, by bringing together a community with meaningful connections built on a culture of rule-breaking attitudes and behaviours.”
Still growing and expanding since its launch in 2019, DNS has affectionately coined its community “subvergers”, and remained true to its founding principles: “the playful idea that when you’re told not to do something — you want to do it even more”. The brand’s very first collection, DNS001: DO NOT WEAR, explored the concept of trivial “do not” signs that people see throughout our daily lives.
“We’re becoming more aware of the deeper significance that DNS’s core values have in today’s society,” DNS tells DJ Mag. “There is a growing reluctancy to go against the grain and challenge the expectations that modern society places on us. We want to encourage our people to question norms and live with a new sense of authenticity — independent from external influences or perceptions.” All of DNS’s collections and capsules are inspired by society. The recent Liberty collection, curated post-lockdown, explored the fantasy of a utopian world after the pandemic.