In 2010, graphic designer Russell Reid had made a name for himself designing flyers for legendary Liverpool parties, like Circus and Chibuku. A key player in the promotion process of the city's raves, Reid had a vision for outfitting those in the club in garments designed for the dancefloor and beyond, and launched his very own clothing label, Wasted Heroes, the same year. “Design and music is the backbone of my life,” Reid says, “so getting my designs onto t-shirts was a logical progression. The name Wasted Heroes was a bit of a lucky dip, and the two words have taken on different meanings to us over the years, but ultimately, WH represents undiscovered artists of all forms who do what they do for the love it.”
Initially, WH started small. Reid purchased a screen-printing carousel, and set it up in his spare bedroom at his home in Liverpool. “All my spare time was dedicated to it and learning the craft,” he remembers. By 2017, Reid had left his full-time job, and put his sole focus on developing the brand.
To this day, all of WH’s designs are screen or digitally printed in-house, as they were in the brand's beginnings. Now though, its no longer from Reid’s spare bedroom. “We keep the designs in-house, to have more creative freedom and experiment, but we’ve moved on,” Reid says. “We have a really nice creative space in the fabric district end of town with a small team of four. I no longer screen-print myself, focusing my time on the creative end of things and releasing new designs.
“Before the purchase of my full colour DTG printer, all the garments were screen-printed. Screen-printing has its limitations with colours, so my usual practice was to pick a theme like Acid House or Techno and come up with a series of one and two colour prints, which can be quite a challenge.”
