DARK BUNNY TEES INTERVIEW

Dark Bunny Tees Interview

Dark. Noun. The absence of light; darkness. Bunny. Noun. A young rabbit. Not the most obvious name for a company specialising in cult movie t-shirts, but there you go.

Alex Chenery, founder of Dark Bunny Tees and self confessed movie geek, started off in the heady world of gaming journalism, and in early 2008 ditched that when the family came along and became an illustrator. He had one of those “eureka!” moments when his young nephew drew a picture for him, giving him an idea for a line in t-shirts, and presto, Dark Bunny Tees. He can now count movie star Simon Pegg as a fan, and his shirts have popped up on Channel 4’s The IT Crowd. Who needs Dragons Den eh?

With a newly relaunched website, we sat down with Alex, and over a cuppa and a victoria sponge, and chatted about life, the universe and everything…

So, Dark Bunny Tees. Bit of a Donnie Darko reference there, or did the name come from somewhere else? Or are rabbits just a bit sinister?

I do get asked that quite often. Truth is the name actually comes from the first ever ‘comic-strip’ character I created when I was 12. He was a contract killer rabbit with myxomatosis, called Flem. My warped mind developed early! I used the ‘Dark Bunny’ name for my freelance illustration company, Dark Bunny Illustration (http://www.darkbunnyillustration.com) which I set up in 2008. Donnie Darko is one of my favourite movies and the name just happened to lend itself really well to an extension of Dark Bunny Illustration with Dark Bunny Tees.

It’s pretty obvious you’re a massive movie fan, but how did it all start?

I love movies. I’m very lazy and have never been into sports or anything particularly active. That makes it sound like I’m a huge fat lump that just eats cheeseburgers all day. I’m not. Promise. I’ve just been one of those kids that have been into computer gaming, TV and Film from an early age. We moved about a lot when I was a kid, always lived in big houses in the middle of nowhere so I turned to people who I knew would always be there for me. Super Mario, Gizmo and the Ninja Turtles.

One of my most vivid memories is my utter jealousy over my older brother James going to see Gremlins at the cinema. I already had the books & toys, you know the standard marketing at children for films that they are not actually allowed to see. On my 8^th Birthday I was treated to a massive bucket of KFC and my parents had gone out and rented Gremlins as a surprise! It scared the SHIT out of me, but that night has stuck with me and Gremlins remains one of my all time favourite movies.

My parents changed their views on letting me watch unsuitable films later on, I don’t know why. Just means I had to watch the likes of Robocop and American Samurai on the sly. With Robocop in particular my brother had rented it one night, so I set my alarm for 3’o clock in them morning to sneak down and watch it before school.

That’s how dedicated I was from an early age! Ha!

Have you always been an artist? Where did the connection between movies and t-shirts come in?

When my twin boys were born in April 2008 I was managing my mate’s café in Norwich. I did love the job as I pretty much spent 9 hours a day chatting to people and drinking Lattes, but my partner and I decided that it made financial sense for me to give up work and look after the kids. In other words, she made a lot more money than I did!

This actually gave me an opportunity to set something up for myself as I hated the thought of not being able to contribute financially to my family, so I decided to do what so many people had encouraged me to do in the past and utilise my artistic side.

Having only ever used Adobe Photoshop to remove red-eye from photographs I used some of the amazing online YouTube tutorials to teach myself what I could. I then taught myself Dreamweaver and built myself a website, set up some Google Ads and waited. For a year I had some amazing illustration jobs come through, but they were sporadic to say the least. When I was commissioned to do some work it often meant working seven evenings a week until the early hours of the morning. Not great when you have a new family and very little sleep. I was doing what I loved, but it wasn’t very stable. One month you could have three or four jobs, the next you could have nothing at all – I could not have done it without my partner Pip’s backing and support.

There came a point in September 2009 where work had been pretty thin on the ground. I also had a bit of a knock when I busted a gut to complete some illustrations for one client who, in the end, decided to do a runner and not pay me. My fault I guess for not ensuring payment before starting the project, but that was the moment I realised that I wanted to do something more secure.

It was a drawing my 7 year old nephew, George, did of my family that originally inspired me. I just love the innocence and interpretation of a child’s mind and thought what if I corrupted that by using that style, combining my love of film and making them pretty dark in tone.

A range of sketchy t-shirts was soon created. I put together some designs and initially got them printed via an online company using a digital screen printing process. The print quality was not what I wanted so I looked into silk screen printing. After a few quotes I realised that the printing process for those designs was extremely expensive to set up and decided to change my angle.

I wanted to do something different to just the movie logos. I knew companies like Last Exit (To Nowhere) were doing a great job and had a very loyal following. I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes or even try and compete with their success. Just do something a little different and off key. At this time I was a huge fan of American Chopper and had always liked the ‘chop-shop- style logos – Hence the Back to the Future: Emmett’s Custom Auto’s design was born. (Alex’s first shirt Dark Bunny’s shirt – Ed) That kind of set the tone of my designs.

I never knew it would take off as well as it has and the illustration work has been completely put on the back-burner.

Do you draw all the designs yourself? Where do the ideas come from?

As a one man operation I do everything, designing, website, packing, posting, marketing, even making the coffee! Tell a lie, (my fiancé) Pip is often responsible for keeping the caffeine flowing.

My ideas just come from wanting to do something different. I obviously want to reference my favourite movies, but do it in a way that is not directly from the movie, if you know what I mean. Most come from the idea of advertising something. That industry fascinates me and I love vintage adverts.

The Jurassic Park design is one of my favourites as it was inspired by an old advert I came across for a board game. I already had the Exotic Pet Store idea in mind, but thought ‘What if those creepy kids were laughing and playing with a mini T-Rex and feeding it live mice?’

Before I undertake any design I will more often than not watch the movie again for some inspiration. I’ll often pick up on an element that sticks out and I know fans will appreciate and then work from that. The internet also allows me to research images, facts, trivia and quotes. I like to crowbar in as many in-jokes or references I can, so that true movie fans really ‘get’ the design.

Do you print the shirts in-house?

Because I’m working out of my front room at the moment and more importantly because I have no idea how to do it, I use an independent screen printer. They are local, family run businesses who are amazing at what they do. They print all of Goldie’s merchandise as well as print for clients such as Lotus and the Tate Modern so they really know their stuff.

Are you a victim of your own success at the moment?

I have learned in the last couple of months that outside printers do come with their own problems as you have no real control as to when things get done. This is simply because my printers have other client commitments and if they get a huge order from someone else, it can cause some delays. This did happen recently and I am still clearing a backlog of orders due to the amazing response to my recent advertising. I have always stated on my website that in an extreme case orders can take up to 8 weeks, but never thought it would get to that. Unfortunately it has recently and I know that’s not acceptable. It just came at a bad time as I found out my printers also print and embroider 90% of Norfolk school uniforms so they had all those to do at the beginning of summer. I then come along needing re-prints of virtually my entire range!

I have learned from this and am currently working towards eradicating any delays for customers; I can now buy in more prints of each design so I hold more stock and this should be the calm after the storm! Unfortunately in order to get myself up and running I have had to operate this way. Now I have found my feet and I can start to smooth out operations.

I do get the odd email asking “How it can possibly take 8 weeks to print a t-shirt” It doesn’t, but when I’ve had to order re-prints of 15 different designs and do battle with my printers other clients, there can weeks of delay.

What some people don’t realise (and why should they) is that technically I only have 2 days a week and my weekends where I am not looking after my kids!

Have fans ever suggested something you’ve just thought “Yes! Gotta do that!”?

I try and listen to the fans as much as possible. After all, they are the ones spending their hard-earned cash on my t-shirts. I often have people email me and ask if it is ok to send some ideas – I say yes! I love hearing customer ideas!

At the moment I have so many ideas and movies I want to do, but as one pair of hands it’s impossible and quite frustrating not to have the time to get them done. Not just because of life getting in the way, but also because I am so desperate to get 5 ideas done at the same time, I get nothing done at all. Sometimes a few fans will suggest a movie that I have been meaning to do and that can just focus me onto that one design. The Blade Runner design is a good example of that.

Dark Bunny has grown hugely in the last six months or so, are you surprised by the success? Could you see yourself giving up the day job and doing this full time?

Totally! This was supposed to be something that ticked over in the background as I illustrated, but it has completely taken over. I love it! Had a few grey hairs the past few months as I do everything myself and only really have two days in which I can get everything done.

It’s definitely something I want to grow and expand. I have so many ideas and avenues I want to explore, I just need time, space and a bit more money!

At the moment I will always be a father first, but once they’ve been packed off to Hogwarts nursery next year I’ll have more time to get stuff done. With the time constraints I have at the moment I have to make sacrifices. At the moment I have to give up designing time and marketing time for packing and posting. It’s not ideal, but that’s just how it has to be right now.

The Post Office must love you at the moment though…

HA! Now that depends. I’m a familiar face down there now and am sending on average about 60 t-shirts a week. Because I pack all of my t-shirts in VHS cases it is quite a load, usually about 2 or 3 of those blue reusable Tesco bags, full to bursting. I send everything ‘signed for’ so I have no other choice but to take them down and have them scanned individually. Some staff members see me as a chance to avoid some of the weirdo’s and drunks for an hour or so and some see me as a the customer who’s going to make them miss their tea-break.

The post office I go to recently adopted the Argos operational system of ‘grab a numbered ticket and mill around’ – So thankfully the old queuing system is gone and I am not ‘that person’ we all hate to be stuck behind.

The endorsement by the likes of Simon Pegg and Total Film must have helped too?

God yes! I’m a huge fan of Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright & Nick Frost and never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything from them. On Boxing Day 2009 I received an email for Simon thanking me for the t-shirt I had sent to his agent a couple of months before. Really was the ultimate Christmas present!

He has given me a few shout outs on Twitter, which is amazing. It has led to the complete meltdown of my website, crashing it for an hour or so after a mention, but it really helps bring my t-shirts to the attention of fellow Pegg/movie fans. I can’t complain at that, it’s surreal!

It’s not just t-shirts though, I know they love their fan art and I love creating it, so they’ve highlighted some works I have done and Edgar Wright even wrote on his blog about some Scott Pilgrim artwork I did. It’s fantastic and I still pinch myself.

Those guys are SO in tune with what’s going on and what movie fans want, and they seem to be just really, really cool and down to earth people. I love them.

Total Film have also been amazing in highlighting my t-shirts. I’ve not met anyone famous yet, but you never know!

Has Twitter been good to you then?

I couldn’t have got anywhere without Twitter and I truly believe it’s the reason I am where I am. Being able to chat directly with the people that buy your product and love the same things you do is fantastic.

I totally underestimated what an amazing tool it is, but it took a few weeks to get to grips with it. It’s like turning up on your own to a massive party where you know absolutely no-one. I did the obvious thing and just started bombarding people with links to my stuff, but soon realised that was not the way to go about things as they are exactly the kind of Tweets I ignore now.

Instead I started acting like a real person and searching for people who liked movies and actually chatting to people as a human, not a marketing machine.

There are some amazing people out there and the support I get from them is fantastic. I want people to see the person behind Dark Bunny Tees and I don’t do much to bombard people with “Buy This” kind of messages. Instead I want to chat rubbish, bring nostalgia back and just have a good time. It kind of harks back to my coffee shop days, where by chatting everyday stuff with the people the product kind of sells itself.

It is also great for showing off new designs. I’ll put up a design and let people make suggestions on it. Guaranteed I’ll think a few ideas are worth adding.

Finally it does get you in touch with people you respect and admire in the entertainment world. If you’re lucky they may even give you some love in return. Back in the day when Princess Daisy was the only other woman in my life, I had a slight crush on Emily Booth from BITS – Thanks to Twitter she’s now sporting my Sadako t-shirt whilst introducing movies on the Horror Channel. Very cool.

Twitter is awesome and I thank everyone that’s helped Tweet me to where I am.

Sorry to bring it up, but…Last Exit to Nowhere. Is there a friendly rivalry between you guys?

Before I even started all this I knew Last Exit were the market leaders in the movie t-shirt industry. Their stuff is great and I knew from the off that I didn’t want to emulate what they do in regards to in-movie company logos. If I wanted to I could easily put together some standard logo designs, such as an OCP or SKYNET t-shirt. I know movie fans will buy them, but that's what Last Exit do and they do it very well. I respect them enough not to encroach on their territory and I don't see the need to do that anyway.

Instead I wanted to do something different that compliments their designs. A lot of the movies they have done are the ones I want to do designs for, so I had to do something different with them. I wanted to do some detailed, illustrated movie art. Not everyone is going to like it, but it’s different.

Have they ever done something you wish you’d done first?

My theory was that any movie fan who buys movie t-shirts would know about Last Exit anyway so we would have the same customer base. This has turned out to be a fair assumption as many of my customers also buy from Last Exit. Why the hell not? We are both companies who blatantly have a passion for movies and know how to put that into a t-shirt design.

Initially, maybe a bit naively, I thought we were kind of cool with each other. We had a little banter about movies, joined in on a few film quizzes and I even put out recommendations to my Twitter followers to check them out every ‘Follow Friday’ knowing that most people would be aware of them and also to show that I respected the work that they did. I guess I hoped they would return the favour to their followers, but they never did.

It is only very recently I realised that, for some reason, they suddenly blocked me from following them on Twitter. I find that a bit odd and a bit unsporting and if I was really bothered about what they were up to I could easily check out what they’ve been Tweeting about.

What can you do eh? It’s a shame – You don’t see the likes of Total Film and Empire magazine, two magazines directly in competition, ignoring each other on Twitter. I think they understand the medium and the fact that it’s a social network. Fans of both magazines would much rather see them swapping opinions on movies with each other, which they do, and it’s great.

The IT Crowd has featured a few of your shirts. Have you gotten to meet the cast?

Unfortunately not. I get the impression the production team get sent SO much stuff to cram into the sets on that show. Maybe next series!

Did they cough up a bit of cash?

One of my followers on Twitter put me onto it. The researchers put out requests for stuff for the show a few months before filming started. Not just t-shirts, but gadgets, posters, toys etc, even spots for extras. A few people suggested my t-shirts and a researcher checked them out and sent me an email asking for some shirts. I was more than happy to send them some. I am a huge fan and I had come across a few blogs dedicated to what t-shirts the character Roy wears in the series. I couldn’t miss out on that.

We love that everything is a limited edition run, giving it a bit of an edge. Is that a conscious decision, or is it done from necessity?

The limited edition idea was set from the off really. I did a lot of research into setting up a clothing line and came across a guy called Johnny Cupcakes. He set up a very successful clothing brand, building it up from selling his designs out of the boot of his car. One thing struck me when I read his story and it was the fact that he showcased at a fashion expo and received a lot of interest from chain stores wanting to stock his designs. As he walked out he saw some kids wearing the same trainers he was and came out thinking ‘I hate that!’ He turned down all of the offers made to him, instead concentrating on building his limited edition brand on his own. Five years down the line and he’s a multi-millionaire.

I think exactly the same and the limited edition idea lends itself perfectly to the movie fan. The fact that there are so many special & limited editions of DVD’s. Box Sets, even movie magazine covers, made me think that this is the kind of thing movie fans want. I want the fans that wear my tees to feel special. I want them to get those knowing looks from fellow fans who ‘get’ the reference and have to ask where the hell they got that t-shirt!

It is hard as I have had so many people email me to see if I can do one more print run of the Emmett’s Custom Autos and Meet the Skywalkers designs. It’s tempting, but ultimately not fair on those who have that exclusive 1 or 100 shirt. Designs may come back, but not on a t-shirt. I have plans.

Now I just need to work on the multi-millionaire bit………

Has copyright ever been an issue? Or have you found the movie studios to be generally accepting?

I’ve not had a problem so far and I researched this quite a bit before starting out. I have read about some t-shirt companies getting hit and asked to remove designs, but I have not experienced anything like that yet.

I did ask Duncan Jones about doing a Moon tee a while back. He said he’d love to see it happen but Sony hold all rights to the movie.

I guess if anyone kicks up a stink, you kind of have to bite the bullet and do as they say.

However, only recently I heard of a couple of un-official t-shirt designs being sold online that were spotted by Lucas Film. They were great designs, so rather than stop an obviously talented young designer in his tracks; they turned them into officially endorsed Star Wars shirts. That’s pretty cool.

I think that if a design shows a real love of the movie involved, rather than a blatant attempt to make a quick buck it makes a difference.

I could be wrong.

You get to design any t-shirt based on a movie. Your ultimate creation?

I can’t tell you that. I may still get to make it and I don’t want the idea nicked.

So your website is successful, lots of fans on Twitter, celebrity endorsement…what’s next for Dark Bunny?

I need to keep focused on customer experience first and foremost, in regards to speeding up operations - That’s getting there.

After that, exciting times ahead I hope! I have a few different avenues I want to explore. I’d love to do a few memorabilia shows and expos next year and just see what happens. I’m not even a year old yet!

I also need a bigger house, with an office.

The future is dark………..

Any last words for your fans?

I have the best fans and supporters ever – So here’s to keeping you in fine movie attire for many years to come….

You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go (Ferris Bueller)

Head over to www.darkbunnytees.com to order your new favourite shirt. Tell ‘em we sent ya.