A little purpose never hurt anyone

The story so far on defining our mission and how we wanna to roll with that...

A quick thank you to all legends for your support so far, we're truly grateful for it and can't wait to show you some of the new designs we've been working on for you.

South Coast Drifters: A dare to fail project. Drifters was dreamt up as the identity to help us build a brand with a genuine purpose, to scratch that creative itch that's been shunned aside by a busy life, anxiety, imposter syndrome, the fear & loathing of rejection and drifting from what truly inspires us.

We are dreamers & drifters: We're media school dropouts, we use to create, now we just dream, we've drifted from our passions and lost our mojo and it’s not all aright man, life was becoming dull & beige, shit needed to change.

But, not all who drift are lost

And we fundamentally believe, It's never too late.

Our first year was all about being brave, daring to fail again and trying something new, we looked lady luck dead in the eye, rolled the dice and you guys said ok, you have our attention now, keep going, drifter man. Good start but we soon ran into trouble as we worked on new designs and garments, we struggled to clearly and simply explain what we wanted to do next, it wasn’t that we got a creative block, the issue was we were over inspired, we want to do it all but we didn’t know who we were and we couldn’t tell others simply enough.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”

— Einstein said that

Well heck, If we don't understand ourselves, what chance do you guys have?

As we started to speak to new artists about future designs it had become apparent we were over inspired about our identity and confused about our direction. If you've ever been over inspired it can be a tiring process that can leave you demotivated and lost. It's like riding a roller coaster that never ends, full of highs and lows leading to no particular conclusion, just a constant confusing endless loop.

Desperate not to copy the brands that inspired us to this point and equally as focused on being unique while trying to instil values that are true to us, we needed a North star that would keep us on our path and not in the shadows of others that have come before us.

So we slammed the breaks and with then help of our mentor from the Virgin start up programme we done a little reflection on what was our true purpose and why are we on this creative endeavour. Our original mandate was long, confusing and had all the makings & ramblings of well-meaning lunatic. Loads of good intentions but painfully incoherent.

Questions we were asking ourselves. Why are doing what we're doing? What is our true purpose? who's it for? and what makes us different from the rest? Are we still on point? Have we drifted?

Finding your purpose is just as much about the journey as it is the end goal. After all, it's the doing that brings it to life and makes it real, not the fancy elevator pitch.

Our mission is just as much about saving ourselves as it is about inspiring others with it. Somewhat selfish initially but we're hoping we can try and help make the world a better place when we start to live our true lives and chase our passions intensely. We still believe 'we only rise by lifting others' and getting ourselves in a position where we can have a positive impact on others lives is important to us.

Fundamental belief: If more people are happy doing what they love in the world, there will be fewer dicks in the world!

So grab ya tissues folks, this might get a little wet but it's a gooden...

Our mission

is to inspire those who have drifted from their passions & purpose to take action by channelling the drifter values

Our values:

Be Wild
Be Inspired
Be Brave
Be Curious

So what does that look like to us?

Seize the Wild in you and say yes.
Chase what Inspires you intensely.
Be Brave enough to put planet before profits.
Stay Curious, embrace the unknown.

how we wanna roll

We want to tell the stories of people living their passions & their purpose through the drifter values

Our garments are all organic, sustainably produced & packaged, and we pay a living wage for production.

Our goal is to partner with like-minded charities and community projects to donate proceeds from limited edition runs

Not all who drift are lost

Why bother with a purpose anyway?

Two main reasons were to combat imposter syndrome by having an authentic purpose that is true to us, we didn't want to pretend to be a surf brand then get called fake by the surf community.

Firstly being someone who has drifted so much in his life from what I truly want to do, If I can channel our values and overcome the negative thoughts and fears that have haunted me and dictated so many of my decisions, then maybe just maybe those values can relate to other people who find themselves drifting in life and inspire them to take action.

The second reason was to channel the future direction of the brand purpose and its values through the content we create, so when we collaborate with other creators it's clear what we do and who we do it for and our WHY/PURPOSE is at the heart of that, going back to the first point of not pretending to be a monoculture brand such as skate, surf or any other action-sport brand.

When combatting imposter syndrome in some sense you're also dancing with your ego, but maybe this time, your ego is on your side, although it's a genuine case of giving of a fuck about what other people say, on this occasion, it's about having a true North start to follow as opposed to copying others. Not all ego is bad, I'm now comfortable in our purpose as it's genuine to me and NOW I don't give a fuck what other people think, although I do hope they get it otherwise it's probably an early indicator that we are well and truly off-piste.

Before drifters, we were not exactly living the lives we wanted to live, and to be honest, we're still not exactly living them now, but we are on our journey now and in drifters, we have a creative outlet and vehicle to take us on that path. A large majority of what we aim to achieve this year requires us to leave our comfort zones and be brave knowing we will be taking on self doubt, anxiouness, the fear of rejection or just getting it wrong. But we're fine with that because the alternative is beige, uninspiring and we've been there before.

We face the reality that we might not get there but we'll have a fucking good crack at it before the day is done.

Here's to all you crazy inspired folks living your lives the way you want to live them.

Peace, love, & rock ’n’ roll

Head Drifter