Riz Smith, Co-Founder of Riz / Recycled Beachwear

Riz are “Tailors of Sunshine”, a London swimwear brand with a simple mission to spread a little sunshine whilst having a positive impact on our planet. Riz realise that the world is as vulnerable as it is beautiful. With more people living in cities, living on their phones and constantly busy, there is a growing need to slow down and reconnect with nature. Their shorts are designed for a more thoughtful life, created to connect you to the beach and beyond. They only make shorts, believing in a ‘less but better’ philosophy, an approach perfect for conscious consumers who value both long lasting style and the environment. Both the clothing industry and our oceans are full of waste, which is why not only are Riz shorts beautiful and long lasting but since the birth of the brand in 2009, every pair of shorts have been made from recycled materials. At the end of their life, the shorts can also be returned and “Rizcycled”.

In this episode of the MenswearStyle Podcast we interview Riz Smith, Co-Founder of Riz about the founding story of the London brand which simply makes men's shorts for the beach that are tailored, elegant and flamboyant.  Our host Peter Brooker and Riz talk about finding a gap in the market, crowdfunding benefits, sustainability, recycled fabrics, timeless design, brand loyalty, and James Bond's swim shorts. 

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Transcript

Unknown: 0:14

Hello, welcome to another episode of the menswear style podcast. I'm your host Pete Brooker. Today I'm going to be talking to raise Smith, who is a co founder of Rizz, boardshorts. And raise, they only make shorts. That's it beautiful and made to last, since a birth of the rich brand in 2009. Less, but better is their philosophy and it feeds into everything that they do. By only making one thing, it allows them the time to do things properly, to become masters, by putting the environment and well being at the heart of the design process. It shapes this journey. As Buckminster Fuller once wrote, The best way to predict the future is to design it couldn't agree more. And here is Ray's to talk about his boardshorts. In his own words, were short makers, I sort of try and I find it hard sometimes to distinguish Exactly. The shorts. So where we made shorts, we just made sure it's in there for the beach, and send the swim shorts. So shorts, fish shorts. So we specialise in that and try and make them as sort of fun as possible, as flamboyant as possible. And so in the way that when you go to the beach you want it's a You're escaping your day to day, I'd say so this sort of shorts, sort of. Sort of a, an extension of that, really. So yeah, just sort of elegant and sort of fairly sort of, uh, I'd say flamboyant. Beach shorts. So yeah, men's as well. So we we are with just a menswear. And shoe company. Yeah. And has it been going I saw on the site, it was founded 2009 The brand is that right? Yeah. So 2009 I think our first collection was probably 2010. So, right, we're doing just over 10 years now. So it's, yeah, it's we're not that new anymore. So that's what inspired you to start the brand. What were you kind of doing beforehand? And what gave you the ideas along with your code to get this game? Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's quite interesting in the sense that beat shorts or swim shorts is not the first choice you think for London company. And yet for the obvious reasons of the weather and things like that. But my first job out of university is actually for Speedo. And it was a pure twist of chance. I thought I was going to be working in menswear. And I got a job speedos the beach where actually there's their shorts designer. Alright, so yes, I did all the global beach shorts for them. And then after that it sort of just snowballed into always doing sportswear or surf or very much. Yeah, leisure where basically, and yeah, watch some surf people and just sort of thought that I was a bit of a niche market and then realised that maybe this sort of more. Yeah, in a men's in a crowded menswear market, maybe it was a bit easier to sort of like play to your strengths. And I never realised I would become a beach shore designer. So I sort of thought I could use that as a niche that not maybe many people were doing and use that to sort of propeller a little bit and basis to a nation sort of an opportunity in the market because Beach Shores. I mean, this is like in it was over 10 years ago the idea so let's say in the early 2000s was still very like surf brands, were doing their thing and they were still very strong. There was a kind of like designer, men's swim short market, which was a sort of like the luxury brands would then have swim shorts, just part of their luxury. And then and then it was sort of all a bit sort of dad swim shorts, you know, m&s checks kind of elasticated. So there wasn't really, it felt like there wasn't really a menswear offer for swim shorts are like with a menswear aesthetic or something a little bit more. Yeah, just aligned with men's men's tape menswear taste and so just thought with all that experience why don't try and do something which is a bit more basically like if a menswear brand did a swim short brand what would it look like? This never came from that sort of starting point. They were just like functional swimmers you know, as a functional but elasticated swimmers or surf brands which were primarily aimed at you for surfing and also a lot younger and then very kind of like brash and bold and so there was a bit of a bit of a gap. I thought so that that was the starting point. Yeah. And in your previous job did you learn how to pack And then and so the shorts, I assume are more tailored than you. elasticated waistband. So are they kind of like a tailored? short swim short? Yeah, they are? Yeah, well, we have a few different ones. But the, the starting point with the very, very beginning was the idea was to make a search short, or borscht or more tailored and more more elegant. So that's where it started from the company. And so it wasn't too because boardshorts have a quite nice fit pattern. Anyway, guys in the cut, quiet, they got quite an ergonomic flattering cup. But it was just sort of like sort of bringing that in a little bit and making that just a little bit more elegant, but still could move and stuff like that. So. And yeah, then we do do tailored shorts, which are based on more of like a tailor trouser, I suppose. And so I probably hadn't learned pattern cutting. I mean, when I was working for the other brands, you you're aware of patterns or any fast coding designers should be aware of pattern cutting, but it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't a thing. I had to get help, you know, I got a pattern cutter and to help with the very first ones we made. And then since then, as the company develops, we do now offer an elasticated swim short as well. Right. And that was just from a commercial point of view. Like I don't think I'd ever put one in if there wasn't a demand for it. But the boutiques demands we're happy to take especially like the department stores and things they just, it's an easier sell for them. And yeah, it's just so we do offer elasticated now as well. Okay, interesting. So I asked this of pretty much every founder or co founder for every brand, how did you get the capital to get the get rich boardshorts off the ground? We so I have a business partner, Ali, Ali Ali, morale is my services. We founded it together and we we just put in money that we'd saved. So the capital was not lots and lots, but enough. I can't you know, we put sort of 10,000 pounds in each or something. And we wish we saved him. You know, for a long while. And we and then and then ever since then we've we've just sort of rolled that over and stuff like that. So we we we've never had any funding. Such Yeah, it's quite rare. Almost. I mean, I don't know if crowdfunding was was a thing 10 years ago as it is today. But would you crowdfunding? Yeah, we did not know to start, though. Not long. But about four or five years into the business we we did do crowdfunding to get some money. Yeah, floated that game. It was a we got the money. I currently was about 15,000 pounds. And it was for a specific project, which we're trying to launch a particular range of shorts. And I have to say it was dead hard. Yeah, it's really banging the drum, you've really got to keep it shouting and pushing the sort of message but way more than I thought that we did, then you would but it really interesting, though, I have to say it was an interesting, I'm glad we did it. Because it was a I also use a quite nice way of getting feedback on your business or your project or your company. It's a nice way of Yeah, I found it's a very much two way thing I thought because a lot of people want to get involved and ask questions to the public. So because they're going to be putting their money in. So yeah, that's quite interesting. That's interesting. I'm not really actually thought about that before, because I've crowdfunded many projects that never saw the light of day. But it is a good kind of bedrock to get feedback from and because people are going to ask questions naturally, if they're going to part with their money. And they might even be questions that you don't have an answer to straight away, or they might have an opinion on something, they'll go, well, could we just do this? And then maybe I'd be interested and then you have something then to kind of deal with don't you have some, you know, hopefully, positive criticism. Yeah, I think it's definitely a really constructive and constructive criticism. So I did some of the things that we probably started in that project, which was over five years ago now. We're probably still putting into work now. You know, they're sort of quite a lot of these things are slow longtail projects, if you're trying to change the way that you work as a business. So that was quite a lot of our things. We've always been trying to change the way that you saw so you manufacture or so it's not just like the design like you know, the cut and the print for some of these for this for that project, for example. But yeah, so yeah, it's interesting. I think crowdfunding is coming in fantastic sort of way of gauging something as well. If you want to To start something completely different. Yeah. So yeah, it's a good way of knowing if anyone actually cares or is interested to if, you know, if people jump on it immediately, then you might know you've got something on your hands. I had, I had a guest on not so long ago from Ace Marks, pull for algo, who was one of the founders of ACE Mark shoes. And he had, he had the, the crowdfund model as well. And that's how he got started and has had many since to produce new ranges. And so I asked him the question, so what's the secret? Because you're always, you know, smash it when it comes to the Kickstarter campaigns. And these are well, you know, we've we put in a lot of investment ourselves. So like, friends and family will invest a lot of money and then as our Okay, so that's basically where you get a lot of the people that are close to kind of hit that mark, or get you over the, say you're trying to raise 15 grand like you will get to that level. And then that gives other people confidence to invest in as well. I have heard this before, actually, as well. I've heard exactly the same from I can't remember who but someone has mentioned this. It's the the friends and families that is will end up being quite a predominant part of the Yeah. Yeah, kind of figures. People kind of need to see a little bit of something before they. Yeah, they like to back a winner. Yeah. So that's, that's why they're gonna take likes away from Instagram, isn't it? Because if you see a post, and only two people have liked it, yeah. But then if you see a post and 20,000 people are on board with it. Oh, definitely. It's safe for me to be a line of this. I like the idea of removing likes, I have to say. So yeah. And they did do it in cut some countries? I don't know, they have started some places. Yes, I think it'd be healthier for all of us, or anyone who uses for us who use Instagram. So I agree. I certainly agree. With Could you talk about some of the recycled elements in the sustainability factor of your brand, because anyone that goes onto the website and goes onto the about and sees how they're made, etc. I just found it fascinating that you could make this out of recycled fabric and plastic bottles, etc. So pretty much everything in some of the shorter recycle apart from like a metal button, or Yes, basically everything that can be we do. And it was very much from the very, from the very start of the inception of the business, I wanted to make sure that it was as sustainable as possible. Because I thought I can't do a bit it was kind of part of the frustration was the fact that fashion didn't feel sustainable. And at the word at the time, we probably weren't using the word sustainable. But I think eco friendly, let's call it in this sort of, then and so I sort of researching what could be done to make products as thoughtful as possible. And, and I found the recycled fabrics. Actually, when I was working for Speedo. Even back in the early 2000s There was recycled polyester available. So I kind of knew about it. So I thought what if you're going to build a house from the ground up if you're going to use your thing if you should do it right and sort of do it good. And you don't haven't got anyone telling you can't write you haven't got the big boss with the going right? You can't do this. It's too late. It's too late, we can't get done it works. And also it actually it's not that much more expensive or, or these they are more expensive. But um, so we thought right when we when we build these products, we'll build them as best as we can as good you know, as long lasting as we can and with recycled elements. So at the time, it could only get recycled fabric. And that went in. But then we thought that also the beginning. Why could it be? Can the shorts be recycled at the end of life? Even so? Or can we have a giveback scheme and all these things I have the inning 10 years ago, we're just thoughts and ideas and we wrote them down on the website. But they didn't happen because well, you just bought a pair you're not gonna give them back straightaway. And also there wasn't a technology yet to to recycle fabrics anyway at the end of July. So we thought well, we'll just start with recycling, making the products from recycled fabric. And then I can't remember maybe sort of like two, three or four years ago, the recycled trend started becoming available so you could buy recycled threads, recycled zips and other adult recycled whilst we do recycled it recycled threads, recycled cord and other things like that. So we thought well again, if they exist, then we should put it in. We believe we should put it in because otherwise it's just like you're only going half way or so we started introducing all the recycled elements you With a view to always try to be a fully recycled and recyclable business. And partly the reason for that is because the swim shorts, so shorts, they are made from synthetic fabric because they need to be quick drying, they need to be, you know, the performance fabric. So it's not like we're using a organic cotton or something which could degrade in the soil of it at the end of the life. And there they are. They're non degradable, it's synthetic. So we felt like the best thing to do is use a recycled synthetic, so at least it's come from post consumer waste, it's not been made, the, it's already being made, right. So the plastic bottles have already been used for the bottled water industry. And they've been recycled, and they're going to be turned into something. So basically, what you're doing is you're diverting waste into your upcycling, you know, you upcycle into something better, really, you know, to clothing, which should, so we thought that was quite a nice idea. So we did that. And so yeah, and but I mean, all our products have always been made out of recycled fabrics. Yeah, ever since day one. So the 100 100% of our business has always been recycled. And, and, and as of nearly now, not quite, we're in talks with a company, literally now, and hopefully our next collection will be be able to be recycled, called our end of life, which doesn't, it doesn't really exist it in the industry. So we're working with this company in Plymouth, who sort of pioneered this system where they can grind down the they can grind down the fabric, so the end of life and mechanically recycled. And so that's quite a quite a nice evolution as well. And it's not the sort of sexy part because it's just literally functional recycling. But it's something that we believe is important for. Because otherwise, everything is just going to go into, you know, stay forever, like plastic will literally stay for forever and ever. And and then people often say to us, well, why do you make them out of recycled fabrics? Why don't you make them out of, you know, other materials. But actually, if you get the recycling rights, and if they are fully recycled, it's they are there. It's the most sort of environmentally conscious, and you can do to have a closed loop recycling? Well, it's impressive that this was you thinking like this 10 years ago, where, you know, there's still people today that haven't really lent any thoughts to that at all, you know, when I mean people still today buy clothes, and don't even ask where it's made, or, you know, they buy clothes, and don't even know what fabric it's made of, you know, and I'm making up the numbers. I've done that in my life as well, obviously. But I think more people now are certainly a bit more conscious of what they're doing where it comes from. But you were doing this 10 years ago. Yeah, I don't know where it came from. It just came, it just did. It was just a very, it was a very sort of front forefront of the thought that it's something has to it try kind of It sounds a bit silly, but like nearly like from a philosophical point of view, it's just trying to like write what can you do, which is good. What, what, how can design be positive? Or how can it not be negative? Yeah. And just think about things sort of like what just looked at it practically. And thought, well, you know, what can what impact does it have? What can you lessen? And the what was quite nice, like eternal twist of fate was the fact that then there was all the stories about plastic in the ocean. And now about that, but we didn't think about that. At the time, it was just the fact that the recycled fabrics existed. It wasn't about plastic, it was just like, well, we should use the best, the most environmentally friendly materials available in the in the market. And they happen to be recycled polyester, so and then making swim shorts out of plastic. And then it just sort of it was oh, that's quite that's quite. It's just in time with the sort of that well, with all the negative news about being in the sea, but it's sort of tallied with that. But I mean, I have to say these days, we don't, maybe because we we did it, and we mentioned it, and maybe because we've been doing it a while, but I try not to talk about that. Well, I don't know I sort of feel like because we just want it to be very functional that recycling and sustainability within the company is just part of your DNA. Yeah. And Brian not to use it as a marketing tool. I mean, you still need to stand up on its own really so interesting. Yeah, yeah. So a potentially stupid question for you raise but when you get recycled fast brake, like going through the website and all the products on your shop breeze boardshorts.com by the way is where I'm looking now in case you thinking I'm distracted I'm just going through your shorts on my phone. So you get the fabric that's recycled and but they will come in different prints different colorways and stuff like that do you then what process does it have to go through then as a dying or when you when you when you buy or select a recycled polyester, it doesn't have a colour. So the natural recycled polyester colour would be a mottled grey let's say like and so you have to when you you have to give it a colour so you order a colour and so we we've always chose a kind of a cream. So basically like it's a black is a plain, but it's a cream so we can use it literally like a blank canvas. So we ordered that we hold stock of the plain fabric and then we get it printed in England. So the the is digitally printed, which is the most environmentally friendly method because it uses water based inks. And the heat sort of sets it into the steams into the sales into the fabric. So it's sort of sunken in. So yeah, so I mean once we've got the cream fabric, it's literally like a canvas, you just think of it like a cat massive Calico. It's not Calico but that colour and and so as and when we won we were I worked with a print designers and illustrators and artists and they do the prints and then yeah, we just get it printed into on the fabric and big rolls and then then it's cut into the sports afterwards. So yeah, it starts as a single colour. Yeah. And how many years have you been in 10 years? How many new shorts do you introduce every year? And do you have like, the classics have always been there? Are there any kind of vintage risible shorts? Yeah, we do. We Yeah, we have classics. Well, we, it's funny, we thought we do have classics, which we've been running since the beginning and prints that we thought we thought it'd be wise to set up a classic section because it would it's stops having to do you know, a whole full print range every time. We thought well, we don't have a white t shirt or a blue jeans. So if you're a print company, what's your white t shirt? You know, what is your, your all seat always in season kind of. So we do we do repeat some of our prints to time and time again. But funnily enough, sometimes the the classic start selling a little bit less over time. So we don't know, maybe we'll keep them or maybe they'll come in and out. Maybe Maybe they won't be every season. But to date some of them have been in every season. So yeah, we do have some classics. But I love the idea of classics, partly because again, it's sustainable. I really like the idea that not everything has to be new the whole time. You know, especially love. Yeah, a classic, timeless, short, something that you can sort of pick up every year and it's the same one. And no, I'm a big, I'm all for that. So yeah, yes, seasonal, where I don't know if it's, I mean, obviously it's still a thing, but when I ran a clothes shop, I was the shop manager ran my business with a friend from school outside in Cambridge in the middle of fields in the middle of nowhere. But we would have seasons of stock that would come in and it just seems so weird to me to get hold of these seasonal stocking because you know, it rains so often you know it's cold as balls nine months of the year there and then you'd have to really hope for a good summer because you got so much inventory to get through so many T shirts are bought and then if you didn't have a good summer you'd be sitting on all this crap and then you might have a really warm winter and you'd be sitting room it just felt to me like having like blocking yourself off putting little rings around yourself and go You must fit this in here and you must have that there. It just seems like it was crazy to me at the time. But I do think and I think the seasons are got even more crazy because one the weather's up the spout and also because of I don't exactly know why but you know the sales have been brought forward so some much English UK retailers on sale in June and then they start putting the autumn stuff in and you know, they said it gets hot in England. So he's a bit bit bit weird but I mean have to say in some respects, doing the always summer thing like for us we only do you know it's always we're always telling summer clothes and have noticed that some retailers now stockers not not many, but some will stop because throughout the year, I think partly to try and break that seasonality and so that and people sometimes buy swim shorts as presence for Christmas. And of course, people travel all the time. So it would be nice if the season I mean, I, I'm biassed, but I'd love it if the shop sort of just especially a country like England, which we don't have, our seasons are quite blurred anyway, you know, it can be, it can be cold in the summer, and it doesn't need to be so hard. Like you said, ring fenced, I think these are kind of self imposed rings that we put around ourselves, it feels like like, we must have the winter stock. And we must have that and we must have it kind of land on certain dates and have it for certain times. Yeah, it honestly I never paid so much attention to a weekend's weather forecast. And when I was working in that shop, but I digress. Because I got a it's only just come to mind, but guys are quite loyal when it comes to brands I find maybe more. So do you find that also with swim shorts in particular, that they'll either stick with you? Or maybe they might try and flirt and have other brands have a swim shorts in their collection? Do you notice any trends in there? And I definitely agree with you about the loyalty from well, I'm loyal to brands definitely. And I think my friends and most people I know the guys I know. But I it's I think it's a bit of from our side, from what we can see from our customers. So I think it's a bit of both. I definitely think we have people who sort of flirt with us and give us a go. And you know, I'm sure that's normal with most lots of companies, and they quite like them. And but maybe they're not quite right. And, and but we definitely definitely do see return customers and hear about people who've got multiple pairs or have been buying them since we started or, which is lovely. I mean, that's exactly what of course, I'm guessing what all companies would love. Is that sort of lifetime loyalty. I mean, the difference I think with ours is, in some respects is that one, they don't wear out that fast, because of the nature of the fabric. And also you don't wear them like a T shirt or your jeans day in day out. So then, unless you live in California or somewhere on the beach, probably not. I mean for the English for our English customers. They're going a whole day, once or twice a lucky year. So the return, you know, it's not every year that customers come back, but I mean, some do. Yeah, I do think that I there is a loyalty basically. Yes, yeah. But it's not across the field. It's like every customer buys from you then becomes this sort of avid fan, you know what I could? Good, but not that good? Yeah. Because I find that with with my friends when it comes to shirts, for example. It can almost become quite tribal as to what shirt maker you have. I mean, it's or, you know, even suits, tailors, etc. They can be fanatical about one. And then if there's they're seeing maybe getting another suit from another tailor. It could almost feel like they're cheating on their brand. Yeah. Well, I suppose I would definitely feel cheated if I knew one of our customers suddenly jumped ship because you do sort of you get that bit of loyalty, you start liking that. But I mean, it's one of those things, what can you do, you just do your best you can do and, and I think hopefully, maybe when brands are a little bit more niche, or companies have a certain style, maybe it's easier to find loyalty because it's a bit more like Marmite, then it's like, if people are going to like you, they're going to like you, it's maybe harder if you're doing something like a white shirt or something or, you know, something, which is a bit more, I shouldn't say generic, but a bit more hasn't got a specific identity. Yeah. So perhaps we do have a bit of an identity because the prints are quite, there's quite specific. Is that a certain taste? If you like that taste, you're probably going to continue to like that taste. So yeah, true. Raise it's been wonderful speaking to you and learning all about the brand. I'm going to close with a question that I've I've also just come to mind. A big James Bond fan, as many people that listen to the podcast know. And there is a certain beach leisure wear brand that kind of got very, very famous on the back of a James Bond film. That's right. Yeah. And I'm wondering, have you ever craved for that kind of luck yourself? Or have you ever tried to push your shore under the nose of someone who might be a good ambassador for you? Have you have a chance to your arm in that way? Yeah, it's a good question. I think because of the bond nature of the swim stuff. I mean, of course have thought about it right? As a as a British swim short maker and refined tailored swim shorts. Of course. I would love a bond. You know bonds always been when Where's plane software doesn't help. So, I'd love bond to wear slightly more patterns, one of our shorts but we I have to say we've never pay off for us is one of our we don't do any PR. So we've never pressed it or progressed it. And And with regards to ambassadors we work with some sort of like lower profile Waterman you know, surfers and water cement who live in shorts and, and they're really great. We've never had a high profile person where were our shorts, but um, I think the bond was interesting, especially with with yourself doing interested in Bond style, and maybe how bond has progressed or could progress. And it's kind of like could could bond do print? Oh, yeah. Podcast. I love that. Kind of like it's a nice way to leave it because it's not about the cart or the elegance or the the sort of laid back classic pneus of that. I think that's it's more about whether he can hold print would want to hold print. So when he does, he knows where to come? Yeah, yeah. Okay, we need we need 100 of these by tomorrow. With thanks so much for your time and speak to you soon. Great. Thanks very much. Thank you very much. Bye bye. Here's babbling How about that thank you raise. And I could have talked for hours indeed. I did have Mike we spoke about bond we spoke about more, you know, making a mission statement for the brand, being less modest, etc. These are all my my ideas well, being less modest because I think they should really hammer home the fact that they've started this brand. And we're ahead of the game in many ways, with the sustainable element at least anywho Why don't you head over to the website, find more about them and look at the shorts for yourself, raise boardshorts.com And we'll put all the links over in the show notes at menswear store dot code at UK along with other articles pertaining to fashion, lifestyle, grooming, etc. If you want to come on the show, maybe tell us about your brand and your journey. You can email us here at info at menswear style.co.uk And until next time