August 26, 2020
DUSK Empire for British GQ 2020
To some, DUSK being featured in GQ’s July-August Edition may have been seen as a surprise that a homegrown brand was getting wide coverage but to someone like me it was the result of a progressive 5-year rise to prominence of this brand.
My first engagement with DUSK was purchasing a T-Shirt and Jumper in 2016 and having it personally delivered by owner Matt Maynard. The tag line, even back then, was ‘Join the DUSK Empire’ one which I took with a pinch of salt unaware that 4 years later it would be a multi-faceted brand with a global consumer base. At the time DUSK was only selling T-Shirts, Jumpers and Hats around the Cambridgeshire area, most orders being personally delivered by Matt but fast forward 4 years and they have an inventory that includes bags, tracksuits and even masks during this pandemic.
In short, if you can wear it they probably sell it.
Over the last 5 years, DUSK has aimed to improve in all aspects. This starts with overall product quality, from style choices and more importantly garment quality which have always given the smaller brand a higher-end feel. It would be easy to slap a logo on a clothing item and label it a brand, however, DUSK has made sure that when customers purchase an item they are receiving goods of extremely high quality. An example of this would be the T-Shirt and Jumper I bought around four years ago, which has stood the test of time when other items I purchased elsewhere had begun to fall apart after a few washes.
At this current moment, DUSK ships their products to a multiple of countries including all across Europe and as far as America and Brazil and this is due to the great marketing from Matt. After a few years of managing Cambridge’s most popular student night, in 2018 he decided to expand the DUSK brand by using it as the name of his new events company DUSK Presents, bringing more awareness to the brand. This move helped accelerate the growth of the brand and widen the demographic of DUSK as there were events for both Under and Over 18’s, leaving no one to feel left out of the Empire.
Through these events, DUSK gained endorsements from some of the UK’s biggest acts such as; Aitch, MoStack and M24 whilst also gaining them from notable personalities such as Love Island 2019 winner Mollie-Mae Hague.
That’s when GQ came calling!
The well-renowned fashion magazine came across DUSK’s Instagram page after seeing Mollie-Mae endorse the brand and liked what they saw so they contacted Matt about a feature on their July-August edition and thus we got the image of Matt holding his GQ plaque, validation of all the tireless hours that had been put into the brand over the last 5 years.
The mixture of marketing, high-quality clothing and close brand-customer dynamic has propelled DUSK to the heights it has reached the present day. Nowadays it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a brand putting on events for their customers but DUSK had been doing this for the latter half of the 2010s already. DUSK has also made sure that dynamic applies to their customer service, providing a high response rate for queries and feedback on items across their social media platforms.
In a time where people have felt disconnected to brands, with there being a growing list of Twitter threads about start-up brands providing poor service - DUSK have made sure that doesn’t apply to them. They aim to make sure everyone who is willing to spend their hard-earned money on their clothing is happy with the transaction and their all-round experience with DUSK.
Earlier, I said it would be a surprise to some...but not me as I had seen the eventual recognition coming from a mile away. Not because I had a high opinion of the products but mainly because of the man behind the brand. Matt had a vision from early and plugged away until each goal had been ticked off one by one, he has never allowed DUSK to become stale keeping his ear to the streets to see what his consumers need, whether that be a new style or making sure the hottest artists coming to perform at his event he always wants to stay on top of his game.
For me, Matt Maynard is the reason why DUSK is as popular as it is now and also the reason why it will be even more popular in the future.
This milestone is the first of many!
So what are you waiting for? Join the DUSK empire!
Karel
My first engagement with DUSK was purchasing a T-Shirt and Jumper in 2016 and having it personally delivered by owner Matt Maynard. The tag line, even back then, was ‘Join the DUSK Empire’ one which I took with a pinch of salt unaware that 4 years later it would be a multi-faceted brand with a global consumer base. At the time DUSK was only selling T-Shirts, Jumpers and Hats around the Cambridgeshire area, most orders being personally delivered by Matt but fast forward 4 years and they have an inventory that includes bags, tracksuits and even masks during this pandemic.
In short, if you can wear it they probably sell it.
Over the last 5 years, DUSK has aimed to improve in all aspects. This starts with overall product quality, from style choices and more importantly garment quality which have always given the smaller brand a higher-end feel. It would be easy to slap a logo on a clothing item and label it a brand, however, DUSK has made sure that when customers purchase an item they are receiving goods of extremely high quality. An example of this would be the T-Shirt and Jumper I bought around four years ago, which has stood the test of time when other items I purchased elsewhere had begun to fall apart after a few washes.
At this current moment, DUSK ships their products to a multiple of countries including all across Europe and as far as America and Brazil and this is due to the great marketing from Matt. After a few years of managing Cambridge’s most popular student night, in 2018 he decided to expand the DUSK brand by using it as the name of his new events company DUSK Presents, bringing more awareness to the brand. This move helped accelerate the growth of the brand and widen the demographic of DUSK as there were events for both Under and Over 18’s, leaving no one to feel left out of the Empire.
Through these events, DUSK gained endorsements from some of the UK’s biggest acts such as; Aitch, MoStack and M24 whilst also gaining them from notable personalities such as Love Island 2019 winner Mollie-Mae Hague.
That’s when GQ came calling!
The well-renowned fashion magazine came across DUSK’s Instagram page after seeing Mollie-Mae endorse the brand and liked what they saw so they contacted Matt about a feature on their July-August edition and thus we got the image of Matt holding his GQ plaque, validation of all the tireless hours that had been put into the brand over the last 5 years.
The mixture of marketing, high-quality clothing and close brand-customer dynamic has propelled DUSK to the heights it has reached the present day. Nowadays it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a brand putting on events for their customers but DUSK had been doing this for the latter half of the 2010s already. DUSK has also made sure that dynamic applies to their customer service, providing a high response rate for queries and feedback on items across their social media platforms.
In a time where people have felt disconnected to brands, with there being a growing list of Twitter threads about start-up brands providing poor service - DUSK have made sure that doesn’t apply to them. They aim to make sure everyone who is willing to spend their hard-earned money on their clothing is happy with the transaction and their all-round experience with DUSK.
Earlier, I said it would be a surprise to some...but not me as I had seen the eventual recognition coming from a mile away. Not because I had a high opinion of the products but mainly because of the man behind the brand. Matt had a vision from early and plugged away until each goal had been ticked off one by one, he has never allowed DUSK to become stale keeping his ear to the streets to see what his consumers need, whether that be a new style or making sure the hottest artists coming to perform at his event he always wants to stay on top of his game.
For me, Matt Maynard is the reason why DUSK is as popular as it is now and also the reason why it will be even more popular in the future.
This milestone is the first of many!
So what are you waiting for? Join the DUSK empire!
Karel
