Q&A with Ayesha Brown

We chat to Ayesha Brown. The one woman creative force behind Offside Outlet also casually balancing being one of adidas' digital publishing managers. All in a day's work.

Carving out a pathway for yourself in any industry is difficult. This is arguably most evident in the creative sector where opportunities are predominantly afforded by nepotism. Marginalised identities often fall by the wayside, despite creating the culture the creative industries appropriate and sanitise to peddle to the masses. Every now and then a talent emerges so effervescent, with a character so infectious, that their inevitable success is transcendent of traditional obstacles and glass ceilings. This is true of Ayesha Brown. You may not have seen her (as she likes to keep it low-key) but you'll have definitely seen big names including Jessica Ennis and Ian Wright proudly sporting their custom adidas garms. Ayesha helped them customise them in the adidas flagship store during her time working on the Maker Lab. Now part of the digital publishing team she's a voice in the room responsible for putting together photoshoots for the brand. She recently worked her magic on the launch of Ajax's 3 little birds collaboration with Bob Marley's estate. Helping to continue adidas' relationship with the culture at ground level. 

When she's not acting as a conduit to between the culture and adidas, she's probably masterminding the next drop for her own brand Offside Outlet, who earlier this year dropped their inaugural LEGENDS capsule collection. The corresponding lookbook secured publications from football's biggest platforms including Soccer Bible, VERSUS and Season Zine. We were lucky enough for Ayesha to pencil us into her seriously busy diary for an interview about her career so far. 

Thanks so much for agreeing to speak to us Ayesha, how has your summer been?
No worries at all, thanks for reaching out! Summer has been absolutely choca block with the Euros and then the Olympics/Paralympics so a huge summer of sport generally. Then on top of that just generally this being the first summer of being OUTSIDE, I had to move accordingly. No doubt. Very busy but also very fun. 
Prior to landing a job in the Maker Lab at Adidas you studied graphic design at university. What inspired you to attribute your graphic knowledge to clothing?

It's a funny one really because I feel like more than anything I've kind of come full circle. I started off studying Illustration wanting to specialise in fashion illustration, then realising that wasn't really what I was looking for I moved over to graphics. I've always loved merging things together and I think that fashion has always been something I've been interested in because I feel like it's one of the few art forms that is truly ubiquitous. Fashion is such a huge part of life and helps form identity, so for me, it's always been a source of not only inspiration but exploration to. 

How would you describe your own personal style and what's the importance of fashion in your own life?

Honestly, it really varies you know. One thing I will say is consistent is my love of print. Whether it's Ankara, grunge, dyed, textured, I love anything that is layered up and graphic tees are definitely my weakness. More so than that I'm very eco-conscious so I love vintage pieces, in particular sportswear, so many of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe I've borrowed/been given by my dad, so really he's the true icon. 
One of the projects that really unveiled your talent to a wider audience was the Arsenal remastered shirt that you worked on. What was the process behind that coming together?

It was a very quick brief. My mate Martyn had been briefed in by the team over at Out of Office to make a custom Arsenal shirt to raise funds for the Black Curriculum. Martyn came up with his concept and we discussed which black educators he wanted featured on the shirt. I got to work, drew the 8 illustrated faces over the course of a day or so, prepped the shirt at home with my vinyl cutter and rushed over to a friend's studio where I was able to heat press the design on to the shirt. It was a big challenge, but it was a lesson to myself how quick I can get something together if I put my mind to it. 

Your passion for live music is well documented for anyone who follows you on Twitter. How has music culture shaped your creativity over the years?

The one thing I missed so much during the pandemic is live music. I've been going to concerts since I was 15. Music, sport, fashion and culture are so intertwined there is no escape from mixing those worlds and honestly I enjoy seeing them bleed in to each other. I can't ever say I've made a design without some banging tunes in the background and if anything now I look back on it, some of the designs from the LEGENDS collection I have distinct memories of which tracks I was listening to when I was doing the initial sketches of the concept.

Following on from the Arsenal remastered project you debuted your own brand Offside Outlet with the LEGENDS collection which we featured on Sludge Mag.The lookbook was also featured by a range of huge publications. How did you go about getting the project featured by so many platforms?

When you go to a football game, the one thing everyone sees is a matchday programme. So I kind of treated the launch of Offside Outlet as a hybrid between a matchday programme and a fashion lookbook preview. Approaching the creative like that was super useful as the concept of Offside Outlet itself is pretty unique. I drew up a list with some creative friends in the industry as to which publications to target and just went after it. I think having strong photography, as well as the art direction, really sold not just the collection but the brand itself. 

Like many spaces, football as a culture is historically unwelcoming to BIPOC. Would you say your identity as a gay Black woman has shaped your experience in the creative industry as well as the football sphere? 

I think it underlines nearly everything I do. I design and create with my own experiences in mind. I'm very aware of how unwelcoming football generally is to people from my demographic, so I just said to myself why not? Who cares? I like it, it's an area I'm passionate about it so I'm going to continue to create and navigate within the space. It's really funny because the majority of my core consumer is the complete opposite of me and at the same time, more than anything I've had to contend with how present I want to be as a face of my brand myself. Almost everyone assumes football brand, football fashion cool that's a man and almost all the DM's I get initially address me as such. 

Your passion for live music is well documented for anyone who follows you on Twitter. How has music culture shaped your creativity over the years?

The one thing I missed so much during the pandemic is live music. I've been going to concerts since I was 15. Music, sport, fashion and culture are so intertwined there is no escape from mixing those worlds and honestly I enjoy seeing them bleed in to each other. I can't ever say I've made a design without some banging tunes in the background and if anything now I look back on it, some of the designs from the LEGENDS collection I have distinct memories of which tracks I was listening to when I was doing the initial sketches of the concept.

Going forward, what creative projects can we look forward to from you?

Definitely more Offside Outlet stuff, I really like to work at my own pace to make sure that things are cohesive and to a point where I'm happy with them. So definitely expect another collection coming your way soon! With the women's Euros and the World Cup next year, definitely looking to drop some fun stuff, but I don't want to provide too many spoilers so you'll have to drop me a follow to keep an eye out! 

Article by Martyn Ewoma

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