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Graham and Tui review Dare to Live Streetwear designs for print

An introduction
to the brand

Q: What does Dare to Live mean to you?

Graham: There's a difference between living and existing. Daring to live takes courage. It's a dare. Have a go. See what the outcome is.
I'm sure you'll like it.

Q: What is Dare to Live streetwear?

Graham: We were born into this planet and we gotta' choose: Do we exist or do we Dare to live - that's where this comes from. We're just taking it to another level with the apparel.

Tui: This is something I've seen you live by, I mean – it's tattooed on your arm – but it's something I believe in as well. I believe it's important to make that choice - to live and not just survive. Those are conversations the pair of us have had and its culminated in these designs.

Q: Why should people want to wear Dare to Live Streetwear over other brands? 

Graham: We've spent a lot of time over the last 12 months looking at other brands, looking at what people are wearing, dresses, tshirts, hoodies, and the conclusion we drew was there was nothing out there that makes a statement - it's all pretty generic, vanilla... almost. That's why we came up with Dare to Live Streetwear. A lot of people ask me in terms of the tattoo what does it mean, and it's the start of the a conversation that can go off in many directions. Most people get it, some people don't.

Tui: I agree with Graham, I feel that many of the designs available are very americanized regurgitations of designs we've all seen before, so it's about offering a choice. On top of that, we've paired with a New Zealand print company that source quality garments, and print to order - (no mass production - which means less waste, yay!) and ship internationally. 

Let's talk about the designs:

Dare to live - original

Graham: The statement is a call to action and the design has been roughened, broken up to give impact. The colour purple is one we both love. This design will feature on most clothing.

Tui: The emblem itself was inspired by the ignition button in Graham's race car, slanted lines and colour choice give a nod to the history of the slogan with X Factor Racing. The rough texture means on a deeper level that life ain't always pretty, it can leave scars, bruises and wounds.

believe

Graham: Everyone's heard of the saying “Live by the sword, die by the sword”, and that – again - is a choice we all make. We've added what we think are four key mantra's that we should live by, and they are: Hope, Love, Faith and Peace.
Love – Well, without love we haven't really got anything have we so that's where it starts and that's where it ends in my view.
Faith – We have to have something to believe in. If you haven't got anything to believe in, its a pretty empty state that you're in.
Peace – That's something we strive for on this planet and we have done for centuries. Whether we will get there or not that's debatable but at least it's always in our consciousness. We hope one day that it will happen, that we will all live in peace and harmony.
Hope - That's key too, without hope you've got nothing. Every morning when we wake up we hope we're gonna have a good day, we hope we're gonna love someone, or give love or receive love. The sword is a statement in itself – its kinda like a marker... a line in the sand.

charge

Tui: For me a big part of living is energy. Everything is energy, (or lack of). We go to war over it, charge tax on it, acting like it's something we can own or hoard. Sometimes we need to summon internal energy in certain situations - maybe we have to be brave, honest or deal with a conflict. This particular design is around doing that - charging up, charging forward, asking for power from our higher source to have the energy to advance, and how we grow through that.

unify

Graham: This design represents the boundaries that we live by, live within – its kinda like your moral compass if you like, everything inside is connected, interconnected – it's how you interpret it – living within a particular framework. If you do that everything else will take care of itself.

ENGAGE

Graham: The circle represents the planet, we're all on this planet to do the best we can,and it's all interconnected in some small way whether it's through family, friends acquaintances, once again – if you haven't got that connection you haven't got anything to hold onto.

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