Beware: The notorious Bra Boys are taking on new territory and are heading to a surf store near you. Melissa Gulbin reports.
Every so often a brand comes out that captures something more than a scene or subculture. But it’s not very often that said brand takes on a US President and wins.
Sunny Abberton, the eldest of the infamous Abberton brothers and documentary-maker turned streetwear salesman, laughs as he recalls the intellectual property brawl with Barack Obama’s camp over the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) trademark.
In his inauguration address, Obama proclaimed “I am your brother’s keeper”, a promise of justice, protection and triumph against adversity – a sentiment strongly subscribed to by the Abberton boys. Sunny’s brother Koby has it tattooed on his collarbone.
Obama’s words spurred the manufacture of Obama T-shirts emblazoned with the ‘I am your brother’s keeper’ motto, which was clearly an infringement of the MBK trademark. The boys stood up, the
Democrats backed down and the slogan was removed.
“It was crazy, man. Here we were this little Aussie label telling the [US] President what to do,” says Abberton in his laid-back surfie drawl.
However, the MBK brand didn’t always have that sort of pull. The label failed to thrive before the success of the 2007 documentary Bra Boys, which documented the evolution of Maroubra’s notorious surf-gang culture and touched on the murder trial of Sunny’s youngest brother Jai. Narrated by actor Russell Crowe and applauded by international audiences, Sunny Abberton says the film was key to the label’s rebirth.
“Before the doco most people thought My Brother’s Keeper was just a Maroubra thing. There was a lot of prejudice out there,” says the Bra Boys elder.
Abberton, who recently returned from a two-year promotional tour with the film, is off again on a second-summer-sell road trip with a few of the self-proclaimed MBK “soldiers”. This motley crew comprises surfers Jesse Pollock and Mark Matthews; rugby league players Reni Maitua and John Sutton; snowboarders Brett Bright and RJ; surfboard shaper Brett Warner and Ultimate Fighting champ Ian Schaffa.
Abberton and the MBK “soldiers” took sales into their own hands after their recent split with a distribution company, which Abberton says was trying to push them into department stores.
The road trip is a well-beaten track for the Abberton clan, who spent most of their youth cruising the coast on pro surfing tours. “We’re either mates or friends-of-friends with most of the store owners – guys that we’ve met through surfing that have opened their own shop. It also helps to be familiar with culture of a town,” he says.
MBK has 80 stockists but Abberton says that number is expected to rise to 120 by the end of their seasonal sell. Stockists are dotted mainly around surf hotspots, but Abberton insists MBK isn’t necessarily a surf brand for coastal kids. MBK stockists hail from Darwin, Wagga, Canberra and Dubbo and chains such as Surf Dive and Ski and City Beach cater for suburban punters. The label’s online store has been a surprising hit with Canadians and Europeans.
This second summer sell will include a new accessories line as well as a kids’ range in sizes two to 12, which will be sold by some existing stockists. “Some of our retailers asked if we could do a kids’ range – we’ve got a loyal niche there.”
Price points for the brand’s core apparel ranges sits at around $45 for T-shirts through to $100 for its most expensive hoodies. Kids apparel retails for around $25 while caps sell for a recommended retail price of around $20 for caps and $7 for socks.
Abberton claims he is looks forward to hitting the international trade show circuit for the first time later this year. Already MBK has been picked up by the giant New York surf shop Rockaway Beach as well as surf chains in Israel.
Self-described as “fashion for the urban soldier”, MBK embodies the urbanisation of surf culture – a worldwide trend witnessed during the boys’ promotional tour. “We were really influenced by what we saw in LA, on Venice Beach,” he says. We’ve been lucky enough to have our fingers on the pulse, in contact with skaters, snowboarders, hip hop acts and tattoo artists. We hooked up with this great Mexican artist who’s doing some T-shirts.
“There’s an endless stream of new ideas and new looks being offered to kids via the net, so, yeah, there’s definitely more of an urban edge to surf labels these days.”
MBK tees, which make up the bulk of the label’s sales, are made in Sydney, but the more complicated apparel such as board shorts and accessories are manufactured in China. Middle brother Koby is MBK’s creative director and designer, and has a design assistant in James Groat, who also contributes to the design process.
A percentage of all MBK sales go to the Mavis Abberton Foundation, named after the boys’ beloved grandmother. Spearheaded by Sunny, the charity, which will officially launch its ‘Streets To The Beach’ program this year, takes disenfranchised kids from the outer suburbs and teaches them to swim, to surf, to set goals, cut their own surf video – in short, to be invigorated by the ocean.
“Growing up, we didn’t have much, but we had the ocean. We also had a lot of people helping us out, driving us places, coaching us… and basically we want to formalise that idea through this program and give something back.”