Eyes Look Left

We’re stoked to announce a new brand through the doors of NOTE - Eyes Look Left - hailing from the streets of Amsterdam and the creative mind of longstanding Nike employee, Jay Huckstep.

The shop’s had a strong relationship with Jay for a while now, and we're happy to be the first door to be stocking his latest creative outlet. Years of working in the skate and streetwear industry has provided Jay with a keen eye for the design and quality of garments, and having taken stock of the first batch, we can attest to the quality of the clothing. 

To mark the occasion, we saw it fit to fire a few questions over to Jay to shed some light on his journey through the skate and streetwear industry, and to talk Eyes Look Left. It's cool to hear that the quality of the garments underpins everything else, and that Jay seeks to ensure that the project remains fun.

Major thanks to Jay for taking the time to go into such depth on these answers and Paddy Gomulski for shooting the photos.

Grab a brew, have a read, and listen to the records Jay recommends below.

NOTE: How did you first get involved in the skate/streetwear industry?

Jay: So first off I became obsessed with skating at the age of 11 when I saw a Rob Roskopp screaming face board hanging on a wall of a random store. A bunch of my friends seemed to get the bug all at the same time and that was it, it was all we wanted to do. They all seemed to get good fast … I however did not haha but it didn't bother me, I still just wanted to skate everyday. Back then working in the industry didn't really exist, at least not like it does today, so the thought never crossed my mind.

Fast forward a few years and after having worked various different retail roles for some well known brands, Gareth (who was one of the owners at the time) asked me if I'd be interested in managing Slam City Skates. I had been friends with everyone in the store for years so it made perfect sense. Dream job in reality and I owe a lot to that experience. Whilst working for Slam one of my roles was to do the buying and during an appointment with Nike SB, the guy I was meeting (Sam Barrett) told me he was leaving and did I have any interest in the role…a month or so later I started as the sales rep for UK & IRE.

NOTE’s relationship with you started when you were working at Nike SB - could you talk us through your journey in the industry and at Nike SB, and what you’re up to currently - we know your work has taken you beyond the sunny shores of Blighty?

So yeah as I mentioned I was the sales rep for UK & IRE, I was based in London but spent a lot of time in the car traveling up and down the country seeing the stores. I'd always stop in Manchester for a few days as I loved the city, the scene is so alive and vibrant there for all creativity, but especially skating, and I had an instant love for NOTE. I did that role for a couple of years and then got promoted. Another promotion later meant moving from London to Amsterdam, then I moved out to Portland working with the amazing footwear design team before moving back to Amsterdam. I left SB in December of 2021 after 9 great years.

Are there any projects during your tenure at Nike SB that you can talk about that you feel particularly hyped to have been involved in and contributed to, whether it’s from a product design or marketing standpoint for example?

Oh man I could list loads of things here, the beauty of SB was we were all so connected to each other that regardless of your job title you were involved in everything. 

Finding a fresh take on a shoe and bringing it to market is for sure a highlight and that’s what I did with the Blazer Court, I always loved how skating has a certain destructive nature to it. Like if you're doing it right nothing stays new and pristine very long. Skating in canvas shoes shows that really fast and reminded me of the days when you could spot skaters just by looking at their shoes and seeing holes in certain places. 

With that little introduction in place, let's talk Eyes Look Left. What was your motivation behind starting a clothing brand and who’s involved behind the scenes? It feels like a project with a very personal flavour to it, and especially cool to see a brand promoting the messages of ‘Don’t be racist Don’t be sexist Keep breathing’ on their labels.

I've been obsessed with looks/styles and clothing for as long as I can remember. You used to be able to tell people's interests from the way they dressed and I found that outward visual of your identity fascinating. I treated clothing the same as music, something big or mainstream would grab my attention and I'd then go digging behind the scenes to find the stores stocking the brand, then see what other brands they carried and dig into them and so on and so on. Much like we used to read the linear notes on an album to discover other artists that were getting shout outs etc. 

Then after years of toying with the idea I just decided to make some hats…. And then it spiralled into a full collection. A lot of small brands have a team working on them making them look bigger than they really are... We are definitely not in that bracket, everything you see comes from either myself or my wife. 

As I mentioned, clothing used to tell the world who you are immediately, there is less of that now with lots of scenes/subcultues blending together. I do still think clothing can tell a story, convey a message. In the first two seasons you see a lot of the graphics making statements, that’s also why if you look on the under side of our labels you will see the quote you mentioned: “Don’t be Racist, Don’t be Sexist, Keep breathing”.

My wife and I are the type to join demonstrations, stand up for those less fortunate etc. No one wins until we all win. 

When it comes to designing new products, how do you go about starting the creative process? Do you sit there brainstorming, or do you wait for ideas and inspiration to come to you when you’re listening to music or flicking through a magazine and take the process from there? 

I get inspired all the time from the weirdest things and I keep notes in my phone. Like thousands of them, a lot I don’t understand when I go back to them haha. 

I'll have a moment where I decide to go through the notes and see what works etc. And then build graphics from there. A lot of the time the graphics will be a mash up of a few ideas put together, I liken it to sample based music where you bring different ideas together and see what works. With that said, season 3, the season you have in store, was more logo focused. 

My wife, Eva, is a freelance creative and makes all kinds of things in and out of the clothing world, so she is great at finding ways to make our ideas come to life. 

I know you’ve cited several influences for design on your website, such as album covers and music videos etc. would you say one particular genre of music has influenced the aesthetic of Eyes more than any others or have you kept your pool of inspiration pretty wide? 

Music has always been my number 1 love, it is in my mind the purest art form there is. I listen to a lot of different styles of music and I’ve been collecting records for just over 20 years, but the vast majority of those records sit within the rap/hip hop genre.  

I can personally attest to the quality of the Canadian-made Eyes sweatpants - anything featuring chenille is always a treat. Is sourcing high quality clothing as important to you as the designs you’re putting out there?

Thank you, high quality is non negotiable for us, the sweats are in my opinion second to none. For the first season we had a varsity jacket made by an incredible family run business out in Oregon. They are the best Varsity jackets I’ve ever held from a quality point of view and the same people make our chenille patches you find on the sweats.

In a world full of cheaply made crap it's imperative that if you are going to make things, you make them with the idea of them standing the test of time… Otherwise we might as well drop everything off at the landfill as soon as it's made.

Take our hats for example, they are all handmade in Canada by a friend of mine, a skateboarder with an eye for detail, who only uses reclaimed materials so once the material is finished that’s it… No more can be made. Once you hold and examine our hats you can see they haven’t been churned out on a conveyer belt, there is genuine care put into each and every one. 

I believe this latest release is the third season of Eyes Look Left? What does the future hold for yourself and the brand? All-out global streetwear domination?! 

Yup this collection is season 3 hmmm what’s next , well the new collection is nearly finished, we are in talks with a couple of partners on potential collabs. Continue to work with friends and have fun…global streetwear domination doesn't sound like much fun.

To end with, I won’t ask for records that have provided you with inspiration for designs, and I know this is a tall order, but off the cuff have you got three record recommendations for anyone reading this, perhaps that you’ve currently got on heavy rotation?

Ohhh nice, great question…. man… I could go on forever here … Ok, in season one we did a sweatshirt that read “Clear Blue Skies” - this was a reference to a record by The Juggaknots. You can see Breeze Brewin from the Juggaknots wearing it on our instagram. This album came out at a time where New York independent/underground rap was changing the musical landscape. The song “Clear Blue Skies” ripped my head wide open when I first heard it, I'd never heard such depth about a taboo subject before. The song takes shape as a conversation between a father and a son about racism… Listen to it and then realise the artist is black… Incredible record.

A name your customers will be familiar with is Sage Elsesser, but do you know his music? He goes under the name Navy Blue. He is both a rapper and a producer - check the song 224 on the album Post Panic.

My album of the year last year was “Aethiopes” by Billy Woods - check the track Versailles featuring Despot.

Sorry I'm going past three records, an album that has been on heavy rotation since the day it came out in 2005 is called Lost by Cool Calm Pete.

Other than those it's been hard to ignore anything the Alchemist has been involved with recently.