Right from its inception in August 2021, Guided Youth has been a vocal brand. The social activism brand started off with the Statement Series — ten statements plastered at the back of tees, which were essentially conversation starters.
Three years on, and over five collections later; the brand has dropped the Core Collection — a toned down, three piece capsule comprising of a t-shirt, a cap and a utility vest.
The collection is minimalist, without any overarching message — simply the word ‘guided’ on the right chest of a black tee; whilst the compass is on the cap and the cross logo is on the utility vest. The word ‘guided’ is also inscribed at the back of the utility vest, which comes in beige. The cap comes in three colourways — black and white, all white, and all black.
This is a marked departure from the “fashion with a message” aesthetic that usually accompanies the brand’s releases.
Speaking to Mcheno and More, Guided Youth Lead Designer Ngaatendwe Mapako broke down the collection as follows; “For this release, we decided to strip everything down to our core message, which can be distilled to our brand identity – the cross logo, the compass and essentially the idea that every one of us is guided by our destiny.
“We wanted to create a timeless collection that resonates with anyone who already knows about us, or who comes across the brand. Sometimes the messages we were communicating in previous collections got lost in the design. So with this (collection), we want people to understand Guided Youth before understanding what it is fighting for.”
Does this collection reflect a change in design philosophy for Guided Youth?
“Yes and no. This collection was the result of tapping into the streets and figuring out what the market needs from us. We now pay more attention to customer preferences, but we also remain focused on communicating messages with our design,” answered Mapako.
With its first drop of SS24, Guided Youth has endured for three years in an evolving fashion landscape. The co-founders, however, believe there is still much more to be done.
“Our first three years were basically a time of learning. There’s still more to do before we can say we are a success. This year we have been trying to figure out how to make this economically sustainable, and I think we have. The pressure is now on execution, how we’re doing it,” described Mapako.
Fashion enthusiasts have often accused Guided Youth of staggered releases over its three-year existence, considering that its last release was almost a year ago. This summer, however, the brand promises to “feed the streets,” as Mapako put it.
“Our summer has just begun. We’ll be coming through with more colourways for this Core Collection, plus there’s a collaboration that you guys gotta (sic) look out for,” he concluded.
At three years old, Guided Youth is slowly maturing into a palatable wine for a wider audience. The Core Collection is the brand’s first attempt at minimalism, and is likely to appeal to fashion enthusiasts across the board.
You can order The Core Collection online via the brand’s Instagram, Facebook or X/Twitter pages. You can also place your order directly on WhatsApp.
