Christopher Donnelly co-founded Manchester streetwear label Gio Goi with his brother Anthony in 1990 and it quickly grew a cult following on the Manchester rave scene, particularly in venues such as the legendary Haçienda, while also dressing the likes of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. Success across the rest of the UK and further afield followed soon after.
Jumping forward, Gio Goi was then relaunched by Donnelly in 2005 with the same raw energy it had in its first carnation – with artists such as Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss wearing the brand – before JD Sports Fashion acquired it in 2013. In another interesting twist, the brothers managed to reacquire the brand last year. But that’s not what Donnelly is focusing on right now.
He’s just launched a new luxury streetwear brand called Rules of Faith in Selfridges, a groundbreaking fusion of art, tech and fashion with garments that feature first-to-market integrated technology – allowing customers to become part of the brand’s exclusive community, or ‘Congregation’ as it’s been called. This week also saw him take over the second largest digital billboard in Europe for two days, called the Manchester Screen at Victoria Warehouse – near Man United’s Old Trafford football ground – to shout about the brand launch to a wider audience. He tells us all about it.
Why have you decided to launch a new brand now?
I’ve spent over the last 30 years in fashion, having originally launched Gio Goi in 1990 with my brother Anthony, but I just felt I needed to take a step back and maybe just do something a little bit different. So, about two years ago, I decided that I wanted to do something on my own, a solo project where I didn’t need to answer to anybody. The time felt right, and Rules of Faith was conceptually born. It’s taken two years to get to where I am today with it, but I’m in a good place.
Was the launch in Selfridges at the end of August the first time it’s been seen?
Yes, it’s absolutely the very first time that the product has been seen in-store. The conversations with Selfridges have been ongoing since January, but getting the brand in there with no Instagram or social media build up, and no website, is quite a bold statement from us as a brand – and certainly from Selfridges as well to get behind us.
I actually put some Instagram and social media content up last year, hinting that the brand was coming, but I ended up taking it down after a month. I didn’t want to fall into that obvious trend too early. I just wanted to work quietly and make sure everything was correct. Obviously, you have to have Instagram and social media, and we have again now, but the Instagram following we have is currently very small – we’re building it completely organically.
You also now do have a Rules of Faith website, so when did that launch?
The website actually went live first, towards the end of August, then the following week we went into Selfridges. So, we’re only a few weeks old and the momentum is building nicely already. We’re obviously selling direct-to-consumer now as well, which is a great thing because you get to tell your story and obviously the margins are bigger. But Selfridges is one of the best stores in the world – and that’s essential for a new brand like mine.
How many pieces have launched with?
The Selfridges buy is not huge – it’s about 12 pieces, but the website has more like 80 pieces. It’s quite a decent offering, but we can’t do everything from the off, so it’s Tees, sweatshirts and hoodies for now. But from a very different perspective.
What are the price points?
I’ve done an entry level range called ‘Crucial’ which consists of logo carriers, such as a T-shirt for £90 and a hoody for £170. Then there’s a mid-range called ‘Primirosa’, with T-shirts at £140 and hoodies at £295, and above that sits the top-end range called ‘Opulenta’ – with T-shirts at £180 and hoodies at £495.
What is your point of difference?
Essentially, the hook of the brand is the hood. One of the straplines for the brand is ‘beauty is on the inside’, and the hoods are lined with luxurious velvet that’s digitally printed. I’ve built my own factory in the North West of England – on the outskirts of Manchester – and the garments are all finished by hand there. There’s a certain exclusivity to it.
The garments have also got technology inside of them, and I don’t mean just like a blockchain chip for authenticity. If you were to buy a sweatshirt from Selfridges today, and you get on a flight to New York tomorrow – I can update brand and product information on your chip while you are in New York.
How does that work?
There’s a chip in the back neck yolk of a garment. You put your phone on the chip like Apple Pay and it will bring the technology on to your phone. When you put your phone on that chip, that chip cannot be cloned and it’s got a specific number that becomes your number. You don’t need to put your name in or add any details if you don’t want, though you can opt to put your email address in if you want – so we can send you other things, but basically it’s like The Matrix!
You can become part of this community. We’re only a few weeks old, but once we start building the community it will become clearer. We could the teach the community, for instance, to scan the chip every Thursday at 7 o’clock, and they’ll be some new information on there. It could be that we’ve just done a photoshoot and a chance to see it from a behind-the-scenes perspective, or it could be we are going to release 10 bespoke garments – just for the community, the people who’ve got the chip. It could be an invite to an event we’re doing. It could be absolutely anything. There’s even a wellness element to it.
Quite simply, if you don’t have a chip, and you go to ‘The Congregation’ section on the website, it will say ‘Access Denied: Restricted Area’, because you haven’t purchased a garment. That’s followed by a message reading ‘welcome to the edge of exclusivity’. It’s like a secret society, an inner circle. You only gain access when you have a chip, and the only way you get a chip is if you purchase a garment. The technology is for the people who are buying into the brand. It’s total exclusivity. Some people maybe think I’m a bit mad, but other people think I’m in front of the curve and that’s the way things are moving anyway.
What are the graphics on the garments?
All the graphics in the ‘Primirosa’ range are actually taken from the Vatican in Rome, which I have got the rights to use, and they are in this beautiful velvet fabric in the hood. Then, inside of the graphic, is a forward-thinking technology. It’s quite a strange mix, but there is nothing else like it in the market. I know there’s a lot of brands messing around with technology, especially AI, but nobody is doing what we are doing at the moment.
Does it bear any resemblance to Gio Goi at all?
It couldn’t be further apart. They are absolutely chalk and cheese. I obviously spent a lot of time on Gio Goi, and I’ve had some amazing times with it, but I just wanted to do something that was completely different. I also wanted to do something that was about positive energy and luxury – with a kind of feeling of warmth around it. Hence the use of velvet to line the hoods. Also, because there’s a graphic on the inside of the hood, a lot of people who have been buying it have been turning the hood inside out. If you tie that around your neck on an autumn or winter’s day, it’s like having a velvet scarf on! The garments are produced using heavyweight 500 gram organic cotton – real quality that is almost like a lifetime purchase. Some days I actually find them difficult to wear as they are that heavy, but come the thick of winter I couldn’t think of anything better to wear, especially with a hood that’s got beautiful velvet on the inside.
Who would you say is the real target market?
Obviously, by the price points, there’s a certain exclusivity, but I don’t want it to be unaffordable for anybody really – that’s why I’ve done an entry level range. It’s certainly not about fast fashion. It’s an aspirational brand, but I wouldn’t like to pin- point any particular person and say it’s for them or it’s not for them.
How are you getting the word out about Rules of Faith?
Last Monday I took over the Manchester Screen, which is actually Europe’s second largest digital billboard, for two days. It’s near United’s Old Trafford football ground. I just thought, if we’re going to do this, let’s really tell people we’re doing it. We’re feeling pretty strong about what we’re doing.
I’m only really now starting to do the marketing side of things, but I’ve recently taken a call today from somebody who has been speaking to Marcus Rashford. We know how it works, the same things that worked 30 years ago still work today. And, because I’ve built my own factory, I can make Rashford a bespoke sweatshirt and he can have ‘Marcus Rashford, one of one’ on his chip. It can’t be cloned. The garment could also have bespoke graphics on it, or it may have his football shirt number on it – or something that’s personal to him. From an authenticity point of view, it is totally an exclusive thing we’re doing. We can personalise things, and that goes for anybody really.
I also dropped some stuff off last week at The Warehouse Project in Manchester for a band called Jungle. It’s a different way of doing the marketing, but I’m also being very exclusive as to who I choose to do the marketing with. Like with Gio Goi – we did everything differently. Our whole mantra was being unorthodox about the way we did everything. I’m still the same person. I may be older, and I like to think a little bit wiser, but I’m still trying to do things in an unorthodox way while bringing different things to the table. You can go and buy a hoody from every brand in the world, but you can’t go and buy a hoody like mine.
Where does the Rules of Faith name come from?
Everything seems to be a little bit negative around us, without sounding like a hippy! I just wanted to do something that gives the message that you’ve just got to have a bit of faith. Things will turn out alright in the end. I just wanted to give a positive message. A lot of the graphics you see out there have an angry element to them, like barking bulldogs and things like that, and I just thought we should do something that has a bit more beauty in it.
Having now launched in Selfridges, are you now in talks with other top end retailers?
Yes, we are. I can’t say who just yet, but we will probably have two more high-end retailers on board before Christmas in the UK, and there is talk of an in-store launch party with one of them. A pop-up store at some point may be good as well, we’ll see. I’m also having conversations with some people in the States, so I may go and do something over there, perhaps in LA.
What’s in the pipeline for new products going forward?
We’ve launched the brand with hoodies and jersey wear, and there’s obviously tons of jersey brands around, but ours are completely different. Moving into next year, we’ll be looking at more high-end stuff and widening the range. I’m already looking at cashmere coats and different things for next autumn/winter. The hook of the hoods is the velvet lining, so they’ll be a touch of that running through whatever we do.
