I’ve been a fan of TMP for a long while. Clean designs with a clear message and simple atheistic, always a winner in my book…

I recently caught up with them to ask a few quick questions after the launch of their latest line.

Hello TMP, what’s your backgrounds and how did you come to start Too Much Posse?

Our backgrounds are both different and not directly involved with fashion. We first came up with the idea in around 2006 then put out our first line in 2007. We had travelled a lot and met alot of people within the scene, mainly in New York, which gave us the first ideas and inspiration to start our own label. We found that the UK scene was pretty dry when it came to tees and was dominated by mainly U.S imports. We weren’t finding what we wanted so we decided to do it ourselves.

Tell us a little about the brand, the name and where it came from etc?

The brand name came from ‘Public Enemy’ originally as u probably know but it can mean a few different things I suppose, whatever you want it to mean. Our crew is too much for you…

What inspired you to start making tees and does TMP have a distinctive style or ethos?

We were inspired by NY really and after going there a couple of times we were heavily influenced by the cultures and how style and fashion has developed there. We would say our style crosses into all different genres really. From graffiti writers, fixie riders, tattoo artists, skaters, fashionista’s.. They’re all on it.

Where did you get the concept behind the current range?

We tried to tone it down a bit with this collection and steered away from the more bright/loud stuff… Our ideas and styles are slowly changing so the concepts will change from each collection to the next. I think with all our tees we will try to stick to the large prints though…

What are your opinions on distribution, and selling product generally?

Distribution is something that we have considered. We’ve been approached by a few distributers but we’re currently still very much developing our brand and maintaining overall control of the brand is a major priority. We’ve got a couple of friends that run brands who have stepped into the distribution route and although this has proved successful it has massive drawbacks.
Since we started we’ve learnt huge amounts about production, marketing and selling the brand as a whole. The whole process has from day one been run by us and by handing over certain aspects of the business we’ll lose control and direction. That’s when brands begin to fray. We enjoy the designing part the most and the feedback from the buyers. We’re not on a hype thing. We rely on the designs to sell themselves.

What do you think of the current uk street wear and who else is doing it out there at the moment in your opinion?

When we began it was all about loud, flash colours and the whole 80s thing. That’s now been killed off and the whole 90s look is in. Simplicity with nouveau neat detail is where it’s at right now. I haven’t really seen too much of this in the UK to be honest. Norse is killing right now. As far as UK brands go A.IN.T has the potential to smash it.

What music and other cultures are you interested in and take influence from?

We are big on the reggae/dub thing but we listen to alot of grime and Dubstep but the list could go on forever really…

Do you have plans to move into cut and sew or other pieces in future collections?

Yeah, we’ve got a couple of pieces dropping soon…

Any collabs on the horizon?

NO.

Any last words?

FREE BOMS. FREE DWS. Shouts to Matty B, R-nu, Gus1, Ben and Pete for all the help with the new collection! Not forgetting PrettyTone, 4mans, Gmoney, Vrok, Sni pacino and the rest of the crew!

For more Too Much Posse info check their website here.

And well worth a look, their blog.

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