Client Focus: Hikerdelic / Proper Mag. Custom Pin Badges

Hikerdelic are a clothing and lifestyle brand hailing from Manchester, UK. They are focused on creating highly practical menswear, with a fun and acid infused edge only a Manchester brand could pull off. The name Hikerdelic is genius, and also a portmanteau of hiker and psychedelic… Get it?!

They returned to Studio Dais after we created a range of woven patches and logo hard enamel pin badges for them mid 2020. We recently worked on a very special project with them, bringing their Derik and Eric characters alive in soft enamel pin badge form! We decided to catch up with the guys in their Manchester office to find out more about their plans for 2021 and how they found working with Studio Dais the second time around.

The Hikerdeic / Proper Mag Interview on Their Custom Hikerdelic Pin Badges

Who are you and where are you currently based?

I’m Mark Smith. I founded Proper Magazine and the brand Hikerdelic with Neil Summers. These days, Hikerdelic is taking most of our time. We started in Stockport but are now based in Ancoats, recently voted as the coolest neighbourhood in the world, or something (it’s true)!

Tell us about your brand and the industry you are in?

Broadly speaking we’re involved with clothing. We feel like we are well connected and know more than enough about actual clothing and brands to have a solid place operating in this world.

From Fanzine to Magazine

We began making fanzines under the Proper name, and more by accident than design it got better and better with each issue. Eventually, we felt comfortable calling it a magazine. Alongside it, we had a website where we’d write about stuff we liked, again with no real plan to turn it into a real business.

On Natural Evolution Of A Brand

We naturally evolved things which created the opportunity to build Proper into a full creative agency, specialising in men’s clothing. Through this we’ve created content and campaigns for brands from all around the world, travelling extensively and generally just having a great time doing something we love. We think that flows into our output. We’re all about keeping moving though, so the natural next step was to create our own brand. Hikerdelic was born. Increasingly we are spending more time on that. It’s going pretty well, with various irons in fires for next year and even 2022.

How have your custom pin badges from Studio Dais been used to help your business?

I think these days brands are more about the brand than the product itself, so if you’re not starting with a big pot of money, it’s possible to climb up the ladder with the use of good quality items like mugs and pins. It’s more about the brand itself than the gear, although that naturally flows the other way in the end. You can only get so far with basic stuff. We’re now having all our clothing made to our specific design so that evolution I mentioned is there. We want to be inclusive though, and in the custom pin badges we’ve got a really nice, good quality entry-level product for people to buy without breaking the bank. The fact we have such strong imagery sort of demands we use it on pins anyway!

On Working With Studio Dais On Their Custom Hikerdelic Pin badges

How was it working with Studio Dais?

Really good. There are so many people out there making custom pin badges and other metalwares, but with Studio Dais the service is more hands-on and attentive. It feels more collaborative than the impersonal way others sometimes work.

Any wise words of wisdom to pass on to our readers?

Never stop learning and make sure your comfort zone is constantly getting bigger!

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As always, working with Hikerdelic / Proper Mag was fun and insightful, the invite into their studio workspace was also a big welcome. The guys have it locked down and we expect BIG things from them in 2021 and 2022 onwards. Please check their Proper Mag and Hikerdelic sites out and learn more (don’t forget to bag one the pins we made for them)!

Interested in knowing more? Want to get your own custom pins, patches, medals, coins and other metalwares made? Get in touch today.

Contact us HERE!