Free Gold Watch

• 
  Free Gold Watch The Thriller V-Neck T-Shirt
• 
  Free Gold Watch The IVI.IVI T-Shirt

The Instant Messengers in Free Gold Watch loot.

You might find getting fired from work a miserable time in your life – but this was not the case for Free Gold Watch (FGW) founder Matthew Henri. The designer, after being laid off from a silkscreen printing shop, created his own print shop based in his garage. He started a nameless business, and began pressing shirts in his own bath tub. As his designs gained notoriety, more and more people craved for FGW. SF-based local retailers such as True and Giant Robot decided to carry Henri’s still-nameless line. As the collection expanded further, Henri found himself printing on sweatshirts as well. He was looking for an emblem to emblazon on the insides of the apparel.

“We were thinking what would be funny to print on the inside of hoodies,” Henri said in his interview with SF Station. “Maybe some butterfly knives or weird things like grenades.”

Running through these images, Henri came up with an epiphany. “‘We should print watches. That would be great, like a hustler style.’ That same night I was designing up these watches and started printing them.”

Henri’s epiphany proved him right. His watch symbol proved to be something memorable. With a newfound confidence, Henri peddled his apparel in trade shows all over the country. So how did he manage to rise up in a industry filled with silk screened shirts? Easy. He posted a sign nearby his wares, saying: ”Free Gold Watch.”

“So many folks were coming up and being like, ‘Hey, where’s my free gold watch?’” Henri said. “So I’d say, ‘You want it? Here it is.’ Then I’d show it to them, right there in the hoodie.” To pay homage to this trademark sign, every FGW garment bears a long, black leather tag with the trademark printed gold watch.

The smart line, based in San Francisco, California, exposes the hype behind everything – including Louis Vuitton logos, celebrities, gangster culture, and even late-night infomercials.

It also pays homage to (by way of discoloring, distorting, and expanding on) various cultural niches. Some of the “revitalized prints” include Andy Warhol’s Marilyn print which gets sliced into thick bars colored in neon hues, the Morton Salt Girl in her pixelated glory, and the Louis Vuitton logo recast with the letters FGW.

FGW merchandise in its SF showroom.

Despite the keen attention he gives his merchandise, Henri admits to “(keeping) things rough around the edges. I don’t want things to be too perfect.”

Outside distorting icons all over the world, FGW has also worked up a collaboration with Dickies to come up with a limited edition workpants. Fabric was the theme, so the guys from FGW enlarged different types of fabric to about 1000% of the fabric size. This exclusive workpants is available only in Japan.

FGW fans include The Instant Messengers (who have worn the Hater Blocker Sunglasses in their “IHuman” video). FGW has also been featured in a number of spreads, including the SF Chronicle, and the San Francisco Magazine. It was also featured in gossiper Perez Hilton’s blog.

FGW merchandise can be bought of a tiny storefront in San Francisco, which Henri has preserved to lock the feel of the dry cleaning service Henri took over in 2006. True to the label’s eclectic design aesthetic, Henri reinvented the shop to make it look like the illest dry cleaner on the block. The shirts, which are literally fresh pressed, hang in poly bags around the store.  And for $34 a pop, who could go wrong with a Free Gold Watch?