Style 43

If you’ve ever been on Style43 before, chances are on the front page you’ll have seen a post by me telling you about something new Aversion are doing, and how much I love the way they’re doing it. Whilst some websites seem to just spew out stuff like this right, left and centre, this time it’s genuine. As a result of this, I decided to find out a bit more about Aversion, and talk to the main man, Mr. Louis Mikolay.

S43: It’d be rude to start without asking you a few basics first - want to give everyone your name, age, and where you’re from?

My Name is Louis Mikolay, i’m 21 years old and I’m originally from a small town called Seaford near Brighton, now studenting in Chisleyhurst - south east London.

S43: Is living in London all you expected it to be? How have you found the transition from small town to big city, riding-wise and in general?

To be honest I’m not sure what I expected london to be like. Riding wise the town I come from has the the worst metal skateparks possibly anywhere, and only some younger riders to go out with, which meant I left the town as often as possible, preferring to ride trails with Gav, go to Horsham or the old Crawley. London has quite a few places to ride, obviously theres hundreds of street spots, but I really don’t get to ride them too often. Chislyhurst has nothing at all accept a sainsbury’s carpark with a curb in it. Even the terrible metal Mini ramp back home was fun on an evening just before it goes dark. I also miss the way that crappy local places have the same friendly faces each time you go, London being bigger, you often see different people every time you go out! Having said that everyone I have met, around town has been super friendly so its not all bad.

S43: Moving on - how did Aversion come about?

If I think back, its been around in various forms for so long, I used to make a website called codectwenty which was justPictures of Gav and myself riding bikes, which developed a little here and there, and officially changed into AversionAbout 3 years ago with the help of Sam Taylor. To be honest we were really inspired by a guy called James Cox who owns the clothing company retribution, he did some cool tee’s and made an awesome video - the secret, and it just appealed to me. Combining my interests of BMX, graphic design and video editing into one body that also gave me the opportunity to get my
friends coverage seemed like a rad idea! Sam suggested the name, I drew the logo on a train journey back from Liverpool and we were away! We Started off with pretty much just Gav and Max on the team, and went on from there!

S43: Are you flying solo, or have you got a few people helping you out?

In a way I’m flying solo as I do all the behind the scenes work, websites, videos etc but I never feel like i’m on my own. I tried to make it clear that it wasn’t just my company, that I really wanted it to be everyone’s baby and I think thats still true. I mean, while I have control over what we make, everyone has input and I just do the actual dirty work! The latest Avetris tee was dreamed up about a year ago when Max said “you should do one that looks like tetris!” Basically Aversion would be nothing if it wasn’t for everyone involved so no I’m not flying solo.

S43: Was setting up a company different to how you expected it to be?

I’m not entirely sure, I just got a bank account hooked up which was pretty exciting, but nothing has been complicated so far. I never really thought it would get big enough to be called a company, and it doesn’t feel like a company! Its just us. Riding.

S43: You also seemed to make a splash when you started really pushing Aversion - why do you think that was?

I guess it got to a point, where people around me were telling me that Aversion had the opportunity to be something good, and I realised that I had put together a whole bunch of the raddest , and most amazing riders around. I just thought it would be a waste of time not to put some effort into this so I literally overnight decided to go for it! I stopped making video’s with fillers and dodgy shots in, and tried to get a website together with some actual content! I spent about 2 months most days putting everything together and when it dropped everyone seemed to be into it! I guess it just goes to show that if you have half a brain, and are willing to put the effort in, it doesn’t go un-noticed!

S43: I happened to spot an Aversion ad in the latest issue of Dig - what’s your take on magazine ads as a form of promotion for a company, compared to - for example - banners on popular websites and so on?

I’m not really sure on the effectiveness, its not like we put that Ad out, and had hundreds of new hits a day. Web Banners are probably more helpful as they provide a quick link straight to the website with no remembering required, however I prefer print adverts. Banners are usually just a logo, which is helpful but print ad’s allow you to say something, hopefully interesting. It seems to me that ALL print ad’s feature a picture of someone riding, a product, and a logo. Although I understand bmx is about riding, so it is natural to include images of riding, I think theres space for different ideas. I hope kids realise that “massive rider X rides our product, buy it now’ a pretty lame way of selling product, surely you can stimulate and interest people in othere ways!

S43: Aversion’s undeniably got a pretty amazing team - how did you choose the riders, and have you got any plans for more people to join the team?

I am unbelievably happy with the family right now. Everyone is a shredder, in different ways which is the best thing, and most people (haha) are up for riding anything. In the begining we started with Max, Gav, and Butcher, with another local who we kinda lost contact with, they were no brainers to be honest. Gav got me into riding and has always been amazing to ride with, Max was one of those kids at the skatepark that got pretty good, and had the best attitude ever, and Butcher was doing rad technical nibbles that I couldn’t understand, so we
(Sam and myself) thought it was a good place to start. From there we’ve added people that we’ve met, ridden with a bunch and got along with a treat! I’ve never let myself hook up just another shredder from X town. I’ve made it my goal to hook up good guys, with good attitudes to life not just riding, and guys that I thought would get along with everyone else involved! We do actually have 3 more names to add to the family but I’m waiting a little while until we can hook up properly (they’ve been away recently and I’ve been working my arse off) to shoot some good mini sections, and then unleash them on the world! I promise you though, complete shredders, and amazing people!

S43: Regarding having a team/sponsorship, what are the obligations/commitments of sponsoring riders from an owner’s point of view?

I feel I have to make sure that everyone involved has shirts when they need them, although its kinda difficult when we’re not huge! I also see it as my responsibility to get them coverage and attempt to help get opportunities, mostly through making video sections but also through talking to people I’ve met, hinting the chap’s names whenever I can!

S43: You said in the blog for the latest Mark Love edit (click here) that he wasn’t brakeless out of choice, mentioning the “fashion” side of BMX – Aversion seems to have stayed more park based in spite of the trend to promote the “street” side of BMX, was that a conscious decision, or just the way things happened to pan out?

The street trend is insane right now! Its so popular its almost scary! To be honest we haven’t tried to move in or out of it, it just happens that most of the riding that gets done at the moment is at a skatepark! Personally, I’d love to ride and film at the trails the entire time, but sadly the weather in England doesn’t really allow for this! Having said that, I would actually like to film a bit more street as you can often find interesting shots and lines, hopefully this summer we’ll go to some interesting spots, but in no way is that in search of fitting in with the trend.

S43: You seem to have a pretty set idea of how you want Aversion to come across, like having good webvids, nice branding, and so on - how did you develop the “Look” and feel of Aversion?

This all stemmed from the overnight change in my attitude towards Aversion! I’m studying graphic design at Uni, so I think about stuff quite a lot, the look of Aversion, started with the logo which honestly was a random drawing, which developed into a simple brand, which I’m trying to push as far as I can go. I could be wrong, but I feel a brand is stronger if it is instantly recognisable, It could just be me but whenever I see someone fly by at a park with a cyan logo on their tee I presume (and Hope) its an Aversion tee. I think there are a lot of companies out there that do JUST whats cool, and everything feels separate, I like the idea that everything Aversion feels the connected.

I also see a lot of people trying too hard with special effects for titles, splattery emotional graphics on shirts, and I always think, why do that when you don’t have to. You have heard the saying “Less is more” well I heard Milton Glazer once said (haha) that just enough, is more. And I like that.

The look and feel of Aversion is ultimately a combination of what the chaps aresaying to me, and my personal exploration of graphic design and I
guess Illustration. I’m trying (not always successfully) to do shirts and clips that show something about us, rather than whatever is cool at the moment and I hope that people recognise that.

S43: Your designs are pretty diverse, ranging from a simple logo to the more tech “Avetris” logo - what inspires you creatively?

Haha thats quite a question. I don’t think i’m creative. I’m pretty much on a rollercoaster in terms of design right now, never knowing what I like, or what
I should do. With Aversion, I try to go with direction from the other guys, and also seeing what I can put in from my work studying design. There is a small scale video that Style 43 actually introduced me to called ‘us and them’, that I think is absolutely awesome, it came wrapped in a double sided A2 poster and smelt beautiful! haha!

In terms of design outside of Aversion, I really like Idea based design. Its becoming so easy for people to make pretty patterns that, for me, it has become boring pretty quick. There are two people that have inspired me beyond anything else, Alan Fletcher and Bob Gill. Both extremely famous Graphic designers who just play/ed with words and simple images, and its brilliant.

S43: Aside from those two designers, are there any other examples of mainstream graphic design/artwork that you’ve liked or been interested in?

Haha they are pretty mainstream in Graphic design!
For some reason I’m really drawn the the “stay fit” Tee, I think because it manages to boldly tell people to like fit, and joke at the same time. I’m finding it hard to think of real mainstream graphics that I’m into. I generally think design in bmx is moving in pretty average circles. I do like the defgrip site, because they seem to think a little, plus the last people also.

S43: Obviously a good design alone doesn’t make a good product, so how did you go about actually putting the clothing into production (such as choosing the right T-shirts to use, which prints work best for which design, and so on)?

At the beginning, a friend of mine - Dan King from UrbanIndustry.co.uk put me in touch with a supplier and gave me some good advice on brands and printing etc. Since then we’ve tried out a bunch of different models of T shirt and we’re pretty happy with where we’ve ended up. I remember we got a batch a few years ago that were the most terrible shape ever, short and wide, but you just learn from your mistakes. I have been trying to use american apparel shirts for a while now but they are so much more expensive that the cost of the shirts would have to go up beyond the difference in quality! All our tee’s have bee screen printed so far, as it gives a really nice solid image. I’d like to experiment with digital print, if the design requires it, however again cost has to be taken into consideration! I’m also considering a ridiculously Limited edition Vinyl print in the future.

S43: “Web-vids vs. DVD” seems to be a pretty Hot Topic at the moment - do you have any plans for an Aversion team DVD any time soon, or are you sticking strictly to shorter web edits?

Haha I’ve been planning an Aversion DVD since before it was born, however the my university and work schedule is kinda not helping. I also want to try and so something a little more interesting than a normal DVD that you see everywhere. There’s been a massive jump in the quality of ‘real’ bmx video’s fairly recently, which is strange considering the skateboarding world has had awesome video’s such as Yeah right for quite a long time. The quality increase can only be a good thing, but i’m wondering when the charm of a steady cam will wear off. . . It does look rad but theres more to film than that. I’ve been talking with ‘The North’ for ages about putting together a video with something extra to it and I hope we will get round to it soon. . . Etnies latest video I thought felt like a really good video to me, although I’m not sure about the blatant rip off of Spike Jonze and the Girl video with the riderless Bike. . . Everybody should go and watch the skateboarding video Fully Flared, and then re think video. I know we aren’t doing as interesting as them yet, but hopefully it will happen one day. I think web vids are a good thing for now and I’m trying to do as many as possible. Gone are the days of watching the same Aitken and Van Homan sections day in day out. Kids want fresh stuff daily! ARRghh

S43: There seems to be a divide in the BMX world at the moment between going for the clean, pristine, full-on video production look and the “raw”, bare-bones editing style, with various arguments raging on based on whether it’s “BMX” enough or not. Do you have a take on that situation, speaking as a video editor?

In all honesty, I’m not sure I’ve noticed that haha! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either, as long as the shots are considered and you don’t feel sick from the camera bouncing around! I also think its good to only put the good or interesting stuff in, less fillers please!

S43: Also, having mentioned Fully Flared – with several companies producing more “skate-inspired” products from videos to clothing, do you feel BMX is going in the right direction in terms of it’s own identity, or do you feel the designers in the BMX world need to be more self-sufficient, design-wise?

This is a great question, but I honestly don’t know. I think the bmx industry is a little stuck in the bmx industry, and needs to look outside of the bmx industry for inspiration, in the past skateboarding has been a major influence, for good reason, however perhaps its time to look a little further afield?

S43: Where do you see Aversion going in the next few weeks/months/years?

Short term, finishing Alex’s second mini section, and shooting new ones for the others is pretty high priority. Plus getting some good shit together for the
new guys. . . Theres an article coming up in Ride about our little Rainy Aversion Excursion to Cornwall recently, and I’ve got plans for some collab tee’s
with artwork from family members combining to make a supershirt to rule them all! Or something? In the Longer term as I said I’d love to get a DVD thats
interesting produced, and I guess just take every opportunity we get! I really wanna use Aversion to help the guys get interesting places to ride, and other
opportunities, for example Alex has just got hooked up on Fit UK which is ace!

S43: Seeing as the UK seems to have a pretty strong history of rider-owned parts companies (e.g. Alone, Attila, BSD, G-Sport, and so on), have you been tempted at all to diversify Aversion into producing ‘hardgoods’ as well, or are you Intending to stick exclusively to clothing/media?

Haha surprisingly quite a lot of people ask me that, and of course I’ve considered it! I’d love to one day make some hard goods, but I can’t see it happening too soon. Money money money, development costs, I would never want to bring out something that was just a cheap copy of something else built in a sweatshop, so until somebody offers to finance for it, I doubt its on!

S43: Lastly, got any thanks/shout-outs you want to give to anyone?

There are so many people I should thank for everything they’ve done. Predominantly the guys that make up Aversion, it really wouldn’t be anything without you, particularly Gav Shortall because he got me into riding in the first place, and pretty much gave me a reason to make Aversion! I also need to thank Dan King who helped me out when sourcing, and constantly gives me advice! Huge thanks has to go to Timmy and the croydon crew for taking me in when I moved to London, the guys at Defgrip, thecomeup, style43 (haha), Mason at customriders, Matt and Joel at Ballyhoo Haywards heath, Robin and Mark at Ride, Bart from FatBMX, Jamie and Carlo at IMG/Proper and I anyone who has bought a tee, or watched a mini clip hahaha! BOSH.

Many thanks go to Louis for answering the questions, and providing us with the pictures you have before you!

Related Links:
Aversion
Aversion’s Mark Love video
UrbanIndustry
Alan Fletcher’s Wikipedia page
Bob Gill’s Wikipedia page

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