About a year ago a good friend of ours photographer Francesco Mellina was commissioned for an exhibition with Liverpool Museums. Franco documented the early punk and liverpool music scene at local club Erics in the late 70s until its closure in 1980. Among his photographs were up and coming artists including The Ramones, The Clash, Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order to name a few. We decided to dedicate a limited edition run of three designs to acknowledge his achievements. Images of New Order, The Smiths and The Clash were gathered for what was to be the ICONS range. Well it appears that our small range of t-shirts was a good stepping stone for Franco into the world of retail and an inspiration for another label. Amplified have built up a sound reputation in doing band inspired designs for their T-Shirts and Franco's designs have now been taken up by them under the guise of the IKONS range. The T-Shirts are available from the brands website
Heres the write-up about the range from the Amplified website Sugarbullets.co.uk
Amplified have produced a new range of iconic T-shirts aptly named ‘IKONS by Amplified’.IKONS by Amplified is a 12-piece collection which features memorable poses and portraits of today’s modern day icons and those from days gone by. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Chrissie Hynde and Ian Brown take center stage, in eye-catching black and white photographic imagery. The visual style of IKONS by Amplified was inspired by the work of photographer Francesco Mellina. Mellina captured the essence of Liverpool’s post punk music and fashion scene in the late 70s. His photographs documented key gigs and music spots of the time, some of whom went on to achieve worldwide status including Roxy Music, The Clash, The Ramones and The Smiths.
