The Fashion Page: How many designers make up Red or Dead?
Wayne Hemingway: We've got seven, one Japanese, one Spanish, two from up north, two from London, and one from a funny place near you called Leicester...

TFP: Oh oh. You recognise the accent then?
WH: Yes, I recognise the accent. You are from Birmingham aren't you?

TFP: Yes, that's right I am. So how did you get hold of these guys - how did you find them?
WH: Well, initially, it was just myself and my wife. And gradually, as the company's needs have grown, the amount of staff here has grown.

TFP: How long has Red or Dead been around? I've only seen you in the media in the last five years or so.
WH: Yes, we've been around thirteen years now.

TFP: When did you start showing in London?
WH: That would have been '89.

TFP: Okay, that would add up. And do you show just in London, or do you go to Paris or New York?
WH: We just do catwalk shows in London but we do exhibitions in other countries.

TFP: Would you say you're influenced by the street?

WH: Yes, well it's an attitude really. It's not about street, it's about a certain attitude. The willingness to change and the willingness to confront traditional values and all that kind of stuff. They [the clothes] are not just for wearing on the street, you can go to bed in them, you can swim in them, you can go to a wedding in them.

WH: We're not a street/disco label, we don't class ourselves as that at all. You can happen to wear our stuff, it might look alright in a club, but, we're not clubwear. And we don't want to be associated, really, with the clubwear label. It's a mind set, you can wear Red or Dead in your 30's and 40's as you can at 18. In the past you could only rebel until you went to work and until you settled down and had kids, then you had to conform. Well, that's not the case anymore.

TFP: Are you on the Internet at all?
WH: I am at home, the company isn't on the Internet.

TFP: That's good because that's where The Fashion Page is. Are you planning to have a home page?
WH: What we want to do is to actually sell wholesale via the Internet. But there are very few fashion retailers who understand it or are on the Internet. At the moment the Internet's generally something you do at home. It could be a fantastic thing but it's not being used to sell at the moment, not in this country anyway.

TFP: I'm sure it will happen, there are a few people out there talking about it. In the next year or 18 months it's going to be out there. So I'd keep on it if I were you. I know you've got a store in Birmingham England, have you got any other stores?
WH: In the UK, we've got stores in Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield, Nottingham and we've also got stores in Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen and Ontario.

TFP: Why did you choose Tel Aviv?
WH: They're franchises, people have come to us wanting to open a Red or Dead shop.

TFP: Being on the Internet, we've had people access us from unexpected places, within the first couple of months we had people looking at us from Croatia.
WH: Well, we sell to there! Where do we find you on the Internet then?

So after spending a pleasant time on the telephone, I gave him detailed directions on how to find us.