Long before his name became attached to an official Saucony collaboration, Stan Birch was known for hundreds of customised sneakers under the name Flou Customs. What began almost by chance became a creative education, teaching him patience, focus and, above all, revealing a talent for colour. Today, that instinct has expanded into clothing, bespoke pieces and full collections, with Birch’s fascination for unexpected colour combinations joined by an equally strong interest in fabrics, texture and construction. His approach remains deliberately intuitive: he describes himself as a “freestyle” creative, allowing one colour to lead to the next until the vision begins to take shape.
That philosophy comes into full focus with Birch’s first official collaboration with Saucony. Built around his long-standing “STAND OUT” philosophy, the project brings his distinctive use of colour and materials to the ProGrid Guide 7, while interchangeable Three Rivers logo patches and lace options give the wearer a chance to customise the final look.
Photo credits: @staniflou / @stanbirch_ / @louis_cml / @ChefDoomy and @sneakerdenn
For people that are now only discovering your work through the Saucony collaboration, how would you describe yourself as a creative, and how has that identity evolved from your early days of customising sneakers to now?
I usually identify myself as someone who has perfected the craft of color combinations and color symmetry.
I have customized so many shoes in the past, hundreds of unique colorways, hundreds of different color combinations that came from my head, my own imagination… I like to think that’s something I was born with in a way. In my very early days of customizing, at a time when the technique wasn’t perfect, the color combos were always flawless. I’ve always naturally knew what color to put next to the other.
And that brings me to my second life (if I may say) in the design world, which now allows me to not only choose the colors, but also to choose the fabrics. That gives a total new dimension to my skills, and a new dimensions to the products I put my mind into.
And man, how I love designing clothes needs to be studied. Being able to see and touch something that came deep from your soul is a feeling I wish everyone experience. It’s the same as finishing a piece of art, a canvas, or a sculpture, made from your own hands. It’s crazy.
Before Stan Birch became the name people knew, there was Flou Customs. What do you think you learnt about yourself creatively during that period?
Literally everything. First of all, I learned I was a creative… which I wasn’t aware of before.
I used to be a bartender in my early adult life… so far from the path I am in now.
Somehow I got sick of the partying and I tried something else by pure chance.
I learned patience, I learned focus.
I literally learned and discovered myself. Obviously, I’ve been following this paths for almost a decade now, so I grew up and matured, but in a good way. Which maybe wouldn’t have been the case if I followed the previous path. But who knows…
How much of your work is planned before you start, and how much reveals itself while you’re making something?
Nothing is ever planned. I’m the definition of Freestyle.
When I cook (and I cook A LOT), I’m incapable of following a recipe.
When I travel, it’s always last minute flights.
And in my work, it’s the same. It all starts with 1 color, and then the next, and then the next. And little by little, the vision starts to appear. And when the fabrics come into the equation, that’s when things starts getting serious.
I don’t know how other designers work, maybe it’s the same for everyone, I don’t know…
You’ve now worked across custom footwear, clothing, bespoke pieces and now your very own collaboration. What connects all of those disciplines for you?
The connexion is the evolution!
Custom footwear taught me the love for this fashion thing, this fashion world.
And then I got sick of it and wanted to level up, so I started designing clothes.
After that, people loved it so much I started creating collections for the public, merch for international businesses etc…
The shift from being a footwear customizer to a proper designer was very hard. At some point, I remember having brands asking me for series of 100+ custom pairs, and I was showing proposals of clothing collections and merch instead, taking massive financial risks…
But yea… the only connection I find between all of those, besides obviously that they’re all part of the same ecosystem, is how they made me evolve in that said ecosystem.
You’ve worked with names including Lanvin, Jeff Staple and Clarks Originals. What did working with established brands teach you about protecting your own creative identity? And how have you used the lessons for your other work including the Saucony collaboration?
It’s almost impossible to « protect » a creative identity. You can’t protect colors, you can’t deposit color combos or fabrics associations.
The only way to be able to protect your creative identity is to become so noticeable, that everyone knows when someone copied you.
Talking about Jeff Staple is an amazing example here. His grey nuances and pink hues aren’t his colors, but he became such a staple (pun intended) in the industry… now you can’t see these colors without thinking of him. Bro, I can’t even see a pigeon without thinking of the man. Ain’t that crazy?
So many examples, like the Bottega woven leather that pretty much became theirs, and therefore is almost protected (well, they actually protected the bands sizes and the 45° angle), but you get what I mean. When you see it elsewhere, you automatically think of BV.
I think that’s the goal for every single designer in the world. Being so noticeable that everyone thinks about you when they see certain colors, certain fabrics, certain techniques.
Is there a particular detail or technique that you keep returning to without necessarily realizing it?
Interestingly enough, at some point I was only customizing suede fabrics. And I fell in love with very hairy suedes. That’s definitely something you’ll see from me again (if not all the time) in my footwear designs.
And obviously intricate color combos. Colors you wouldn’t think goes well together, but put in a certain way, you just automatically love it.
What’s something you’ve become more comfortable doing creatively as you’ve got more experience? And what are you still trying to figure out?
Digital designs, man… digital softwares are a nightmare for my brain.
I don’t even know how to connect a television, never had a TV… my brain just doesn’t comprehend technology.
That’s probably why I started doing things by hand, because I’m so not a technology person.
My schedules are still written on a paper planner, everyday, every week. It’s crazy.
But obviously I had to learn to use some softwares, and I’m getting better everyday… and even without that, it gotten me quite far. I’m sometimes very surprised by how far I’ve arrived without using the proper tools.
This is your first official collaboration with Saucony. Can you tell us anything about how the partnership came about?
A few years ago, I was invited at the Saucony Showroom by an agency during PFW, and met Jason Faustino.
We stayed in touch, then I came at all the PFW Saucony events after that, and eventually at some point the discussion came on the table.
We started working on this collaboration almost 2 years ago, I don’t remember exactly how it arrived… I don’t sleep much, I have a very short memory lol.
But I’m of course so grateful for him and the team.
Did working with a major brand make you more conscious of your own creative identity, or did it simply reinforce what was already there?
It definitely reinforced was already there. I always knew my time would come and I have been so patient with it.
I always told my mom: « I’m so not worried about my future, it’s taking the time it has to take… it’s the journey that makes everything interesting, it’s the bumps that makes you remember the path you took »
Endless days, short nights, and no holiday whatsoever since I started this journey.
I don’t regret a bit, the journey is hard but it’s exactly what makes it incredible. I’ve spent years planting seeds and it’s so rewarding to see them grow little by little.
And obviously, when a major brand trusted my vision, it made me conscious of the fact I was really talented and it wasn’t only an illusion my head.
The interchangeable Three Rivers logo patches and lace options allow the consumers to customise the shoe. Where did that idea come from?
The answer to that is really easy. I had 3 colors options for the River logo. And I just couldn’t choose 1… so came the idea of having them being interchangeable.
Funny enough, it permits the wearer to « customize » their pair and its kind of a reminder of my previous life, but it really just came from my incapacity of taking a final decision!
Was there anything you wanted to do with the shoe that Saucony initially thought was too much?
Not at all! I think they even pushed me to go further. I worked hand in hand with Josh Fraser, the Senior Lead Designer, and he had amazing ideas like the pattern on the inside back panel, which adds so much to the vibe and the storytelling. And which lead to the amazing box design.
I don’t know who said « in a collaboration, it doesn’t matter who’s idea it is, as long as it’s the best », and I learnt a lot from that.
So actually, I was pretty shy about it and they pushed me to go crazier.
And also, I mentioned I wanted to do a co-branded clothing collection to go with the shoe, and they said lets go! And man, these pieces are something else… I can’t wait for people to discover everything we’ve cooked.
If you were given another collaboration with Saucony tomorrow with no briefing or guidelines whatsoever, would you do anything different?
I don’t think so… they gave me full freedom, pretty much no guidelines, Jason said something like « just do what you do best », and I went to work.
So I’d obviously go differently on colors, storytelling, etc…
But if you give me full freedom, it permits be to design with my soul and therefore I’ll always deliver the best product I can.
“Stand Out” has become closely associated with your work. When did that idea first become something you consciously thought about? And what does it mean to you personally?
Well, I’ve always made products for people to stand out. Unique pieces, made-to-order products, bespoke jackets.
It probably comes from the fact that I personally always tried or wanted to stand out. Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be apart from the crowd, sometimes in a good way, and other times… well… not really. But standing out of the masses has always been something I wanted for myself.
And so I guess that’s why I wanted to focus on this idea in my creative career.
I really think it’s important to just be yourself, be whatever you want to be, and not do things because you want to fit in. If that makes you apart of the crowd… that’s amazing.
I was never able to apply to rules, never able to conform.
And STAND OUT kinda represents that.
Add to it an amazing silhouette, beautiful colorway, soft fabrics, shiny gold, embroideries… and the whole storytelling starts to make sense.
