Jason Lynch is the creative genius behind our new Utopia Collection! We are so excited for this new Running Bear Collection to launch. Our collection is comprised of unique running gear but the clothing is perfect for anyone with an active lifestyle.
We asked Jason a series of questions to learn more about his journey and his design process.
Running Bear: Tell us about your journey to becoming the founder of Label Lab!
Jason Lynch: Crikey…….now that’s a long story……I will try and keep it short for you as the journey has been an amazing mix of sport, fashion, travel and team experiences that actually makes me emotional just to recollect them all. It really did start just after I left school and working several jobs, one of which was working in a prestigious independent menswear clothing shop ( you can already see this was a long time ago 😂).
During my time there I was working with some amazing brands, one day a representative from one of the brands said there was a vacancy coming upon and I should apply, I did, got the job and ended up staying at In-Wear / Matinique for 12 years and 11months rising from a sales rep. to MD, learning so so much about every aspect of the fashion business that I still draw on to this day, amazing company and amazing people. My next step was to join Miss Sixty as sales Director later to be MD of what ended up being THE most iconic denim brand of its time giving me the privilege to gather a group of incredible people to spread the word of high fashion, fun and fantastic global memories. This included co-hosting a MTV programme from Milan to Launch with Jay Z in New York!
As I travelled across Europe meeting customers and creating top teams for 4 years and 5 months, from there I was asked to join Quiksilver as MD, the biggest surfing brand in the world and Oh my goodness! What a mind-blowing brand and life experiences I experienced. From surfing in Africa with Kelly Slater to snowboarding in the blue ice glaciers in Tignes in France.
My journey continued at NOA NOA as MD to expand the beautiful franchise stores with elegant bohemian clothing which we did and expanded to 22 stores across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Having worked in some truly inspirational fashion and sports companies I felt that I wanted to create something myself and so founded ‘Abiluchah’ (a sentimental squashing of the 4 children’s names Abigail, Lucy, Charlotte and Harvey). I then consulted for several wonderful brands such as ‘Time Out’ jeans from California, ‘By Melene Birger’ from Denmark and ‘ Animal’ from the UK and also imported a brilliant Italian denim brand called ‘Meltin’ Pot.’
I did this for 2 years 5 months when the then owner of ‘Animal’ asked me to work directly for them as global head of sales development, a tough one but the team were amazing and still allowed me the flexibility to be creative and design involved, so, for the next 3 years and 1 month that is what I did, and loved every second of it…….and then……the itch started.
I said my fond farewells to ‘Animal’ and created ‘Label Lab Group’ to design and produce what I wanted to be unparalleled design with unrivalled quality and detailing. This has been my passion for the past 6 years. Now work with 18 Premier League football clubs, Championship football clubs, England netball, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and others in the Bundesliga along with Barcelona and Deportivo Alaves in La Liga and of course the worlds famous ‘Running Bear.’
I just cannot even tell you how lucky I have been to have a mind-blowing amount of amazing experiences along the way with literally not 1 ounce (sorry gram) of diluted passion for who I meet, who I work with and what we achieve. Not easy by any means and there have been and will continue to be me=any tough challenges but everything can be learnt from and I continue to do so.
RB: Has this always been a passion of yours?
JL: I have always been creative and sporty, from drawing, wood sculpting to playing badminton for England the passion is to do the best you can, so yes the passion has always been there and still absolutely is.
RB: Have you always been creative as an individual?
I think yes, from learning new design techniques to coming up with new ideas and new fabrics.
RB: Where do you find your inspiration?
JL: Fashion, function and sport innovation never stops so inspiration is everywhere.
RB: You’re a very busy man, how do you blow off steam?
JL: Ha ha, well, the thing is I just don’t see what I do as a ‘job’ so the workload whilst huge is all enjoyable, but the 2 things that I partake in at least once a day are running and tennis, the tennis for explosive energy release and the running to have time to think about the next project, ideas and head-clearing.
RB: Where’s your favourite place to run/exercise?
JL: I am so so lucky to live in Goostrey and the area we live in is so beautiful that there are endless running routes to go on, so my favourite is everywhere I can run around in such lovely countryside along with Goostrey tennis club and Knutsford tennis club.
RB: How did you end up getting involved with the Running Bear Collections?
JL: This all came about as Mike Marshall and I are both active members of Goostrey Tennis club with a mutual friend and player mentioned to Mike what I did and Mike then enquired and of course, I jumped at the chance to work with such an amazing brand such as ‘Running Bear’
RB: What’s your no.1 piece out of the whole Utopia collection?
JL: OK, well, I have several pieces that I love from each collection that we have been privileged to be involved in but I particularly like the new overhead Heaton lemon hoodie as we have created the most amazing fabric that I hope everyone totally loves it!
RB: Any favourite motivational quotes?
JL: Oh gosh not from me I’m afraid, I think they would be a bit cringey……
Thank you Jason for all of your hard work! You can shop our Heaton Collection online or in our shop in Alderley Edge.
