Born in 1989 as a small menswear brand rooted in skate and BMX culture, Bench has always found itself immersed at the heart of young creative culture – music in particular. Launched at the height of Manchester’s iconic Madchester movement which was spearheaded by New Order, Stone Roses and The Smiths, the brand’s iconic development of the hoodie revolutionized the 24-hour lifestyle and embedded a musical gene in Bench’s DNA.
Over the last 25 years, Bench has diversified and grown across the globe, with music always intrinsic to their plans. From Dpercussion Festival in Manchester in the 2000’s and later the illustrious Warehouse Project, Bench has since partnered with iconic festivals on the electronic music calendar, including Melt! In Germany, Nuit Sonores in France and Sonar in Spain. More recently Bench worked with Resident Advisor teaming up with for the Real Scenes film series shot in Detroit, Chicago and Berlin, cementing their place in underground sounds with music running through their threads.
Following the appointment of Grammy award-winning musician Jess Glynne as their new brand ambassador, Bench is kicking off their AW15 collection with a new series called #LoveMyHood. First up, Jess takes a 24 hour tour of her hometown in London, dotting from iconic venue Alexandra Palace (where she recently performed) to her West London studio and finally, off to Soho as the evening arrives. Watch the full video below:
To celebrate the launch of Bench’s AW15 x Jess Glynne #LoveMyHood collab, Bench is also offering up a chance for one lucky reader and a friend to win an amazing trip to London to see Jess perform and experience her exciting city for yourself.
You’ll receive two VIP tickets to Jess’ gig at The Roundhouse in London on the 4th November. They’ll pay for your travel, 3 night’s accommodation in a cool hotel, give you $450 spending money and you’ll each receive an extra $350 to spend at Bench on their fresh, new Autumn/Winter ‘15 Collection designed for a 24 hour city lifestyle.
For your chance to win this amazing prize all you have to do is:
- Watch the AW15 Jess Glynne x Bench #LoveMyHood video above
- Answer a simple question
- Start thinking about who you’d take with you!
Don’t miss out on the amazing chance to win a trip to Jess’s home city to see her perform. Enter at www.JGxBench.co.uk
If that wasn’t enough, Bench and Jess have ALSO teamed up with Thump to head across the pond for ‘Brit Invasion’ – a documentary about the UK’s influence on electronic music in America. Focusing on how the deep and dark London dubstep sound infiltrated the American music scene with such fury, the short film looks into the history of house, techno and garage and uncovers how British artists such as Disclosure, MNEK and Gorgon City are topping the Billboard charts in the U.S, bringing distinctly British sounds into the American mainstream.
Given that young Americans from Delaware to Detroit, New York to New Orleans, seem to have fallen in love with dance music from the UK, Jess Glynne journey’s to LA to investigate how and why it’s happened. Along the way she meets producers and DJs from both sides of the pond and examines exactly what it is about UK cub sounds that appeal so much to a generation of Americans raised on EDM.
Watch the documentary in full below, shop the collection at bench.co.uk and use the #LoveMyHood hashtag to contribute cultural guides to your neighbourhoods when you’re out and about.
