Sam Baker
Sam Baker
*
Sam Baker *
Meet Sam
At just 22, Sam has grown his streetwear brand from a single self-designed trucker cap into limited drops that sell out in seconds. Years of self-taught design, a strong visual identity and a commitment to originality define his work, fuelled by the creativity he finds on hiking and wild-camping trips.
You co-founded a streetwear brand. What sparked that idea, and what’s been the biggest lesson from building something from the ground up?
The idea all started back in 2022 - I was really into wearing baseball caps at the time, especially trucker caps. I really wanted a baby blue one and couldn’t find one anywhere that had a decent design on. So I decided to design one myself as I already had a background in graphic design and the price of ordering a sample from overseas was cheaper than ordering a branded one online from an existing brand. I started giving them out to friends for free, sold a couple here and there, and then moved on to t-shirts shortly after. The biggest lesson I've learnt is to be consistent, which I still struggle with today, because unfortunately today, online you can become irrelevant in a second, but regardless - you have to keep pushing.
Streetwear has such a distinct culture and energy. What do you think defines great streetwear in 2025?
Originality - which is so so hard nowadays because so much has already been done and it’s extremely difficult to think of a brand new idea. If your brand doesn’t have a USP then it’s just going to get lost among the rest.
What’s a moment or project you’re most proud of so far, and why does it stand out?
There’s absolutely one that stands out above the rest. About 9 months in, we released our first ever tracksuit (a product that our brand is known for now), the quality was insanely high, the fabric was soft, all the details were perfect, and to make a big splash on to the scene we decided to massively undercut the market (the hoodies were only £35 and joggers were £30). The drop sold out in 40 seconds. I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the week, this was the first time I remember thinking, we could be onto something here.
For anyone looking to break into freelance fashion design or brand graphics, what skills or tools are essential early on?
I would say a very useful skill to have early on is to be proficient in the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop and InDesign). I’ve been using Photoshop for the past 10 years and I’m only 22, completely self-taught from YouTube tutorials. This stemmed from having an interest in photography from a young age and then shifting slightly in my later years to graphic design, going onto study it at college where my skillset grew even further. So instead of watching football when I was 15, I was sat at home learning how to add shadows to text for a thumbnail I was making for a YouTube video I recorded from my family holiday in Greece!
Looking back, is there anything you wish you’d known when you were first getting into design, or something you’d tell grads hoping to follow a similar path?
Really try to have your own style. I have a dreadful habit of only believing something will work if it’s been done before, because there’s evidence to show that it’s going to be worthwhile and that it can be successful. BUT, this is well and truly not the case and it links back to my point about having a USP. You have to be different, because it’s so easy to learn how to draw nowadays, or build a streetwear brand, or learn a new skill that 20 years ago, you would have to go to the library and read about it. It’s so easy in 2025, not even mentioning AI and the damage that’s going to do to fellow creatives. So you HAVE to differentiate yourself from the rest, whether that’s the way you market yourself as a brand or on an individual basis (through creating something like a Vizzy!), or having a recognisable style of work that people can look at and be like, that’s Sam Baker’s work.
The fashion world moves fast, how do you stay inspired and keep your ideas feeling fresh?
I stay inspired by maintaining my space in the community. Within fashion especially, it definitely is who you know, not what you know. So I try to go to events, travel to different cities, meet new people, all of which keep me inspired and my ideas fresh because I’m constantly surrounded by like-minded people who are wearing the next best thing, or they know someone who knows someone and that’s another relationship formed.
On your Vizzy, you’ve talked about your love of hiking and wild camping. How does time outdoors help you reset or bring perspective to your creative work?
Time away from work and my computer is absolutely essential, with wild camping especially because I don’t know if you can get more cut-off from the world than by climbing up a mountain in the middle of nowhere and having to survive the night. My best friend and I regularly drive up to the Peak District/Lake District for a few nights for a mental reset, and because we actually love doing it. We love cooking up a hearty meal at the end of the hike up there, the views once at the top and the cosy night in your sleeping bag followed by a nice pub breakfast the following morning. We always make it a rule to not use our phones unless it’s for pictures or an emergency. We haven’t been for one in a while actually, but it’s always more challenging in the winter thanks to the short erdays and horrible weather, but since speaking about it here, I think we’ll get something in the diary.