Log In Register
Lost your password?
A password will be e-mailed to you.

Don’t feed the Bears…. They’ll only want more, and when you run out of bear food, you’ll become bear food! Is what this clothing brand is all about. If you’re searching the entire internet for some new tees then we think we have found your next favourite brand. The design team are husband and wife duo – Lucy (designer) and Tommy (screen printer, web developer, coffee maker). Read our interview about the brand and discover what happens behind the scenes. 

Why the name?
We went on an epic road trip in 2009 that took us into Eastern Europe – They have bears there, and we were warned not to feed them. When we were starting the brand in 2010, we needed a name, and the phrase ‘Don’t feed the Bears’ stuck with us. It’s good to have a name that carries a theme and conjures up imagery, plus people remember it, which is great.
 
What’s it like working together?
Working as a husband and wife team (we got married last July) is amazing. We’ve always bounced creative, and silly ideas off each other and so we to come up with new design ideas, offers, email campaigns, website design themes wherever we are. You can’t underestimate the importance of a brain storming session in the pub; remember to take a pen and paper though, otherwise those golden ideas are forgotten after round four of G&Ts!

Who does what?
We both know our place in the business. Lucy is designer of everything visual. She designs the T-shirts, the website, all flyers, labels and anything that needs to look nice. Lucy has a degree in fine art, so it makes sense to exploit her talents. 

Tommy is the screen printer, which means permanently living with ink under his fingernails! He also does the techie stuff; builds the website, exposes new designs onto the screens, makes sure the coffee is hot and often!

Where do Don’t Feed the Bears T-shirts end up?
We sell through our website (here) and a few 3rd party websites, to people (with amazing taste) all over the world. There are DFTBs T-shirt owners in every country we’ve heard of now (and a few we’d not heard of). We love to think of people walking down the street in Sao Paulo or Moscow wearing a T-shirt we printed in Sheffield. DFTBs also sell directly to shops, mainly in the UK but a couple in Australia and some countries further afield, and we’re getting more global stockists enquiring all the time.
 
What’s your favourite design?
Our favourite tee is usually our newest design, so at the moment, that would have to be ‘Big Bear’ – His tag line is: “He’s big, he’s bouncy and he likes to hold hands”.
 
Next for Don’t Feed The Bears?
More sketching bears for T-shirt designs, more inky stained Converse high tops (screen printing T-shirts is messy!) more amazing feedback from our customers via Twitter (hopefully!).

Avery Parker

Click here to visit Don’t Feed The Bears amazing website!