MOST PEOPLE occasionally have lightbulb moments. Then the idea fades.

Not for self-starters. One of them, music promoter and DJ Russ Jones thought of a way of taking advantage of Hackney’s saleable image.

Saleable? Well, even when the hipster boom was only starting, a shoe made the other side of the world, in Melbourne, was named for Dalston, followed by the Hoxton boot, then Dalston Cola.

He has started a cycle-kit fashion label called Hackney GT, Jones told Loving Dalston.

The idea came to him five years ago. Trouble is, he had no knowledge of the fashion biz and his plan to make the clothes in the UK turned out more difficult than expected.

“So,” he said, “I went to China. That got me going, but the product was never satisfactory.

“At the end of 2014 I was ripped off by a Chinese factory, which prompted me to look at the UK again.

“I found a great factory in Lancashire and spent most of last year developing the products.

“Finally, I have a full range that is of very high quality.”

To celebrate, Jones is inviting locals and cyclists to Look Mum No Hands   for a night of food, drinks, music and bikes and — and now we get to the point of the event — “a chance to see the new Hackney GT Made in England clothing range” and to buy any item at a discount.

Hamish Scott 020716

* The  clothing range party (first drink free) will be at Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, Clerkenwell EC1V 9HX, Tues 26 July 2016, 6pm-10pm

* Backstory:  A Dalston original; Boris Bikes dock in E8

* All pictures on this page © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com, and all for sale for reproduction. Most photographs are available in bigger formats

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