Photos: Daniel Mathieu (@danmathieu) & Julien Visse (@julien_visse)
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You are 40 years old, have been sober for more than 10 years, still skate like an animal and just started your own brand, Loviah. Does your sobriety play a role in your abundant motivation? Absolutely. Having a brand and skating motivates me not to drink and not drinking motivates me to skate and have a brand. Skateboarding is my way out, it allowed me to compensate for my alcohol addiction and still does to this day. Same thing for the brand. It's a way for me to invest my energy in something positive and obsess over this instead of partying. How long did you live the life of the party? I would say since I’m a teenager. I always liked to party. I’m pretty shy in general so drinking gave me confidence and made it easier to talk to others. At first it wasn’t a problem, but then I started working as a roofer, that's when it went bad. I started making a lot of money and spent it partying as fast as I earned it. How would you describe the years that you spent living this life?These are moments that I remember more or less, this is all pretty blurry in my head. I remember the fast evolution of the party life. At first, I went out with my friends, discovering life at night. It was cool, but I still thought that club people were a little weird. Drugs, alcohol and debauchery was their thing, not the kind of people I would normally hang out with… Next thing you know, these party people became my friends and I would hang out with them more that anything.
What made you decide to stop everything? I was feeling good about the whole party thing for the first couple years, but at one point, it was really bad. I lived in a room that I rented by the week and I stopped talking to my parents. Sometimes they came to see me unannounced, but I pretended not to be there. After one last bender and spending 3-4 days without sleep, I had a reality check and I went to rehab. I never drank again after that. Did your dark years have an impact on your brand's creation process? It didn’t directly influence the creation of my brand, but my sobriety definitely helped. Let's say that I wouldn't have been in a position to start a brand when I was at the bottom 15 years ago! The renewal of my love for skateboarding was also an element that influenced my brand's name so in a way, we could say that my sobriety played a role in the creation of Loviah.
What motivated you to create Loviah at first? I've been skateboarding all my life and as a lot of skaters probably do, I always had the dream of starting a skate related brand. The actual idea for Loviah came recently during a dinner with my girlfriend's family, when my mother-in-law mentioned that I should start my own brand. She always sees me with new fresh gear on and basically told me: “Working construction doesn't fit you, you should just launch your own clothing brand”. That was the spark that ignited the whole thing. We were deep in the pandemic and we couldn’t do anything, so I decided to start learning about fabrics and what it takes to make a nice, good looking pair of pants.
How exactly did you make the family dinner idea come to life? Before I even knew my brand’s name, I started searching for durable and comfortable fabrics with the goal to make pants for myself. After months of searching, talking to a bunch of people and making phone calls, I found what I was looking for and went to see my friend Phil Beauséjour to transform the fabrics I found into pants. The first production was 150 pairs of pants. I sold a good chunk of them and gave the rest to my homies so they could try them out. From that point on, the brand felt 100% real. My 150 pairs were gone and my friends looked great wearing them. It sure motivated me to take the operation to the next step.
Where does the name Loviah come from? The origin of the name is really random. I'm a guy who loves life, skateboarding and clothes, Love was a word that I liked, but I knew it was a bit unoriginal. Probably also already trademarked everywhere in the world. During that time, I randomly watched Transworld Skateboarding’s Video Radio. For those who don't know, it was an early 2000s Transworld video of a Circa Footwear tour in Europe. After a demo somewhere in France, Chad Muska gets out of a pimped out black van and shouts “Peace France we love you!”. That's when the name came to me… We Loviah! What makes Loviah special compared to all these other pants brands? I believe the fits and materials used in our pants are what set us apart from others. We offer high quality pants with premium fabrics and cuts made for skaters to feel good when looking down at their pants and shoes. We offer the style, durability and comfort of premium pants for a really affordable price.
What did your product line look like in the beginning and how has it evolved until today? At first, Loviah was just one pair of pants. It was simple, but people seemed to like it. It was a baggy corduroy pant that felt like sweatpants. I offered it in a few colors like brown, black and wine red. After running out of the pairs we made, I slowly started introducing tops with prints to the line. At that time, all of the printing was handmade in the back store of Adam Green’s shop OSS in Saint-Sauveur. Meanwhile, I was talking with the founder of the Empire stores and longtime friend Phil Grisé as he mentioned being interested in partnering with me. I’m glad that Phil stepped in. With his expertise, connection and investment, we moved to bigger and better productions with more items and details. Still the same focus on quality materials and stylish looking fits, but with enhanced offering and distribution.
Tell us a bit about your first official drop, now available at Empire and at finer skate shops near you. Pants will always be at the center of the Loviah collections and for Spring 2023, we have three models. A relaxed fit corduroy pant available in 5 colors, a cargo pant with extra-large pockets in 6 colors and baggy denim jeans in 6 colors. Then we have printables like hoodies, tees and long sleeves. We also have a baseball type jacket with a selection of dope New Era hats. Major thanks to Phil, with his support, we took the idea to a whole new level. We’re only at the first delivery and Loviah garments are already being sold in more than 30 shops in Canada!
Congratulations for your success! What's next for PIF Daddy? I still feel in great shape so I’ll keep skating on a regular basis! Would you say that you are more on point now than in your twenties? It's not even comparable. I learn new tricks every time I skate and improve every year. Before it was the downward slope and now it only goes up. Do you have regrets about not pushing the skate thing when you were younger? Not really. What is done is done. Still, there are tricks and spots that I haven’t skated yet. I will most likely skate them, but I regret not having skated them yet! What about Loviah? What's next for your brand? We will keep on putting out great products. We did our first event at the beginning of March and it was a success. I really want to be doing more of these in the future. I will continue to focus on finding quality materials and designing comfortable, durable and affordable garment. Stay tuned for drop 2, available soon at Empire or a skateshop near you!
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Nov 05
