Manchester in the 1980s was an exciting place to live. “Dodging the rain and the bullets,” as Chris and Anthony Donnelly put it. A revolution was taking place in the city’s nightclubs and the brothers were in the middle of it. His world, as well as ours, would have been a very different place without him.
Gio Goi was born out of Donnelly’s love of electronic house music. Today they remember being in the shoes of New Order frontman Bernard Sumner, hearing for the first time the beats of drums and synths called bugles. They were instantly hooked, and as they and other advocates championed the music among their friends, club nights dedicated to it sprang up all over the city, including at the legendary Hacienda club run by Manchester legend Tony Wilson.
House music is in Gio Goi’s blood. The vibrant, tribal beats, a fusion of black and white American influences, originated in Chicago and migrated to New York, where visiting British DJs like Mike Pickering heard them at clubs like The Paradise Garage. Acting as cultural explorers, these DJs brought rare white-label records to England and played them for an appreciative audience, sowing the seeds of what would become known as ‘The Second Summer of Love’.
Anthony and Chris created clothes that matched the vibe of house music: zip-up t-shirts and sweat tops that pay homage to the glow-stick vibe of the clubs. They soon began selling these garments to friends and family at The Hacienda, creating a community spirit that elevated the brand to identity status.
House music enjoyed its euphoric heyday in the early 1990s before giving way to a new wave of musicians; Staying true to his roots, Gio Goi recognized something special in these new contenders. Soon they were rolling with the likes of The Happy Mondays and Oasis, and rubbing shoulders with the glamorously libertine Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse. While all this was going on, house music continued to grow in warehouses and clubs, exploring new techniques and rhythms to keep people dancing long into the night.
Now, a new generation of dance music DJs and stars has been unleashed to appreciative audiences, including Deadmau5, something of a figurehead for the dance renaissance. He and Gio Goi have worked closely together to keep their respective art forms at the forefront of innovation in recent years; Deadmau5 has even modeled new ranges for the brand.
Speaking of which, the current range consolidates Gio Goi’s past glories but updates them with a refreshed color palette and silhouettes designed to reflect the metropolitan and multi-cultural environment in which we find ourselves. Matte colors and natural fabrics underpin the eye-catching ‘in your face’ prints; Vibrant shades of orange, sigma blue and royal red vie for pride of place on Gio Goi knit polos and ubiquitous T-shirts. The cuts are also slimmer than before, revealing the rejuvenating influence of rock and roll on the brand.
Gio Goi is one of the rare: a label that stays true to its roots but is able to adapt to new influences and environments, keeping the music scene dressed in the latest styles. Like the coveted white labels that early house DJs brought from America, Gio Goi’s new clothing range is freshly pressed and will soon make a big impact on the underground scene.