The best thing about running PROVIDE is the huge range of people I get to interact with on a daily basis. What's been really interesting since opening last year is seeing just how broad the backgrounds, interests and careers of our customers are. I've never tried to label the brand, or align it with any specific culture or activity. By not excluding anyone, we've seen people treat the brand like a blank canvas, and take ownership of the pieces they buy, instead of having a 'lifestyle' prescribed to them by us. It's great to see DJs, painters, cyclists, filmmakers, bar staff, youth workers and students - people who may otherwise have absolutely no interaction with each other - meeting in the shop and taking PROVIDE with them back to their own environments.


To celebrate this, we invited High Six Media to create a short film focusing on people doing something they love (but not necessarily what they're best known for). Rowan is studying for a Masters and Alex is working on his PhD, and they bought a battered Yamaha XS250 as a fun project to get roadworthy. You might also notice Rowan's 1975 Morini 500 Strada in the back of the garage, which he's doing up for a trip around Spain and France next summer. Josh is a musician and songwriter, and Barney is a visual artist and designer. They met through skating, so we brought them up to Digbeth for a day and followed them around as two skaters exploring a new area for the first time. Finally, Zoot has become a close friend and many of you will recognise his work from the shop, where he's taken over an entire wall with his signature propaganda-esque artwork.

As well as showcasing some of the people we've met, we really wanted to make Digbeth a major feature of the film, as the area has been such an inspiration to the PROVIDE brand. High Six have done a great job of capturing the texture of the neighbourhood, and I hope if you've never visited the shop, this will give you a good feel of the area we call home, and maybe inspire you to come and see us one day. - Matt