In June 2026 I went to Tauron Nowa Muzyka in Katowice to see Apparat. There were plenty of other artists on the lineup, but he was the reason we were there.
It was June, and it was cold. If you’ve spent a summer in Poland, you know. So between sets I walked over to a stand selling clothes, looking for something warm to throw on.
I didn’t buy anything. Everything was expensive, and none of it was special: the same generic prints you’ve seen a hundred times, on fabric that didn’t look like it would survive the first wash, let alone the night. I remember standing there thinking that a crowd like this, people who travel for a set and stay until the last track, deserves better.
That was the moment the idea started. Clothes for people like the ones around me, designed with care and made to outlast the night.
Not a DJ. Part of the crowd.
I’m not a DJ and I don’t produce. I’m Portuguese, I live in Kraków, and I got into electronic music through my partner, who’s loved it for as long as I’ve known her. My own taste goes everywhere depending on the mood, from Portuguese pop-rock to alternative, and lately a lot of Klangkarussel and Elderbrook.
But a room at 128 BPM does something no other music does. Hundreds of strangers, one rhythm, nobody looking at their phone. That’s what 128 STUDIOS is named after, and that’s who it’s for. Not the people on stage. The crowd.
Why start a brand now?
It’s a strange time to do it. There are more clothing brands than ever, and most of them look the same: the same blanks, the same fonts, the same “limited drop” in every feed. I thought about that a lot over the summer, and in August I stopped thinking and started building.
What I decided was to start small, and do the small things properly:
- Every design means something. The prints aren’t slogans, they’re notation: a kick drum pattern, a drum machine’s step grid, a car stereo on the drive home. If you know the music, you’ll read them.
- Heavyweight cotton for the box tees and the hoodie, because clothes for a long night should hold their shape.
- I order samples and check them myself before anything goes on sale.
- Everything is made to order, so nothing sits in a warehouse, and I approve every order personally before it goes into production.
It’s not a factory. It’s one person in Kraków caring about every piece that leaves.
The Underground Drop
The first collection is The Underground Drop. Minimal. Clean. For the dark rooms and the heads-down moments, when the lights are low and all that’s left is the beat. Techno precision on fabric.
It’s the first of three. The Bass Drop and The Culture Drop will look very different, made for the same people, because nobody feels like dressing the same way every night.
The Underground Drop launches on 1 October, four months after a cold night in Katowice. I hope you love it.
See you on the floor.
André, 128 STUDIOS