A 1956 500cc MV Agusta growling on a cold Autumn morning, the mods against the rockers on Brighton beach. The Henley Regatta, cold Martini, piping hot espresso, the scent of a strong Gitanes. The view through tinted shades, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Motown record's Studio A. Houndstooth, herringbone and soft suede. The clothes you wear are a statement of intent, a declaration, never just a look. Far from blending in to the crowd, the El Ganso spirit is about standing out, being proud to be different. Proud of your roots, of where you came from and where you're heading. Never easily definable, ever refined in appearance, this is the El Ganso spirit.
In 2004, two brothers from Madrid, Alvaro and Clemente Cebrian, began the first conversations about forming a fashion brand. Their reason? Disillusionment with what they could and couldn't buy. In Madrid, there were no shortage of clothes shops, just never ones with the spirit and independence that they craved. Steeped in a love of that peculiar and refined 70s English and European style, a style that appreciated a wider palette of fabrics, appreciated colours that compliment each other, and most all understood that the cut of a jacket or shirt could make or break an outfit, for them, the devil was always in the detail. For 6 months, the boys locked themselves away to create the first El Ganso range. A range that embodied the spirit from head to toe. A range that would be designed in house and made exclusively in Europe.
El Ganso, the fledgling brand with its first collection, opened its doors at Calle Fuencarral, 2 in Madrid in August 2006, after beginning to build a team of like-minded people who wanted to create an El Ganso spirit. The small but close knit team worked the cash desk, monitored stock levels, held design meetings simultaneously. One minute helping customers get the right size shoes, the next meeting fabric suppliers to discuss the upcoming range. An El Ganso family was growing. Word quickly spread in Madrid that a new kind of boutique had opened. One that was based on a different look, feel and spirit to everything else. The shop, fitted with reclaimed furniture and fittings offered an alternative to the “one size fits all” ethos of the multinationals and perfectly summed up the El Ganso spirit to everyone who walked through the door.
With the Madrid store crowded within months of opening, the brand began to get noticed. In 16 months, the brand went from a single, family run shop in Madrid to a network of shops in Barcelona, Madrid, Palma and Valencia. Each store with its own individual, yet easily noticeable spirit Within months, the now national brand had begun to be noticed by European stockists. At the last count, you can source El Ganso products in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. Continued press in Spain also began to enhance the brand's visibility, by 2007 El Ganso clothes began to appear in national fashion magazine pages and out on the street. Yet with expansion across Europe, El Ganso continued and remains a fully independent company in ownership and spirit. Even now both brothers meet and deal with everyone involved in the brand, making sure that every inch of fabric, every cut, every new store fits in with the same spirit that they used at Calle Fuencarral, 2.