Knife Circus Interview

T8: “Alright man this is Tate Canyon & July Flowers interviewing Shawn Beaton, ‘Knife Circus’. This is a friend I have had for almost over 10 years now. We met over the internet through Youtube making videos and I found this comment. I’m not sure if it was Twitter or Youtube but it was from a Youtube channel called ‘Knife Circus’ and the Twitter ‘Knife Circus’. From then on, I found the videos extremely captivating and I found you to be captivating and we have been friends ever since. Right now you have a brand and it has turned from a Youtube channel into a brand, but first can you start off by introducing yourself and tell the story of how ‘Knife Circus’ first started and how it has evolved into this today.”

KC: “Yeah. It is kind of hard to describe but I have always sort of liked to do creative stuff. I am not ashamed to go try things and to be different. The first thing would be the name ‘Knife Circus’ it came from I think ‘Nitro Circus’, I was 12 when I made the account and I think I was into ‘Nitro Circus’ at the time. I think I sort of stole it from that and I basically got into making daly Youtube videos because one of my first videos kind of blew up just from me opening my Christmas presents on Christmas morning. It got like half a million views and then from there on I was like okay I’m a Youtuber now. I uploaded every Friday for like four years straight and then slowly tapered off. Near the end, I started making merch and I realized I liked that side a lot more and then COVID-19 hit and there was nothing to do and I grabbed my grandma’s sewing machine and started tinkering with that. Going from there learning more and more and over time I realized the part that I enjoy most is probably just learning. Having a problem in front of you that you can;t understand or make sense of and then sort of finding ways to work it out and make it better and stuff.”

T8: “My earliest memories of ‘Knife Circus’ was over in LA in 2015 when I first met you face to face explaining ‘Knife Circus’ hoodies and hats all around the convention center that we were at. Letting people know about the brand and it wasn’t even so much about making a profit but just about putting it out there. That was one of the first times I saw someone personally next to me having that type of mindset to be like yeah I made so much of this stuff lets get it out there. Starting from like Youtube merch and then going into the handmade stuff, could you talk about when it first clicked for you that clothing production is really sweet and how that transferred into you wanting to get into that and be more hands on?”

KC: “Yeah! It’s funny you say that because I totally forgot about going around at VidCon and giving out free hats. In 2020 is when I decided ‘Knife Circus’ is a brand. I had a bunch of money from another business and so I spent like $3000 on like ‘Alibaba’, whatever China factory, to have them manufacture 300 toque (beanie) for me and that is the only thing I have ever manufactured. Everything else by the brand has always been made by me. So I ordered 300 toque, I think they actually sent me like 313 because they send you a little extra and… I don’t think I sold 20 and they are all gone. I don’t know what happened but I would just like go to parties and I would talk to someone for a bit and then I’d be like ‘you want a hat I got a ton in my bag’ and then everyone would see that and be like ‘CAN I HAVE A HAT!?!?!’ I would just give them away. I definitely don’t remember handing out 300 but I apparently did because I don’t have anymore. From that though I learned that I maybe could have made a big profit from that if I sold them but I would rather learn how to make them myself and I can’t make those because I don’t have the machine but I do now have the knowledge. If I were to order them again I could probably get them for cheaper, get them made better, get cooler details and all that but I would prefer to basically have everything made myself because it is.. like you kind of have to charge more to people because it is not feasible to make.. and I suck at that I don’t charge enough, so I don’t make a lot from this. You kind of do have to charge a little bit more because everything is handmade and everything is so streamlined in a factory where I just am not able to compare to that. That is also something that people want to spend money on and they don’t want to just always buy something that is fast fashion. There is a novelty to buying something that is made locally or made from somebody that you know that I think is valuable. Every aspect of making clothes I think I have at least a little bit of knowledge in and I feel like basically anyone in my city can .. maybe I won’t– if they have an idea, maybe I am not the person who will actually make it but I think I would be a good person to help consult them and point them in the right direction for what is the best way to make a certain product because that is what I have been spending the last four years doing is gaining more knowledge about the craft of making clothes from beginning to end so that if in the future when I do want to scale up and then start using factories, because obviously if I am scaling up and quantities are getting to the point where it is just not longer feasible for one person to do it, event then I would still try to maybe hire friends and make a little factory myself, but even if I do eventually with enough of a scale that probably isn’t going to happen and I will probably have to use a factory, but at least I will have the knowledge to tell them exactly what I want because I see people that will post pictures or it is like a Tiktok and the person is like ‘This is my mock up I showed the factory and this is what they gave me and ahh it is nothing close!’ But it is like you didn’t tell them specifically what you wanted, you have to be very specific!” 

T8: “And to that point it is kind of the same reason I reached out to you for the ‘Crisis’ masks when I wanted to get the custom ski masks with the custom logo on it. For that shoot I really wanted it to look a very specific way and I knew ‘Alibaba’ or going on some random website was not the way to make that happen. I didn’t know how many I wanted but I knew I wanted it a specific way and being able to communicate with you and being able to literally have three different sewing patterns of the mask so then if we ever did want to produce them in a higher quantity way I not only had a sample but if I wanted to do it through you, someone else, both ways, it was like we knew what the hell we were doing and it was because someone was knowledgeable and knew exactly what to do from that point. I think that is kind of why you are that tool for people and kind of moving forward you now know that stuff so whether they have an idea or they want to make something with you or whatever.”

KC: “Exactly yeah! Maybe I am not going to produce your whole run of clothes or whatever but I have friends who maybe want to make a hoodie and maybe they are like I will order a sample or whatever and it is like yo why don’t you just give me your measurements and I can make you a sample and maybe– and you know it is not the same way as if they made you a sample, I am going to make it different but at least if I can make you a sample you can see how it fits generally and stuff like that is a lot cheaper.”

T8: “And you are working with an actual human.”

KC: “Yeah exactly, and I find also it is kind of a separate point but like I have an embroidery machine where I have just been embroidering toque (beanie) lately. I work for an engineering firm for my day job and it is like 25 employees and I just made 25 toque (beanie) and brought them to work one day because I could. I think I got the toques (beanies) for like $4 each or $3 each and then basically the time it took me to put on my timesheet and charge like I was working at my company. I’ve made a couple more hats since then, like someone was asking if I could make them a camo one and so I just went and bought a camo hat and made it and I’d bring it the next day or whatever. I was like I think I’m saving them money but I was kind of curious so I looked up online how much would it be to get 25 hats embroidered and like I would probably charge them like $250 or whatever and online it would be like $600 and it would take a month. Where I could do it for less and have it the next day and they don’t all have to be the same color, I could actually do every single one a different color or whatever right? I have the knowledge to make everything however I want at this point so you know?”

T8: “Here is a point you haven’t made yet, and a piece of knowledge about you that I think is actually pretty vital to the creation of everything you make is that you are living in the butt-fuck middle of no where (Central Canada) ! Like you are in the middle of Canada, could you tell everyone where you’re at and how much that plays into a factor of how you are sourcing everything and how you are making everything and how different it would be compared to someone like me making something here in Hollywood?”

KC: “I mean yeah, I don’t if it is necessarily a good thing but yeah. I feel like if I was doing what I am doing and I lived in LA it just wouldn’t be as big of a deal you know? Like in Ottawa like people call and you probably aren’t as aware of this like a person from Ottawa like a lot of people call Ottawa very boring because well it is the capital of Canada it is kind of like Washington D.C. Like everyone who lives here works for the government everyone is kind of lame.. and that is what people say. My last 2-3 years haven't seemed very lame to me. I’ve seen a lot of cool things in the last couple of years but it is also like I think it is because we are making it happen. It is not like cool shit is happening it is like I AM doing the cool shit right? It is like a 2 hour drive to Montreal Canada and a 4 hour drive to Toronto. I don’t really love Toronto like I like Montreal a lot better.The culture is a lot nicer kind of sucks that it is French I wish it was English but it is cool that it is French I just can’t speak French great. That is the thing to is like we don’t have fabric stores in Ottawa like we have like one, do you guys have what is it ‘Joann Fabrics’ store for you? Like we basically have that it is called Fabricland, do you have that? No you don’t have that right?”

July: “Yeah we have a ‘Joann Fabrics’ I think our local one is actually closing down which is kind of rare. Like fabric stores are starting to close down which is wild.”

KC: “Yeah because we just have that and it is like a big corporation where you go to Montreal and they have like actual fabric houses that have like, it is just like a mom and pop shop so a lot more selection and stuff if you go to Montreal but it is not that far.”

July: “Interesting. While I was doing a deep dive on your Instagram I saw a lot of your work is what you said like the deconstructing and reworking of garments and I see that influence but for yourself, how would you describe your style of design and generally what kind of influences helped you shape that?” 

KC: “Not specific people, but kind of conceptually I feel like I see that a lot of people right now are kind of doing what I am doing kind of like decent sewing and distressed and all that stuff but I always find that it is dark like black jeans and all that. I think the way my brand will kind of identify itself is to be like those but like with color. High quality sewing, distressed, cool garments that have interesting features but aren’t just black. I also like to incorporate with the shoelaces and stuff have them in bright colors and stuff which is a fighting battle because it is hard to wear bright colors like when someone is buying something and it is like $150 they are going to be like why would I buy an orange one when I could get a black one and actually know that I will wear them. Like I am wearing a black hoodie right now. So I completely understand why it is harder to buy bright colors however I still enjoy like if you can make it work the payoff is better to have more colors.”

T8: You mentioned the shoelace stuff, I have never seen that before, so can you talk about the shoelace construction and kind of where you had that idea if that was your own?”

KC: “Uh well do you know SHANE CASTLE?”

T8: “No.”

KC: “I wouldn’t be surprised if you have seen his stuff before but I will definitely send it to you after. He is a designer and he has been doing it for years. He is similar to me but just way more talented, like crazy all over pieces. It is all cut and sewn but it is like an image of a painting on a shirt but he has done some really cool stuff. I don’t even know if I could find it but he posted on his story once randomly he posted that he slowed down a shoelace and was like a spiral or something and that is what kind of prompted my idea. I think the first thing I made was just t-shirts with the shoelace and the Knife Circus logo sewn on. I got the idea for the shoelace belts from just being a kid and you’d go skateboarding and you would tie your pants up with a shoelace, like I would go to school and do that. It was kind of like a shoelace belt and so I recreated it as an actual belt basically.”

T8: “That is funny as hell. The shoelace piece for me was something that I thought was super super creative because I have never seen anybody actually sew the shoelace and spell something out in cursive which I could imagine is difficult as fuck.”

KC: “Yeah! Like it is definitely very tedious.”

T8: “Yeah and I bet you didn’t choose the name ‘Knife Circus’ thinking you’d have to write it in cursive tons of times.”

KC: “Yeah it would have been simpler.”

T8: “Are there any other words in cursive that you would choose now in comparison to that one?”

KC: “Just ‘Circus’ maybe? I don’t know.”

T8: “I feel that. Any other questions July?”

July: What do you find is the most enjoyable aspect of creating within that rework area? Because I have done like jeans and stuff in the past where I went and cut up shirts I found at the thrift or old shirts in my garage and did some really shitty patchwork and even though it came out bad I had fun while making it. Is there any other elements that you enjoy about going through that process?”

KC: “The first thing I will say is that I am picturing the pants you are describing and I am picturing something I made when I started and I haven't deleted many Instagram posts at all because I want people to be able to scroll back and see how I have progressed from not knowing shit to getting good. There are a couple posts that I have deleted from like way back and that was because it was really bad. I remember I was like I want to make a hoodie and I want to try to and it was really bad I couldn’t even get my head through the damn thing and I was like I think I am just going to make 10 hoodies. I don’t know if I actually made 10 but I just kept making hoodies until they were good. Like the second one I made it and I could get my neck through but the cuffs were tight. So I made another one and the cuffs are better but then the pocket was weird. So I made another one and the pocket was better and I just kept doing that. I find that what I enjoy the most is making new things. Like right now it has been on my brain that I want to make some patchwork pants which I haven’t done in a while. I think it is a good piece to have right? People will spend more on patchwork pants and stuff. That is what I am focused on right now and I am going to do it and it will be done and then I will go onto the next thing. Like I do this thing in my brain where it is like I had this pop-up last week and I was like I want to have belts ready so that people can buy them at the pop-up. I think the better thing that I should have done is made 5 belts and every single one is crazy but instead I made like 20 belts and they were all just kind of mid. Then I got burnt out and the belts took me like 5 days, I could have done it in like a day but it would just sit there and I wasn’t motivated to do it. I find that I am most motivated doing the new thing and making a 1 of 1 because I don’t want to make the same thing over and over again. That is not fun to me at all, honestly.”

July: “Totally get that! It's like the idea that each piece is like an art piece so instead of just constantly pumping out something that is quick to mind and see how crazy I can go.”

KC: Yeah I don’t really see ‘Knife Circus’ as a brand, like to me I am a designer and ‘Knife Circus’ isn’t a brand at all, I am ‘Knife Circus’ and I slap the ‘Knife Circus’ name onto any passion project that I do. My Youtube videos growing up were ‘Knife Circus’ my clothing brand was ‘Knife Circus’ maybe I will go on and start a fucking accounting firm and it is ‘Knife Circus Accounting’ like random like who knows and it would still be ‘Knife Circus’ because it is me. It is not like a brand or whatever. Maybe in the future I will do a brand that is like a ‘By Knife Circus’ sort of thing. If I were to make stuff in factories that could be like ‘Circus by Knife Circus’ and then ‘Knife Circus’ would still just make 1 of 1’s, where ‘Circus by Knife Circus’ is like the brand, you got me? 

It is basically like a year ago, maybe two years ago, I had this guy DM me and he was just like saying, ‘Who names their brand ‘Knife Circus’ like that is so terrible like nobody is ever going to wear a shirt that says ‘Knife Circus’ on it like what is that?’ and I was just like, ‘bro… who would ever wear a shirt that says ‘Gucci’ on it?’ like remove all the shit in your brain right now. WHAT IS A GUCCI?!?! Why would you want to wear a shirt that says ‘Gucci’ on it? It means nothing, it literally means NOTHING!!! Just like ‘Knife Circus’, it means nothing, but ‘Gucci’ means something when you wear it on the shirt because they do fashion shows, because cool celebrities wear it, because blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH! That is what I’m fucking doing is like I’m building a brand and I’m doing cool shit so that people will want to associate with me and wear my clothes. So yeah why the fuck would anyone want to wear a shirt that says ‘Knife Circus’ on it? You are right. BECAUSE I DO COOL SHIT! THAT IS WHY!”

T8: “And it is through the authenticity and the track record where people buy that.”

KC: “Like any of my t-shirts, it is all shit that I fuck with. Maybe a couple things here and there I’ll be like oh that is cool looking but a lot of it that I own is because I fuck with the brand and because they do cool shit. Just like off the top of my head like ‘Billy Hill’ has some of the craziest marketing and then you buy a shirt that just fucking says ‘Billy Hill’ on it or whatever but it is like you are paying for the fucking marketing.”

T8: “100%! That is hitting it right on the dome with that one. With ‘Knife Circus’ it is going a step ahead of that because it is NOT just the words on a t-shirt. It is also like the hand crafted hats and all that stuff.”

KC: “Yeah! That’s right.”

T8: “Like the hat you shipped over here was like a fully embroidered inside and out hat made by you. Like there was nothing about the hat that was pre-made.”

KC: “Just the snaps!”

T8: “Which is super crazy!”

KC: “I have actually considered printing 3D printing snaps.”

T8: “A full 100% Knife Circus hat that is another piece of it where it is like you are getting the authenticity with the brand. It is something different. It is not just like ‘Knife Circus’ on a t-shirt but it is made by the guy himself.”

KC: “Yeah, right?”

July: “I had one more question for you Shawn. Over the years of making garments what are some of your favorite pieces that you’ve made? Some that you could recall of and what made them special.”

KC: “I did like a houndstooth and a checkerboard and an argyle shirt. I would basically take two shirts that fit the same that have like 2 big graphics on them and sort of put them inside of each other so that they would line up perfectly and then pin it together basically everywhere and then sew a design onto it like a checkerboard or the diamonds or whatever and then cut away half of one shirt and then leave the half of the other shirt kind of thing. So you would have like a diamond design with two different shirts. That is the kind of thing where it was like I could have done that with a checkerboard and then do it again with two different shirts again but instead I did like a checkerboard and then I did diamonds and then I did the houndstooth shape and that is where I did my best work I find because I am not just doing the same thing over and over again. So I guess I would say specifically, the houndstooth piece. But any of those three pieces are probably some of my favorites.”

T8: “Sweeeet!”

July: “Yeah I like those because they came in like editions. It was like here is one iteration, here is a second one, and here is a third iteration as well. Each one was within the same wheelhouse but it all has a different flavor.”

KC: “Exactly! Yeah, like I see myself as an artist so it would be crazy if you had a painter who just painted the same thing over and over. You would think, ‘Why don’t you just make a print of it?’ you know? It is the same thing, if I am going to make the same thing over and over again then why wouldn’t I just go to a factory? Like I want my stuff to be stuff that has to be made 1 of 1 because if it could be made in a factory then other people could make it and I don’t want to make it!”