A lot of you are familiar with Willpower, the running brand I founded and operate. I avoid writing about Willpower in my Z Letter too often, because I would rather not make the impression, that the Z Letter is a marketing tool. However, today’s release of our latest collection called “Route of Samsara” is a great opportunity to share some behind the scenes info, that might be of interest. So, here we go.
The Willpower Creative Process
Countless things need to happen until a new Willpower collection sees the light of day. Some of it is pretty boring business tasks. Some of it is the thrilling creative and artistic stuff you might have in mind right now.
It usually starts with a very basic concept. This can be a topic, a quote, a song text, an experience, a book, a movie, a picture or any other piece of art. No matter what it is, it has to inspire me. It has to feel like a spark that ignites a small fire inside my brain and my heart. For the first few weeks, this fire usually burns totally undirected and unmanaged. Every idea it brings forward is accepted and written down, either on a whiteboard or as a digital note. Everything is totally open, and all ideas are welcome.
In the next phase, I try to narrow these brainstorming ideas down to the most powerful essence in the form of words. Tag lines, short texts and, of course, the name of the collection. To me, personally, this is my favorite part. I love words. They are like music to me. They have their own unique sound, melody, and rhythm. Putting them together in a beautiful way feels like writing a song. Very often it is the writing part in the creative process when a new collection takes the most shape.
I love words. They are like music to me. They have their own unique sound, melody, and rhythm. Putting them together in a beautiful way feels like writing a song.
After the writing, I start talking to designers. Designing is, and forever will be, something I won’t do myself. I totally trust their skills and creative power. I made the experience that the fewer specifications and requirements I deliver, the better is the result. Very often, I am surprised how surprised I am, once I see the designer’s work for the first time. In many cases it shows something I didn’t even think of before, addressing the topic from an entirely different angle. It happens quite often, that we wrap it up right away, without further changes.
After the design is finished, I rack my brain over the products the new collection should feature. Sometimes the design itself dictates the garment it wants to be printed on. Sometimes the topic of the collection is in the lead. And yes, of course, also customer demand has an influence. Trying to sell running gloves in August will make Willpower go bankrupt eventually.
The next logical step is to create great visuals, mainly photography. Willpower is blessed to be surrounded by the most talented and creative photographers out there, and very often we don’t even have to explain what we need. They just deliver.
The last but not the least task is what you would probably call ‘marketing’. Usually, this runs very smoothly, simply because all visuals and texts are already spot on and there are plenty of helpful tools out there to create appealing graphics.
Once the marketing material is in place, I am ready to launch.
Of course, there’s even more things to be done. The boring stuff. Price calculations, generating barcodes, size charts, warehousing, setting up the new products in the Willpower Onlinestore, and so on. I won’t bother you with this, though.
All along the way, the Willpower Athletes are kind of a sounding board to everything I create. Sometimes I ask for informal feedback. Other times we meet for a big workshop to discuss concepts, designs, and products. Either way, I try to understand and embrace every feedback I get and incorporate it in the creation of any collection.
The whole creative process can take anything from 3 weeks to 3 years.
The Route of Samsara
In the case of "Route of Samsara” it took over 1.5 years until it saw the light of day. The very first ideas and concepts were heavily inspired by spiritual hardcore-punk bands, particularly Shelter and 108. Drawn to Krishna Consciousness, a religious movement inspired by Hindu scriptures, these bands picked up the positive and self-effective mindest of the hardcore-scene and enhanced it with a spiritual world view to the inside and outside world.
Although organized religion has always been viewed very critically by the punk and hardcore community, it felt like a missing piece was added, when Krishna bands, and ‘Krishnacore’ as a sub-genre, emerged in the early 1990s. It simply broadened the spectrum of topics the hardcore subculture dealt with, adding a much deeper philosophical approach.
Krishna Consciousness encompasses many fascinating concepts, but at the center of our “Route of Samsara” collection is the idea of the Wheel of Life. A never-ending cycle of “Birth - Life - Death - Rebirth”. Figuratively speaking and maybe also literally.
As runners, we experience this Wheel of Life in micro cycles like races or daily workout routines and macro cycles like the progression of a training block, or suffering and coming back from an injury. In fact, our whole life as a runner underlies this never-ending Route of Samsara. All things will pass. The good ones, as well as the bad ones.
You can find out much more about “Route of Samsara” on the collection landing page.
To be honest, I am uncertain if everyone understands and embraces this concept. Although I believe that we are all interconnected with spirituality in one way or another, not everyone wants to dig deeper into this topic. Creating and putting out collections, words and concepts with profound meaning and a strong message, automatically leads to some people being very attached and inspired, and others turning their backs on it.
But I am fine with this. After all, the beauty of running is that it can be whatever an individual wants it to be - whether that's a simple form of exercise, a way to clear the mind, or a spiritual path.
Everything not running
I take “Everything not running” very literal today. Here’s the thing. Before I got injured, my coach Karim had asked me several times to get a preventive “sports massage”. At least once a week during the last big block of my marathon preparation. I am pretty convinced that my injury could have been avoided if I had found a place where I had gotten that kind of treatment. But I didn’t.
In Germany, there only seems to be rehab physiotherapy treatment places for injured people to work on their recovery. Or there are wellness-type massage places, which are nice, but not very effective when you’re hammering three-digit weeks. None of these places are what I am looking for.
I am looking for manual therapeutic support that goes beyond what I can do myself by stretching, foam rolling and mobility / strength workouts. We are speaking of prevention. Not of a reactive or curative therapy when I am already injured.
If you know what I mean and have ideas or even tipps where to find such places or therapists in the Munich area, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!
Sprachnachricht
Noch einmal der freundliche Reminder, dass es ab sofort zu jedem New Z Letter eine deutschsprachig vertonte Audio-Version gibt. Das ganze hört auf den Namen Sprachnachricht und taucht tiefer in das jeweilige Thema des New Z Letters ein. Nicht länger als 15 Minuten. Kein Podcast.
Wir haben die Z Letter Sprachnachricht auch mal bei Apple Podcasts hochgeladen. Das ist ein Testlauf. Sagt Bescheid, ob ihr sie dort gefunden. Danke!
Mein Gamechanger ist Shiatsu, eine japanische Druckpunktmassage mit ganzheitlichem Ansatz. Wird gern als "Wellnessmassage" getrant, hat aber (auch) abrechnungstechnische Gründe - meine ich. Ich gehe alle 4-6 Wochen. Im Idealfall findest du eine(n) Physio, der/die es als Zusatuqualifikation hat. Ist nicht ganz unüblich. Grundvoraussetzung: Vertrauen.
Hi Chris, mein Englisch ist schlecht. Deshalb schreibe ich auf Deutsch. Mir gefällt Dein Text, vor allem, was Du über den Prozess des Schreibens gesagt hast. Es freut mich aber auch sehr, wenn Du über „Shelter“ und deren Verbindung zum Krishna-Bewusstsein schreibst, denn das ist so eher mein Weg zur Hardcore-Music. Eigentlich trat beides gleichzeitig in mein Leben, damals 2001-2003, als ich im Zentrum Ingolstadt‘s auf die ersten Devotee‘s von ISKON traf und ebenfalls dort bei Freunden das erste Mal von Straight Edge und Hardcore Music hörte. Na ja, lange Rede, kurzer Sinn…es geht hier ja um Deinen Text. „Route of Samsara“ ist, wie Du schreibst und ich es auch erlebe, sehr stark geprägt von diesem niemals enden wollenden Rad von Geburt-Leben-Tod-Wiedergeburt. Ich bin auf den Begriff „Samsara“ das erste Mal im „Shiddartha“ von Hermann Hesse gestoßen. Dort verwendet er es auch in dem Sinne von übermäßiger Anhaftung an die materiellen Aspekte des Daseins. Reichtum, Oberflächlichkeiten, Sinnenbefriedigung, Rausch, Extase.
Das verbinde ich mit Eurer neuen Kollektion, dafür steht für mich „Route of Samsara“. Denn das Laufen ist für mich zum perfekten Schulungsweg geworden, um zu versuchen, die einseitigen Aspekte materieller Anhaftung zu überwinden.
In diesem Sinne: Hare Bol und einen schönen Pfingstmontag. Henrik