badlands workshop

Former teacher and camp director, bike and beer enthusiast and Toronto Tinder-ite, Alexander Lachlan Young is the man behind the coveted and beloved Toronto brand: Badlands (Made Goods).

 

CO: What does Badlands stand for? What does the name mean?
ALY: Badlands is a personal journey into quality and hand craft, and appeals to those that appreciate those components. The name was a placeholder at a time when I didn’t know the direction of this company. It also happens to be an absolutely bad-ass Bruce Springsteen song.

CO: What is your vision for your brand? 
ALY: Badlands is basically an extended design experiment, an education into what it takes to develop a soft goods brand and put it in a place where it can achieve success. Badlands itself represents handmade, design-forward objects; eventually I’d like to spin it off into a experiment of larger scale, combining design and manufacturing.

CO: What is your philosophy?
ALY: Make something everyday, and never stop thinking about design. Being curious and dedicated has opened so many doors in the past few years and created a space for me in Toronto’s creative community.

badlands_style

 

CO: If you could be anyone but you who would you want to be?
ALY: Paul Newman.

CO: What word that describes your personal style?
ALY: Dangerously normcore.

CO: What’s next now?

ALY: Working everyday towards developing a cohesive brand vision and aesthetic; today it’s carry goods, tomorrow is an open book.

 

 

Follow, fan and fall in love @bad.lands