Maze Clothing

Deliveries? Check. Merchandising? Check. Next on the list? Get the staff up to speed with the new season. Of course, it wasn't all academic. There were more than a few beers and pizzas in the mix. Huge thanks to Chris from Redwing for making an appearance and delivering a fantastic impromptu presentation. We loved learning about the company's amazing heritage how the factory employs over four generations from the same family. It's given us something to aim for at Maze! Presentation aside, everyone divided into teams and showed their true competitive spirit. Games were played, competitions were won, and most importantly we had a jolly good time. Thank you everyone for a fun night!

A big shout out to the Paper Bag Co. for featuring us in their video to celebrate their 10th Birthday. Many Happy Returns! Here's to the next 10! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19bfJY_hmLk

Drum roll please... Copenhagen's coolest menswear brand is coming to Maze! We are delighted to announce the arrival of Norse Projects for AW15 and we think you're going to love it too. Sharing the same name as their Danish shop, Norse Projects carries some serious kudos. With collections inspired by the nature, Norse produces brilliant wardrobe basics, blending functional workwear with a few Scandi twists. Very tasty indeed. Get your fashion kicks here.

Feeling hot, hot, hot! As the sun baked down on one of the warmest days of the year, the girls hot-footed it to London for the first of many SS/16 womenswear buying appointments. Starting young, the newest member of the family joined the team to see what all the fuss was about and caused quite a stir in the showrooms. Effortlessly stylish, the collections were filled with beautifully made pieces that we can't wait to wear. Roll on next summer!

In need of that amazing gift, to wow the super Dad in your life? Panic over, we have made life easy for you with this Father's Day Gift Guide. We've selected this summer's hottest pieces (if we may say so). Whether your dad is a bright printed Hawaii shirt kind of guy, or a wear shorts no matter what the weather kind of guy. We have the gift for him. Don't forget this Sunday 21st June 2015. Only 5 days away! Go on, show him he's the best Dad.    

As music is such an influence on our style and part of our everyday life at Maze, we've complied a song list charting every year we've been open. It's a pretty jazzy, soulful selection (even if we do say so ourselves) and many have become company classics that can still be heard in store today. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do... 1985 JOY & PAIN: MAZE It was by pure coincidence that this band came out at the same time as we opened the store... and luckier still that we loved the sound! 1986 SMOOTH OPERATOR: SADE Seen in concert when she first appeared - great jazz club sound in its day. 1987 IT'S ALL OVER: LEVEL 42 Tony's favourite - our Menswear buyer. 1988 SIGN YOUR NAME: TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY Another favourite of ours. 1989 THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD: EARTH, WIND & FIRE It's hard to choose just one from this group. 1990 SAFE FROM HARM: MASSIVE ATTACK This band was known to visit the Clifton store back in the day. 1991 BLACK MAGIC WOMAN: SANTANA This song was around before we opened Maze but its been a great influence and still can occasionally be heard on the ipod to this day. 1992 FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE: STEVIE WONDER Constantly rediscovered along with many other great Stevie tracks. 1993 OVER MY SHOULDER: MIKE & THE MECHANICS Takes us back to the days when buying trips took us to Copenhagen for fashion shows by brands Matinique & In-Wear. They put on fantastic shows and introduced us to this song. 1994 BAMBOLEO: GYPSY KINGS A great summer sound. 1995 YOU CAN DO IT (BABY): NUYORICAN SOUL & GEORGE BENSON Great sound made even better by George Benson. 1996 ANOTHER DAY: BUCKSHOT LEFONQUE This one may not be so well known but it's definitely worth checking out. 1997 BABYLON: DAVID GRAY Top song... still. 1998 YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE: NEW RADICALS A classic of it's time. 1999 JAZZ MUSIC: HOTEL COSTES | DE PHAZZ The first of two choices here from Hotel Costes... 2000 GREEN THREE: HOTEL COSTES 1 | STEPHANIE POMPONGNAC First heard in Paris on one of the many buying trips. 2001 SINCE I LEFT YOU: THE AVALANCHES We love this very chilled sound. 2002 BROWN EYED GIRL: VAN MORRISON A feel good tune from one of the greats. 2003 GRAZIN' IN THE GRASS: BONEY JAMES & RICK BRAUN A new twist on an old classic. 2004 TOURIST: ST GERMAIN Reminds of us of great trips to Paris. 2005 MERCY MERCY ME: ROBERT PALMER Better than the original in our humble opinion. 2006 ACROSS 110TH STREET: BOBBY WOMACK It never gets old and is a regular feature on today's playlists. 2007 VALERIE: MARK RONSON & AMY WINEHOUSE Such a great version. 2008 STARS: SIMPLY RED We were playing this one Christmas Eve while we prepared the sale (oh happy days!) 2009 THIS GIRL: COOKING ON 3 BURNERS The Jazz influence continues. 2010 JUST AIN'T GONNA WORK OUT: MAYER HAWTHORNE Introduced to us by our son-in-law. 2011 I CAN NEVER BE: MAVERICK SABRE New guy with a great sound. 2012 GOIN' DOWN TO MONTE CARLO: VAN MORRISON Had to get another in there - this one rereleased. 2013 HAPPY: PHARRELL WILLIAMS A tad on the commercial side but an undeniably good song. 2014 LOVE NEVER FELT SO GOOD: MICHAEL JACKSON To many to chose from! And finally 2015... Anything by GREGORY PORTER We can't get enough of this guy at the moment. https://open.spotify.com/user/mazefashion/playlist/6LkJ9lW304n0g6sePIeJEY

Party Party Party... As you may know, Maze is celebrating it's 30th Birthday this year! To mark the occasion we we decided to shut up shop for the day and have a good old knees up. The owners opened up their beautiful home for the day, and we couldn't have asked for a better place to party. The teams from Taunton, Bath and Clifton travelled in convoy and headed off to the beautiful setting in the Bath countryside. Some old Maze staff-members also made an appearance, babies and all. The rain managed to hold off and the sun even made an appearance for our photos at the end of the day. It was just warm enough to dine al fresco, and we followed up the yums with some champagne and a slice of magnificent cake made by Gill's sister-in- law at artisan bakery La Roche. We dug up some photos from the past and had a trip down memory lane. The hairstyles and outfits from back in the day providing much hilarity. Happy Birthday Maze! Let's see what the next 30 years has in store...  

So competition time has come to an end! After a very busy week with Replay sales in our Clifton, Bath and Taunton stores the entry names went into a hat and a winner was picked. Thanks to our pals at Replay, the winner received a free Replay T-shirt and a pair of his choice Replay Jeans. The winner was a customer from our Taunton store. Thanks to everyone for their entries!   Drum roll please... The WINNER is Kevin Burkhardt from Crewkerne! Well done!  

We all love a fab pair of Jeans so we teamed up with our great pals at Replay for a Menswear give-away bonanza! From 23rd till 29th May pop into any  Maze store for a give-away to get your hands on! We're also holding a prize draw not to be missed. What a treat!   Buy two pairs of Replay Jeans and receive a FREE Replay T-shirt Plus entry into our prize draw to win a pair of FREE Replay Jeans   Happy Shopping!!!   Terms and conditions apply *1 pair of Replay Jeans to be won *Offer applies to simultaneous purchase *Offer applies to Menswear only

We love a great pair of jeans, so we interviewed the Jean Queen herself Donna Ida Thornton. Who lets us into her secrets on her inspiration and favourite pieces.

Describe your typical working day?

I get up at 5am and 7am at my desk or at the gym at 7am. I like to clear my desk and get on top of emails before everyone comes in and the day starts. Every day is different for me, on a weekly basis we have a long trading meeting on a Monday morning from around 10am- once all the sales reports from the week before have been pulled.  

What's the favourite part of your job?

Buying, selling and creating!  

What's your proudest IDA moment to date?

When the collection first arrived and went up on line, every sale was for IDA.  

Which pieces from IDA SS15 collection have made their way into your wardrobe?

A few! The Downton Dazzler in Milkshake and Urban Cashmere are fanatic and I live in them. I also have Kitty which I had cropped with a frayed hem.  

What are you most excited about for the IDA AW15 collection?

The Downtown Dazzler in Disco Noir and the Adelaide flare in Grease. I always love the fashion pieces!  

Who or what couldn't you work without?

My iphone! it is everything. Also Claire Venter who I have worked with for 5 years she is amazing to work with and I love every day with her.  

And finally, what is team IDA's guilty pleasure?

The peanut butter cups from The Good Life on Sloane Avenue. Too good!! Though don't have too many if you want to fit into Rizzo!