Starting in January 2008, my military career ran for 12 years – 3 in the Royal Marines, 9 in UKSF with the SBS – and ended with a medical discharge in January 2021. From a 19‑year‑old, piss‑wrapped recruit wondering what he’d signed up for, to an SF operator getting hurled out the back of a C130 still asking the same question, those years are the backbone of HMG.

I always wanted to soldier. Serving in both the Royal Marines and the SBS was the privilege of a lifetime, and the work, people and places from that period shape everything this brand does. For the first three years HMG existed in the background while I was still in Special Forces – designs getting sketched between trips, orders being packed while bags were being re‑packed.

There was no clean business plan at the start. I just wanted a brand that reflected the harsher sentiments of combat and looked at remembrance through the eyes of the people who actually stepped into the arena. I found a designer, spent money saved from ops to get some tees printed, spun up a website and socials with my fiancée and mates, and under threat of violence convinced my dad to dispatch orders when I was away.

Most of the work now sits in the research and the writing – digging into the obscene acts of bravery carried out by those before our time, and finding first‑hand accounts that don’t flinch from the horror and misery war brings, especially around the First World War. Their words are brutal, human and often hard to read – and that’s exactly why they have to stay at the front of remembrance.

If we ignore the voices of those who fought, we forget. And if we forget wars where hundreds of thousands of young men died in single battles, what does that say to the people serving today, or to the veterans still carrying their own weight around with them?

HMG exists as a small nod in their direction – a way of keeping certain names, places and moments on people’s backs and in people’s heads. To everyone who’s followed and supported along the way – all branches of the armed forces, veterans, and the civilians who align with what we do – thank you. It’s been a pleasure, and it’s nowhere near over.

Richie - Founder of HMG Clothing