What’s your background Max?

Football! From 8 years old until my first double knee surgery at 19 my dream was to become a Premier League footballer. I played for Fulham FC and internationally for Wales U21’s but was ultimately cast aside due to a long term knee injury.

Explain the brand name: ‘Certified Sports’

In London saying someone/something is ‘certified’ means they’ve got the stamp of approval from the people that matter. You might have been written off by everyone else, failed numerous times but by refusing to quit - you’ve got that stamp, you’re good.

In this current landscape of overnight brands, how do you find it navigating through a saturated market?

It’s difficult but ultimately product speaks for itself, everything we do is in-house and from scratch. As a brand, all our time and effort goes into the PREMIUM factor of the clothing. From fabric sourcing to the cut and fit of the garment, this is genuine high end, performance-driven, technical sportswear that whether training or chilling you won’t want to take off. No Alibaba round here!

You have quite a unique story, coming from a professional sporting background yourself. Can you tell us a little more?

It’s interesting to me that people think the brand story is unique? Former athletes left with nothing after their dreams have been shattered is our reality, we’re surrounded by it. I played for Fulham FC and Wales u21s until I was 19 years old, I found myself needing double knee surgery and in the time I needed the club the most, they abandoned me. It wasn’t until I got over the depression and anxiety that I looked around and realised the same thing was happening to ALL my football friends. My VVV logo originally stems from 2 middle fingers, a f**k you to the people that told me no and that’d I’d never amount to anything. I created this brand so US ‘failures’ could come together to prove THEM wrong!

How did you come up with the idea of the brand?

To be honest, after football I had no qualifications, zero experience in any other field and absolutely no direction on where to go or what to do next, so I signed on at the jobcentre. I was using the money they gave me to print on Fruit of the Loom t-shirts and hoodies, flip them and reinvest the profits into the business. One random day at the Job Centre they were giving out flyers for internships at the Burberry Head Office, I applied and did 2 months in Marketing then they gave me a full-time job in Product Development. Was definitely a ‘Devil wears Prada’ introduction but that’s where the fashion dream started!

Being that you are a new brand, in what quantities do you produce your products?

500 MOQ, which is super high and unbelievably expensive for my small brand but my Dad always says ‘If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys'. Our aim is to ONLY produce what you need to train hard! We will release a new collection of ALL BLACK sportswear once a year - no seasons, no restocks and definitely no pink frilly tops.

Currently, you’re only stocking womenswear, but the plan is to soon stock menswear - correct?

I started by making menswear! After my 2nd knee surgery, I was training with a local Non-League team and couldn’t believe the training kit or lack of. So that was my first aim, to make a sports-specific t-shirt + shorts set that my teammates and I weren’t embarrassed to wear training.

Yes, currently there’s only womenswear available but the new collection will be 20 items for both men and women - think buttery soft, black on black, sports specific training gear - all made from recycled plastic bottles collected from the ocean!

What do you want to achieve from the brand?

Raise enough awareness to force sporting organisations to provide psychological after-care to ALL athletes. That’s it. It should be impossible that athletes go from the brink of success to self-harming / attempting to take their own lives. As an example - at football clubs, young men give up their childhood in the hope of achieving their dream - once this dream is taken from them, all we're asking; is that the said organisations take care of their former player’s mental health - in what can prove to be the most difficult period of their young lives.

What are 3 key pieces of information which consumers should take away from this interview?

1. Premium [yet affordable] all black, sports specific, training wear.
   

2. We donate £1 from each sale to help support permanently injured athletes psychologically prepare for life after sport [if you’re an ex-athlete struggling then please email: ineedhelp@certifiedsports.couk].
   

3. All future collections will be made from recycled plastic bottles collected from the ocean.
   

4. We offer free next day delivery to all UK addresses [orders placed before 2 pm].
   

5. Buy now, pay later with Klarna. Is that 3?

In an ideal world, which stores would you like to be stocked in?

To be honest I prefer selling directly to the consumer, the feedbacks important to me. So, for the foreseeable future, you’ll only be able to purchase Certified via our web-store. BUT if I had to pick one, Harrods! I used to window shop there every Friday with my Dad, dreaming of one day being able to buy something.

How’s the current COVID situation affecting you?

To be honest, online sales have picked up due to everyone working-out from home BUT as with every clothing business, my factories have closed! If you've ever experienced the factory sampling process, you already know how difficult it can be, so adding Covid19 to the mix is causing a few sleepless nights for sure.

What are your next steps for the brand?

To be the UK’s go-to sportswear brand [eventually the world]! Selling enough product will allow me to make sure no young athlete has to go through what I had to. I’ve got friends who had promising football careers and a year later were in prison, others have gone from Premier League contracts to attempting suicide. How does that happen? To save the next generation of ‘me’s’ is the ultimate goal.

Can we expect a collaboration with another brand in the near future?

No collabs in the pipeline but if it does happen I’d like to start with a UK brand. I love the idea of UK based brands supporting, pushing and helping each other. Unless Virgil comes knocking...

If you could have any influencer/celebrity endorse your brand, who would it be and why?

R9. Remember the 98’ Brazil advert at the airport?!

You can get yourself some Certified Sports here, and support ex-athletes who are struggling with mental health. It’s only womenswear at the minute, but menswear is coming very, very soon!