Hey legend,
If you’re new around here or even if you’ve been following us for a while welcome to the new and improved Stoked&Woke blog. We’ve decided to give this little corner of our website a much-needed refresh so we can finally bring you behind the scenes of what really goes on in our world.
Anyways we thought it would be cool to do a lil "re-introduction" so you can get to know - who the hell we even are behind Stoked&Woke Clothing...
So let's get into it...
Hey! We’re Kane and Lis (and our dog Bella) the team behind the Tees.
I’m Kane (writing this) originally from New Zealand. I’m pretty easy-going, love a good chat, and since moving to Austria, I’ve become completely addicted to the outdoors living life in the mountains.
Lis (my partner in life and business) is the moral compass of this team. She’s been vegan for five years, has the biggest heart, and will literally stop us mid-hike to help a tiny ant or spider off the trail so it doesn’t get squished by the next hiker coming through.
Then there’s Bella... the absolute cutest little street dog-turned-hiking legend. She’s got a wild side for sure (we’re pretty sure the Serbian street dog blood still runs deep), but she’s all heart. As soon as the hiking bags come out, she’s howling at us to pack her water bottle and bowl.
Back in 2020, I was working in Austria running a ropeway that hauled rocks down from a quarry. And to be honest… I was bored out of my brain. I only had to press a button every 10 minutes, which gave me a lot of time to think. That boredom led to a question:
“What if I used this time to actually build something?”
After two years of backpacking through developing countries with Lis, I’d become a lot more aware of sustainability and pollution. I wanted to get involved in an industry that made a difference and fashion, as wasteful as it can be, felt like a place that needed a shake-up. I also loved fashion, always have.
So I started scribbling ideas into a little notebook Lis had bought me. Brand names, logos, rough ideas. It all started there. Then I got obsessed, podcasts, books, you name it. And suddenly, I had an online store, a tee design called “Skull Island,” and on May 18, 2020, I launched the brand without having any idea of what I was doing...
We got eight orders on launch day which was probably one of the craziest days of my life. I could not believe I was actually selling some T-shirts!!
A Peek Behind the Scenes
Running this brand isn’t a 9–5, every day is different.
Some days, we’re out hiking a mountain to film content for our socials. Other days, we’re in the print studio until 10pm getting orders out after a big drop.
Lis handles fulfilment, while I do most of the design and social media stuff. We work well as a team... most of the time 😅
A funny memory: back in 2021, the brand was growing faster than we expected. We had a full truckload of hoodies on the way… and nowhere to put them. I was still printing everything from a tiny spare bedroom, and we had no storage. Lis was literally going around town asking people if we could borrow their garage or rent a spare room. Luckily, she found a guy with an empty house, and we turned that into our first proper print studio, just in time.
5 Random Things About Us
- Lis has been vegan for 5 years and is currently training for her first marathon.
- I (Kane) met Lis while solo backpacking through Central America. Two years later, we moved to a tiny Austrian town of just 1,500 people.
- Bella was adopted from Serbia after I saw her photo on Instagram while drunk at a wine tasting in Tuscany 🍷🐶
- We spend nearly all of our free time outdoors snowboarding in winter, hiking in summer 🏔️
What’s Next?
Now that this blog is back up and running, we’ll be sharing more stories like this...
Stuff about our journey, sustainability, behind-the-scenes chaos, and our favourite local hikes around Austria. We want this to be a space where you can connect with us, get to know the brand, and hopefully feel inspired to get outside, explore more, and tread a little lighter.
Thanks for being here. And if this post made you smile, laugh, or feel a little more connected to who we are... share it, send it to a mate, or drop us a message on Instagram.
We’d love to hear from you.
Catch you next week ✌️
– Kane, Lis & Bella
