Josh and Seamus are a Creative Team at Thinkerbell Melbourne.

They’ll let you guess who is who (Hint… Seamus is Irish, but also Indian).

They both love side-hustles.

TO START WITH, CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR ADVERTISING CAREER?

Sure we can!

We're Josh and Seamus. Josh does the copywriting and Seamus does the art directing. We’ve been together for around 8 years, 3 agencies, 2 cities and one global pandemic. And after all that, we're stoked to say we’re still going strong. We’ve been extremely fortunate to work at some amazing agencies like Wunderman, Ogilvy & Mather, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and right now we're hanging out with the incredible crew at Thinkerbell.

AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR COMPANY, DICKSTICKER / MUSKYTEES HOW DID THEY COME ABOUT?

Josh: One of my best mates – hi Chad – had the idea years ago. At the time we’d both lived near the beach for years and had always wanted to do something to play our role in helping save the planet. The initial thought was pretty simple… Could we take the plastic polluting our oceans, threatening our marine life and basically choking the earth and use it for something better? Putting all that together we created Dicksticker – a sustainable swimwear brand for men.

Seamus: People who know me will know that I really enjoy wearing a graphic tee. It kind of hit me one day while I was filling my cart full of a plethora of t-shirts that why couldn’t I do this?

Flash forward two years and I still hadn’t started my project (I think a lot of people in the industry can relate here) but one of my friends, Jamie Williamson, dubber extraordinaire, sent me a link to Everpress.com. They were a company that let you put up your design and from there you could take preorders.

This was great I thought, all I would have to do is design the shirt and someone else would do all the leg work and then I would reap the profits. I put up my first shirt “The Unlucky Club” and waited 30 days for the orders to roll in. At the end of 30 days I had sold a grand total of 5 shirts (2 were my parents).

Turns out you have to do a lot of self promotion and you don’t feature on their site unless you are famous. Disheartened, I gave up for a bit. Then COVID hit. With a lot of spare time and hours inside MuskyTees was born, my shirt side project. It’s not a money maker but it keeps me creative (and special thanks here to my life partner, Deb, for supporting me in this time absorbing yet creative fulfilling venture).

WHAT MAKES DICKSTICKERS / MUSKYTEES UNIQUE?

Josh: I’d say it's what our swimmers are made out of – the plastic dumped into our oceans. Dickstickers are made from ECONYL®, which is 100% regenerated nylon from ghost fishing nets and other plastic waste.

We loved the idea of giving people a ‘real’ reason to rock a ‘speedo’, other than to get a tan. So we set out to create swimmers you could feel good about (inside and out).

Oh, and I guess there's the name. “Dicksticker” – slang for speedos (in NSW). Seemed like a no-brainer, and we really wanted a name that would draw attention... Dicksticker seems to do the job.

Seamus: To be honest, nothing and maybe just me. Being born from my sheer boredom it just is random thoughts or ideas turned into a shirt. Something else that may make it unique, is that I will talk out an order with you so it will be customised to the person.

I can recommend colours but at the end of the day I can work with you to find a good cut of shirt in different shapes and sizes and shades. I did one run the other day of my ‘Panko’ design that was on all different shades of white and ranged from short sleeve to long sleeve.

At the end of the day there is something fun about not every shirt being the same but having a graphic on the front that unifies them.

MANY BRANDS AND COMPANIES THESE DAYS RUN WITH A PURPOSE IN MIND. WHAT PURPOSE DRIVES WHAT DICKSTICKERS / MUSKYTEES DO?

Josh: Our idea initially came from wanting to have a small hand in helping our oceans and environment so I guess we had an inherent purpose right from the beginning.

Every decision we make aims to have the smallest impact on the environment.

This goes from how Dickstickers are made all the way down to the compostable mailbags we send to customers. We'd look like absolute chumps if we sent our sustainable swimwear to our customers wrapped in layers of plastic packaging! From there we just wanted to make it as fun and cheeky (no pun intended) as we could.

Outside of that, we’re now looking to partner with one of the many great conservation organisations in the world to try and make an even bigger impact.

Seamus: Damn being bundled up with Dickstickers. Hahaha my brand isn’t as worthy but I hope my little drawings on people’s shirts can bring some sort of joy.

“Upsetti Spaghetti” - my drawing of a very distraught meatball on top of a plate of spaghetti - gets a lot of chuckles and love and I hope a lot of my tees can do that.

YOU EACH RUN DICKSICKERS / MUSKYTEES A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY, COULD YOU TELLS US ABOUT YOUR ROLES IN YOUR RESPECTIVE BUSINESS?

Josh: They say, “don't go into business with family or friends” , so I went into business with one of my best mates. And, it's been a bloody cool experience.

We definitely have our little blow-ups, but we get over it pretty quick and keep things moving. Chad handles a lot of the operational work while I look after the creative. But, there's no real strict division of work as such.

We like to keep things really collaborative – maybe to a fault at times. Shit, hope that doesn't start a blow-up!

Seamus: It’s just me tinkering around an iPad printing on shirts with a very very small creative consigliere who I pester by constantly showing them endless rounds of designs.

So business is a loose term but I like being nimble and small. I can create shirts whenever an idea pops in my head and I don’t overthink it.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE YOUR OWN CLIENT?

Josh: I've never really thought about that to be honest. I guess in a way it’s quite liberating. I mean, we set our own briefs, make the final decisions and probably have more freedom – which is great.

I'd say I'm a pretty good client but Chad is a bloody nightmare! For me, being responsible for our creative while also trying to build a new business has given me a greater understanding of how our clients work and the pressure they face.

Seamus: I could be more ‘Client’ at this stage. I think with more impending lock downs and isolations it’s time to start getting the word out there more about MuskyTees and also being a bit more proactive.

You have caught me early in the project. I need to start thinking more ‘Client’ and less ‘Creative’ and look to turn a side project into a business.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT RUNNING A BUSINESS?

Josh: Starting a business takes an enormous leap of faith. The odds of success are stacked against you right from the beginning so learning to overcome the fear and anxiety of failure has been massive for me.

This has definitely improved my life as a creative, where we essentially go to work to fail over and over again until we come up with the 'big idea'.

Getting over that fear of failure and almost starting to welcome it has given me a new sense of freedom, which hopefully makes me a better creative. Reading that back sounds a bit masochistic, but it works.

Seamus: At the end of the day I see this as a bit of fun with some extra pocket change. I think what it does teach you is that these things don't come easy.

Small business is hard and I commend the people doing it day in and day out. But it has taught me to not hold things too close to my chest and get things out there.

Don’t be afraid to make a mistake and then learn from it if you do. Anyway with all those cliches out there I think that’s me.

Thanks for the read.

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You can check out DICKSICKERS and MUSKYTEES here.