Vissla Pulls Off Block Pastels With Aplomb

It’s easy to sit in an office and turn your nose up at whatever brand offerings come across the desk. 

It’s a shitty way to live however, and it also greatly underestimates the difficulty in creating content around such inanimate objects as clothes. Men’s clothing is jumpers, tees, pants and shorts. Little else. So come up with an idea that’s going to dazzle, entertain and ultimately leave viewers scratching for their wallets… nope? Didn’t think so.

Metaphorical hats off to whichever clever dick in the Vissla stable came up with the concept for The Travelling Salesman to push the new Solid Sets range. “Have you ever been so deep in a bowl of Fruit Loops that you get colourblind,” genuinely made us snigger, and that’s not a regular occurrence in the business of writing about surf clobber. Further kudos for how stoned the dude with dreadies looked, the perfect casting of the salesman, and especially to all involved for keeping a straight face throughout. 

A washed-out sweatshirt is one of the most universally wearable garments a man could wish to possess. We all harbour dreams of stumbling on a faded crewneck with a quirky logo (that fits!) in a thrift store, but it’s folly 99 percent of the time. Vissla has perfected the vintage-look pullover, with the added bonus of knowing that no one’s passed away with it tied around their waist.

It’s a bold man who steps out in peach. Pull it off however, and you’re a sensitive intrigue in a wash of gormless drones. The great thing about pastels is that they don’t scream fresh off the rack. So instead of “New shirt?” gaffs, you’re likely to encounter “Hey that’s a nice shirt,” when you’ve already worn it multiple times and it’s had chance to grow on your audience.

Trunk releases generally feature one style with a few superficial tweaks to beef out the idea. Not Vissla’s Solid Sets however, as they’ve released five sets of trunks of different lengths, cuts and logos, purely because they look good. We dig pastels and vintage-look trunks built with modern materials, and this set of five is nothing short of triumphant. If we’re playing favourites then the purple numbers on the left and the pine-green, hand-logo pair on the right sit on top of the pile. 

Derrick Disney: wonderful surfer, passable actor.

Add a splash of colour to your drab wardrobe here.