Misticon Clothing launched their first range in the summer of 2009, a women’s brand aimed at providing the perfect blend of fashion and functionality. Its creator was Charlotte Dutton – former pro snowboarder, high fashion model and designer of the “MOTO SNO” range for Topshop.

Charlotte’s snowboarding obsession began when she was only 11 years old, and after quickly progressing through the UK scene managed to earn herself the opportunity to be trained at a prestigious coaching school in the US. From here she went on to win a number of championships and attracted high profile sponsorships from the likes of Volcom and Palmer Snowboards. After a chance meet in London in 2000, Charlotte suddenly found herself thrust into the world of modelling – a career which blossomed, as very soon she found herself fronting campaigns for Vidal Sassoon, Topshop, Diesel and many others. It was from here that she went on to work with Topshop in designing a snow/street range for them, which continued successfully for the 3 years leading up to her starting her own brand Misticon.

Having been around for a just over a year, the Misticon range is already gaining many fans. The UK streetwear scene has been fairly quiet for ladies of late, and much of this is to do with the lack of imagination and unwillingness to adapt that many brands have shown. Misticon Clothing goes against this, offering their customers not just versatility but also great fits. Their range is also designed to be worn all year round and not just on a seasonal basis – very much going against the ‘throw away’ trends seen in many recent areas of women’s fashion. Very few ladies brands offer this sort of approach, perhaps notably Icelandic brand Nikita also have a simular ‘all year round’ approach with a lot of their range, and their mix of sports and streetwear for ladies has seen them become huge globally.

Whilst we have only recently started stocking Misticon at Switch, their range has already been a big hit with our customers and we are looking forward to finding out where things are headed in the future. Charlotte Dutton was kind enough to take time out recently to answer a few questions for us :

Can you descibe Misticon in no more than 5 words?

Fashionable, active, lifestyle sportswear.

Misticon is still a fairly new brand, but before launching it you designed a successful clothing range for Topshop for a number of years – what made you decide to start your own brand?

What I wanted to buy wasn’t available so I decided to make it simple as that really and the Topshop range did really well so it was just the next progressive step for me.

Having snowboarded on the pro circuit for a number of years and also working as a model you must have had plenty of experience in fashion, but were there any brands in particular that inspired you?

I was always a fan of  Volcom thats why I chose them to sponsor me. I like their swim-wear.

Misticon is an exclusive range of pieces designed to adapt to the lifestyles of its customers, do you plan to expand the collection further or maintain the limited nature of the brand?

We may expand it but I will always maintain the limited nature of the brand, because Misticon is for girls who want to wear somthing different and we will continue to have limited edition ranges.

Obviously fashion and function are two of the most important factors in the Misticon collection, but are there any other outside influences that affect the designs you produce?

Yes sports that I’m into, music I like, anything im into really – its inspired by my lifestyle and its for other girls who like the same kinds of things as me. I sponsor girls who also share the same kind of influences – Dj’s, snowboarders, skiers, artists, bloggers etc.

Having conquered the snowboarding world, hit the big time with a career in high fashion modelling, designed a successful range for Topshop and started your own brand, whats next?!

Well Ive just had a baby so motherhood – maybe I could have my own show like Snoop Dogg’s “Fatherhood”! ;0)

Thanks for that Charlotte, and if anyone from MTV is reading – I think we may have a good pitch for a show! (for the trainspotters out there, you may have realised Charlotte actually shares the same surname as one of the writer’s of Snoop’s show!)

You can find more information on Misticon Clothing at either www.misticon.com or www.charlottedutton.com.