Die For What You Love: the meaning behind the hoodie

The back of our first hoodie says three things, one under the other: Die for. What you love. MARTYRZ® 007.

It is not a call to violence and it is not a joke. It is the whole idea of the brand in four words.

A martyr is a witness

The word martyr comes from the Greek martys, which means witness. A martyr was someone who stood by what they believed in so completely that they were willing to lose everything for it. Over time the word came to mean only the death. We are more interested in the witness: the person whose life shows, without having to explain it, what they love.

Every MARTYRZ chapter tells the story of someone like that. Icarus chose the sun over safety. Psyche walked into the underworld for love. The hoodie is the line that ties them together.

What "die for what you love" means to us

Nobody is asking you to die. Dying for what you love, here, means giving it the hours, the money, the fear, the comfort. It means building the thing nobody asked for, training when nobody is watching, staying with someone when it would be easier to leave, starting the brand at zero. It means caring about something enough that losing it would cost you something real.

"Do it. We'll see what happens." That is the attitude.

The 007

On the hood there is a small number: 007. It is part of the name, MARTYRZ® 007, and it marks the pieces as ours. It sits where most people would only see it when the hood is down, or when you turn around.

The piece

• Black heavyweight hoodie, boxy fit, dropped shoulder.
• "Martyrz" in script across the chest, crossing onto the sleeve.
• "Die for / What you love / MARTYRZ® 007" on the back.
• "007" on the hood.
• No rhinestones on this one: it goes clean.

The DIE FOR WHAT YOU LOVE HOODIE is part of Drop I, Too Close To The Sun, alongside the ICARUS TEE and the PSYCHE TEE. Coming soon, ships worldwide. Limited units, every piece numbered.