From a sketch to a merch agency
It started with drawing. Ruben Verhagen had always drawn and illustrated, went to art school, and at sixteen decided to print his illustrations on T-shirts and sell them. That was 2013. The same year those shirts were in concept and designer stores in the Netherlands, and the brand that became GEKKO Agency came to life.
Artists saw the work and asked for designs and T-shirt lines of their own. The obvious next step was to sell them online: a first webshop, then a second, newspaper articles, a recognisable style, and an entrepreneur's mentality. After two years that became Gekko Merchandising; in 2020 it became GEKKO Agency B.V.
Why the whole chain, from design to the person who answers a fan? Because we want everything under control and do not want to depend on third parties. It was also the gap in the market: plenty of printers, plenty of agencies, almost nobody who takes a garment from first sketch to the box at the fan's door and stands behind every step.
