TERRORHYTHM’S MERCH MANIFESTO: FOOTBALL SHIRTS, PUNK ETHOS & ARCHIVAL DREAMS
An exclusive interview with Plastician on cult drops and intentional scarcity.
In the saturated landscape of music merch—where lazy logos and fast-fashion collabs reign—Terrorhythm’s drops feel like artefacts excavated from a deeper cultural stratum. Founded in the crucible of UK bass music’s DIY ethos, the label’s apparel has become a secret handshake among collectors: football shirts threaded with Amsterdam’s rave history, limited tees that reframed electronic labels as punk crews, and collaborations born not from algorithms, but decade-long trust. For founder Chris Reed, more commonly known as "Plastician", merch was never product—it was manifesto. In this exclusive interview, we dissect the stories behind the cult pieces, from manufacturing nightmares in Pakistan to the revelatory Mishka NYC collab that held a mirror to Terrorhythm’s against-the-grain soul. Prepare for a masterclass in intentional scarcity, accidental Cruyff tributes, and why some flaws are worth preserving forever.
Q: Terrorhythm began as a forward-thinking electronic label. When and why did physical merch become essential?
“I think I'd started to see other labels doing some really exciting things with merch that completely changed the way I felt about their output. I specifically remember Trouble & Bass in New York being inspirational to me. They'd booked me a lot down the years and I'd worked with them releasing music as well so I was very in-tune with what they were about. Their merch drops and the way they approached merch was so good, and seeing all their parties full of people wearing their merch was incredible. They had a very specific aesthetic that almost directed the style and fashion of the attendees. It kind of sat somewhere between classic rave and what I could only describe in my own words as a kind of "Lost Boys" vibe. Television witches / vampires. It sounds crazy now but that's the only way I can describe it! For me it was the first time I'd seen anything like that landing within the Electronic / Bass music scene. A lot of what we were doing in the UK around that time was still pretty unorganised and DIY so things like merch were always just a simple logo printed on a plain black tee or something. This inspired me to think deeper when dipping my own toes in with Terrorhythm.”
Q: The 2014 Terrorhythm FC football shirt is legendary. How did ADE, Dutch football, and Sean Knowles collide?
"The ADE event was locked in a few months prior. I'd wanted to produce a football shirt for years but it felt like a bit of a stretch until I discovered alibaba. Using that site I found factories that were reproducing retro kits that looked pretty close to the original thing so I set about having a factory produce something based off the classic Netherlands 1988 kit. We went with yellow and black as the colourway to mirror that of ADE and I had Sean design the patterns to be as close to that as we could get. Sean had not long completely re-imagined our entire label brand direction and was very aligned with how I wanted to position the label in the overall music industry, so working with him on this was super simple given he totally saw where I was coming from in the direction as he's also a keen football fan. We added some details like the XXX where the Adidas logo would have resided on the original, the number 14 represented the year but is also a very important number for dutch football as it's the shirt number of Johan Cruyff who is a certified legend of the game."
Q: Producing 150 units in Pakistan: What hurdles defined the process?
“We had quite a few issues with sizing and general quality control when the full order landed. The print and patterns looked great but some of the units sent were unsellable given the state of the embroidery on some pieces. The sizing was probably about a half size smaller than it should have run. We did want a fitted shirt much like the original 1988 kit but the measurements under the arms particularly came up smaller than the samples so it didn't fit quite as well as we'd hoped. It did still come out great though and people who bought them loved them. When we did the second shirt - the London Grey version, I set about completely redesigning all the silhouettes to create a boxier, more 90's style fit. Went back & forth multiple times creating the right fit via samples. When we pressed go on the full run the factory completely disregarded all the new patterns we'd worked on and delivered a batch in almost the exact same sizing as the ADE kit. I was so disappointed and we had to communicate to buyers that we recommended sizing up which was not really what I wanted to do as I was trying to create a more premium product. We live and learn though! It's the main reason I've not done more football shirts yet as I've been researching better factory options ever since, and haven't quite nailed one yet that can deliver the quality I'm looking for at small runs like 150 units or less.”
Q: Your Mishka NYC collab felt full-circle. How did the relationship evolve?
“I'd met Michael Cohn who worked for Mishka back in around 2004/2005. He was a fan of what I was doing and came through some of my earliest NYC shows. We struck up a good relationship and they were hooking me up with some really cool drops so I was wearing their clothes constantly! The collab just made sense after a few years of support on both sides.“
Q: Their 'artist graveyard' tee revealed something new about Terrorhythm’s ethos. What?
“The Mishka graveyard design was so cool. I just gave them free rein to design whatever they wanted so I had no idea what they'd send back. The result was this very punk or ska looking drop featuring their syco simon character in a graveyard with the names of some of our producers on them. When I looked at it and thought about it, it made me realise that I operate the label in a very punk ethos - lots of friendly agreements / handshakes as opposed to the clean cut style of big corporates and major labels. I'd never really thought of us like that but making sense of the direction really helped nail that home for me.”
Q: Beyond those, which piece encapsulates your rebellious spirit?
“I think the football shirt is very "me". I'm a huge football fan and as a kid, I always wanted to design football kits. I thought I'd go into graphic design in my early teens so working on that was really a bit of a dream for me growing up, definitely more so than becoming a musician or a DJ as that came a lot later for me towards the end of my teenage years.”
Q: You never reprint. Why protect scarcity?
"I like creating new things, not rehashing old ones. Moving forward and creating is the fun part."
Q: For collectors: What’s the holy grail you wish you’d kept?
“I wish I'd kept the black & white prototype version of the Terrorhythm FC shirt - there was only one ever made and I gifted it to a friend!! I also really love the Mishka collab and wished I had kept a Medium. All my clothes from back then were Smalls and I've put on a few pounds in my adult life since!”
Q: What’s next? Is merch still a 'cultural artifact' for Terrorhythm?
“I’ll definitely be dipping back into football territory. Manufacture seems a little easier now and there are more quality factories who are able to do small runs without too much of a downgrade in quality or finish. We'll keep producing more drops and trying to up the quality on each run - similar to how we've gone on the recent 2002 Boxy Tee.”