Dale Stephen Strime, the creative director and founder of swedeCrowe. Dale describes it as a “big bang that happened” when he decided to answer his calling by taking his fascination for street wear and turn it into the awesome clothing creations.
My Definition Of Success | Growing up you are taught that success is defined by big bank accounts, fat pay checks and loads of awesome shiny things, and actually when you enter the real world, you start to learn and believe that success is more driven by happiness and value of life. So for me, success is defined by being able to do what you love and love what you do everyday.
I Am Driven By | The force that keeps me driven in life is my fear of becoming complacent. Creativity is the drug I crave and I hope to never stop testing myself and pushing my own boundaries. Stay inspired.
My Highlight |Achieving a lifelong dream and being able to live that dream everyday is a super humbling and ongoing highlight of my personal life. Starting swede&CROWE and still doing it 2 years later is a dream and a highlight reel I will always look back upon with great emotion.
One of the most powerful highlights of my career was watching the swede&CROWE brand inspiring South African hopefuls to take action and follow their dreams in becoming street wear designers and changing their minds about the influence that local brands have on the market.
A Key Strength | One strength of mine, which has been critical to my success, is being able to ‘Find Comfort in the Uncomfortable’. Enjoying being the odd one out, taking the Zig when everyone else is taking the Zag, celebrating the 
strange and believing in your own uniqueness.
Over the years I’ve had to learn to trust myself more than anything else. My first instincts have always proven true. I believe no ideas are bad ideas, because the right options always shine brighter surrounded by the dull ones. Your gut plays a major role in knowing which decisions to make.
What I do when I get clouded with doubt and split between two ideas/designs, let’s call them Option A – the safe option & Option B – the risky to ridiculous option, is ask someone I trust for their opinion and then go for Option B anyway. Don’t forget to pay attention to the detail, as the design is in the detail, not the other way round. Don’t be afraid to be different. Embrace your weirdness. Don’t take yourself too seriously, always have fun and don’t forget to worry*less.
Resources I Use | I have a load of other interests outside of fashion that inspire and shape my creativity for design. I use every kind of resource available to me:
- People: I like to keep forward thinkers & boundary breakers around me to constantly push me to keep on creating. From Musicians to Typography wizards, it’s important to keep thinkers and doers around you.
- Books: I constantly indulge myself in all forms of literature, from learning valuable life lessons in autobiographies, to post apocalyptic survival skills in sci-fi graphic novels.
- Food: My love for food teaches me to embrace design holistically. Just like all 5 senses are indulged by food, I believe design should create the same experience.
- Music: Music could possibly be the biggest influence. I believe music and fashion go hand in hand. Its one of those rare magnetic connections that have a symbiotic result. Being a musician myself, I have an appreciation for all
genres and allow them to influence me freely.
My Ambitions | Its so humbling to be where I am at the moment, but standing still is not an option for me. There is still so much I need to do and want to achieve in my career.
I would love to make more of an international footprint showcasing our South African designed and manufactured products. I would love to not disappear into the Hype but instead keep competing in the game and releasing products that are exciting and excite. I would love a published cartoon character based on myself &
I would love to meet Bill Murray.
Key Driving Thoughts |There are two mantras to which I live by. The one is for my personal being and the other is for my work.
In my personal life, the words: “Deal With it, Rock ‘n Roll” are a constant reminder to not sweat the small things, and to not take yourself too seriously. Just Deal with it, Rock n Roll.
I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by Sir Paul Smith in 2008. His words “Think Globally, Act Locally’ have resonated with me and been a driving force, not only as a Fashion Designer but proud South African.
People Who Inspire Me | There are a large amount of people that have inspired me. From Jose Pasillas, Valentin Ozich, Sebastien Fougere to Chris Aznar. Collectively these men continue to validate my desire for design and fuel my innate weirdness.
My Role-models | I think it is important to define what a role model is for me to answer this question. A role model is 
someone who actively molds you into the person you are. For me, my role model is my father. I have learnt everything I know from him. How to show respect while being respected, how to identify what is important to you and fight for it, how to be a man and more importantly how to behave like a man
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The Legacy I Would Love To Leave Behind | Would be to have taught people to feel brave and honest enough to break out of their comfort zone, to rebel against complacency, to inspire, to create, to build, to love, to conquer & to be passionate.
