Luke Christian – of fashion brand DEAF IDENTITY – on life in lockdown

Living in a time where everything seems uncertain with this current pandemic and where we are all in lockdown, it’s safe to say that I’ve definitely struggled in terms of trying to stay positive and have a sense of normality as I’m sure many, many, others out there are too.

When lockdown was first announced my initial thought turned to my business; DEAF IDENTITY.

Although the business is an online e-commerce brand, I was still apprehensive and a little nervous as I wasn’t sure if this may affect the brand or if things would carry on as normal, (whatever this ‘new normal’ may be), but with restrictions and lockdown put in place here in the United Kingdom where you will get fined if caught doing ‘un-essential’ trips/work, this meant DEAF IDENTITY came to a standstill.

Since launching DEAF IDENTITY last September 2019, I’ve been incredibly lucky and grateful to have constantly been working and to have had many opportunities so in a way, this lockdown gave me a chance to stop, reflect and plan for the future.

For the sake of my own mental health, I only watch the news once a day now whereas before, I would fall down a rabbit hole and feel overwhelmed with all of the scary headlines that were being thrust upon us and it felt like we would never see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As well as consuming the news once a day, I have also taken up home workouts with Joe Wicks which is something I never thought I’d do as I HATE cardio and any form of exercise with a passion, but it’s definitely true when people say exercise has a feel-good factor!

Since the government has announced we are now ‘past the peak’ moving into the second phase, I am delighted to say that DEAF IDENTITY is now in a position to process orders again and whilst we can work on these, there may still be a delay in place with regards to shipping due to lockdown restrictions, but, rather than be at a complete standstill, we are now moving forward, slowly but surely.

In light of the incredible work that our frontline workers are doing whether it be for the NHS, carers and other amazing, inspiring people, it inspired me to create a ‘THANK YOU NHS’ t-shirt.

With the THANK YOU NHS t-shirt 10% of all the sales from the DEAF IDENTITY design will be donated to NHS All Together Charities.The t-shirt comes in a range of sizes from XS – XXXL and is also available in children’s sizes from 1-2 years up to 12-14 years.

In addition to the ‘THANK YOU NHS’ Charity design, since we last spoke, I have also launched a new collection: EMPOWER/EMBRACE with 2 brand new colours in hoodie/sweater; Sky Blue and Baby Pink.

I have also launched some greeting cards as I have always found it’s much more meaningful to send a handwritten card to a loved one as opposed to a simple message on a screen!

I hope you like the new range. Take care everyone.

You can find DEAF IDENTITY’s new designs at the following links: 

‘THANK YOU NHS’ – https://www.deafidentity.com/thank-you-nhs

EMPOWER/EMBRACE COLLECTION – https://www.deafidentity.com/the-empower-embrace-collection

GREETING CARDS – https://www.deafidentity.com/goodies