A First Look at Fiction: Freaking Cool Swag for Creatives

You had me at f/0.95. When I saw Fiction Brand's tribute to my favorite lens in the whole world, the $10,000 Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH, I knew I had to have one. But once I got my foot in the door, I realized there's more to this brand than just a novelty tee shirt as I reviewed their camera strap, hat, and pocket SD shirt.

Before the shirts, the hats, and other photo-centric accessories, the men and women of Fiction are high-level visual artists in their everyday lives. FCTN, as it is often stylized, is first and foremost a visual agency that creates video for major brands such as Starwood, Adobe, Publix, and Tim Tebow. So what could they offer in the world of photographic accouterment? Their press release tells us:

Fiction Brand consists of 13 products with features that are designed to flow seamlessly with your creation process. The 5 panel crew hats feature a flexible bill that allows you to remain shooting without adjusting or taking off your hat. The SD Pocket Tee features a built in SD Card sized pocket for those quick card swap situations. The collection of 5 crew tees all feature microfiber hem tags, and our camera strap has a simple click in and out function, making travel and carry extra convenient.

Well, the folks at Fiction Brand were kind enough to send me a few of these things to try out myself.

The Strap

I'm pretty much dead-set on BlackRapid straps on my DSLRs, but I'm in a constant battle to find the perfect strap for my rangefinders, so I was happy to get the FCTN Click In Strap in my hands. My very first impression was that the strap looks and feels far more well-built and impressive than it does in the photos. The logo and brand marks are unassuming and well-embossed; the pressing is sharp and even. The main "cushion" part of the strap is legit full-grain leather on the outside, and a supple suede on the shoulder-side. I put cushion in quotation marks because there's no real padding. It's basically leather on leather, so this is clearly a strap style designed for smaller cameras such as point and shoots, mirrorless, and rangefinders. A small consumer-grade DSLR with a kit lens or 1.8 prime would probably be fine, but I still think straps that use a tripod mount connection suit cameras like that best. While the suede is slightly slick (moreso than the leather), it does not slide around without force. It certainly makes it feel more finished and prevents shirts from snagging up too badly. The leather is also very pliable out of the box. I anticipate it breaking in a bit more over time, but I'd be pleased with the flexibility even if it didn't.

But what good is a strap if it can't hold up your gear? Fortunately, this strap instills supreme confidence in that. The support hardware appears to be tough and high-quality. The leather pad meets nylon webbing (where the length adjustments are made) at a junction made of solid metal. The leather is even reinforced with metal studs at the ends. The nylon webbing meets with another section of leather where the camera connection itself begins. This section of leather is three folded layers that are sewn and double-studded and is where the "shoelace" portion that actually ties into the camera's lugs is anchored. While it has nothing to do with strength, my OCD certainly appreciates that this little thick section of leather is essentially symmetrical and looks exactly the same regardless of which way the clips are inserted. Speaking of clips, they are heavy duty and require a fairly long travel to undo. They aren't going to accidentally open on you.

The strap comes with a fairly long run of nylon for length adjustment, something I've noticed a lot of straps don't do. I'm pretty average height at 5 feet 7 inches and at maximum extension, this trap is long enough where the bottom of my Leica M3 touches the top of my knee. At its shortest it rests above my hip. I am confident that this strap has enough room for adjustment for any human being except for the extreme outliers of society. If you're like me and you like your strap a bit shorter, you'll want to set your length a bit on the long side, and then trim the excess nylon. Another nice detail touch is that the loops designed to hold back the excess nylon are leather. And at just USD $45, I'd say the Click In Strap is very competitively priced for anything remotely in its quality and feature range.

I absolutely love the looks and feel of my Barton 1972 Braided strap, but I have to admit that even after just a day with the clip strap, I'm sold on the adjustability and convenience of being able to stow away the strap for travel, and this strap does it with subdued looks and high quality.

The Shirts

While the Leica shirt is what got my attention, it's just a shirt. Don't get me wrong, it's a high-quality one with some pretty awesome attention to detail (I love that one of their branding marks in red takes the place of the actual lens mount alignment dot), but it's just for show. What's really going to appeal to the masses is a shirt with some utility. Behold the Pocket SD. If you couldn't tell from the picture or the name of the shirt, it has a pocket inside a pocket. That little pocket holds an SD card just absolutely perfectly, and they actually addressed a major concern some of the other writers had when were discussing it.

When fully inserted, the top of the card sticks out just a bit. This is important for two crucial reasons, the first being that you can easily grab the card when you need. The second is that you are far less likely to forget a card before throwing the shirt in the laundry. Fortunately even if you are extra forgetful and oblivious, chances are your SD card would be just fine anyway. Additionally, the hem tag on the bottom of the shirt is microfiber. Yep, that's right. You can pickup the bottom of your shirt to quickly clean off your lens and have a little dedicated spot to do so.

They have a few different designs for shirts, but the Pocket SD is the only one as of now that has a some practical functionality built in. All shirts are tagless, made of super soft cotton, and are pretty well-fitted without being too muscle-hugging. Comfort is key. Check out this amazing video lookbook (filmed at Biosphere 2) to see some of the other designs in action:

https://vimeo.com/142520311

So what's the catch? Well, clothing starts at USD $30. While not outrageous, especially for such constitution and with some actual real-world features, it's definitely not cheap stuff. And the clothing goes up from there. Long sleeve shirts and sweatpants are double that, and hoodies top out at $72. Your market may vary, but here in the Midwest we'd call that price a bit salty.

And then there's the issue that will only affect about half of you. As of launch, there are no womens' versions of anything. My wife works out six days a week and is on the small side of average, and a men's small fit just okay, but was definitely verging on the side of too big. I hope to see some female-specific clothing soon on the horizon, especially since this is an industry has a ton of them.

The Hat

I am not a hat guy. I think they look funny on me. So initially I just passed over the hat being another thing I don't care about. But then I realized the hat does actually have a practical feature for photographers. The bill is super flexible and easily moves out of the way of your camera without having to adjust the hat itself. My wife when trying it out for the photos above said, "yep, it works!" As a non-hat guy I have to admit I found this pretty nifty. Additionally, these five-panel crew hats (also available in a chambray variation) have a clasp adjustment in the back to get the perfect fit, none of that one-size-fits-all junk.

As with the shirts, the hats come in at a bit higher in price than I'm used to seeing for a cap of this style at $32. But then again, all of this apparel is pretty low-production and it does have the specialized bill. I wouldn't go as far to say anything is overpriced, but as with most things in photography, there's certainly a premium over your everyday mainstream variations of these items.

After all of that, will say that Fiction Brand has put together a pretty impressive first-round of goodies, and they've struck a pretty reasonable balance between things that are practical, and things that are just hip and cool. While the trendy graphics and slightly high prices on some items may be off-putting to some, I think there's something for everyone. I'm far from trendy and I'm pretty darn excited about what I've seen, and no one can deny their quality and attention to detail (one of their shirts has buttons sewn in the shape of one of their branding marks). I think FCTN BRND is certainly a BRND that really cares about their craft.

Like what you see? Buy it here!