| Matthew Gamble sells Diazable apparel at a table set up outside Phillies in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood, April 15. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
By Jon Dunbar
If you catch him at one of his stands, streetwear entrepreneur Matthew Gamble may introduce himself as Guksu, a Korean word for noodles.
Just take a look at his designs, and you'll see why. Many of them bear his most popular character, Baby Noodle, a bashful little creature with a black hat, puffy cheeks, a wispy moustache, snakebite piercings and lots of tattoos. The character can be seen in a lot of poses, but the most popular one has him chowing down in a bathtub-sized bowl of noodles. The character is a dead ringer for Gamble.
“Baby Noodle is me,” Gamble told The Korea Times. “He is literally just me but 1,000 percent cuter. He has a hat on because I always wear a black hat. He has tons of tattoos because those are all my tattoos. He has snake bite piercings because I have those piercings. Calling him Noodle and putting him in a bowl of noodles is not only cute, but everyone who knows me will instantly recognize I put my Korean touch on the design.”
| Diazable's Noodle Boy design / Courtesy of Diazable |
He's one of the founders of the Korea-U.S. fashion brand Diazable, which is named after a portmanteau of the name of his U.S.-based best friend and business partner Jaimee Diaz and his own surname.
“We wanted to create a very personal and unique name for our brand,” Gamble said.
The two established Diazable in December 2021 during a late-night/early-morning long-distance conversation. Gamble operates it in Incheon, and its U.S.-based operation is run out of his parents' house in Texas. It is licensed as a business in both countries.
“When I went to get the business license in Incheon, it was quite terrifying but I got it done. I am proud of myself for doing the registration all on my own.”
| Matthew Gamble poses at a table selling Diazable apparel during IT'S A FEST! at Incheon's Hanagae Beach, June 18. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
In Korea, Gamble can often be seen running his merch table in pop-up style wherever he can ― art markets, festivals, concerts, restaurants, etc. “Big shout to all the friends who let me sell at their bars or shows,” he said. "I appreciate every one of you.”
He said the biggest event he's done was the 2022 Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama.
“That one was crazy because I flew all the way from Seoul to San Antonio, Texas, with layovers in San Francisco and Denver,” he said. “Then I drove 14 hours with my 69-year-old Korean mother from San Antonio to Birmingham, AL. We did the fest over the weekend, drove back to San Antonio, and I flew back to Korea, all within a week. That was a whirlwind of madness and joy.”
| Matthew Gamble, right, poses with his Korean mother at a table selling Diazable products in the U.S. Courtesy of Diazable |
Diazable also sells products online, through a Naver Smart Store on the Korean side and diazable.com in the U.S. Its products have also appeared in a few stores around Korea, including POHS-TIHS, Foe Korea and Flef. As well as shirts, Diazable also sells accessories like keychains, stickers and drink koozies.
On its website, Diazable says its mission is to "bring people together through our love of cute, black, and metal things."
“The identity of Diazable is a brand for all the people in the world who love extremely heavy and dark music but love cute things as well,” Gamble explained. “When I sat down to brainstorm about the brand, I kept thinking 'Make the brand personal, Matt.' People can connect more with brands when they see it's genuine and authentic from the creator's heart. So, I looked in the mirror and thought, 'Who am I? What do people see in me? How can I get their attention?' Then, it clicked, and I felt that these are the things everyone associates with me: I am ridiculously cute ― this is not up for discussion, and y'all know it's true lol ― I love to wear black, and everyone knows I love metal music. I felt like this brand can speak to those who love extreme metal like me.”
When asked what makes a good streetwear brand, Gamble answered “heart,” quoting lyrics from the U.S. hardcore punk band Stick to Your Guns: “We're what separates the heart from the heartless, so we'll keep pushing regardless.” He added, "and never giving up,” quoting Colin Young of the “HardLore: Stories from Tour” podcast and LA hardcore band God's Hate and metal band Twitching Tongues, who said "giving up is the only way to truly fail."
| Models show off one of Diazable's shirt designs. Courtesy of Diazable |
It's clear that music influences Gamble's work with Diazable greatly, which is probably why he can be seen selling merch at so many shows.
“I got this mindset from listening to hardcore music and going to hardcore shows. Hardcore music is a very small music scene. However, the fans and people involved in that scene are so passionate and supportive of the community. I want to emulate that with my brand. I like to say we'd rather have a small loyal fanbase for our brand than have a single popular design and fall off after that,” he said.
“As many companies strive to do these days, our brand is inclusive of all people no matter their background. However, what would make me the happiest would be seeing people at hardcore and metal shows with our merch. That is my own personal goal for the brand: to see all the people at concerts wearing our brand.”
But he also added that Lonnie Walker of the Los Angeles Lakers has taken a photo with one of Diazable's shirts.
Gamble admitted he didn't have much of a background in fashion before starting Diazable.
“For my background in fashion, I wear clothes and have a lot of band shirts,” he said. “But for real, I made merch for my friends' bands back in the day. I'm literally learning as I go along with this venture of mine.”
Born in Germany and raised in Texas to a mixed-race family, he earned a degree in computer science at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Originally he wanted to make video games, but lost interest. He ended up coming to Korea in 2014, hoping to learn Korean and better understand the culture of his mother.
When Diazable started out, he would just send his designs to various screenprinting shops and get the products back in the mail, but last August he started getting things printed at Merch Out. There, he's been able to be more hands-on, gaining experience with screenprinting, direct-to-garment printing and other styles.
“It has been exciting and interesting learning a new set of skills,” he said.
Visit linktr.ee/diazable for more information about Diazable's products.