News - A bit of ArmStreet philosophy

A bit of ArmStreet Philosophy

At ArmStreet we love medieval recreation...we live, breathe and eat medieval recreation...and, at the same time, we don't buy in to the idea that every rivet, every stitch, or every piece of armour needs be a carbon copy of the originals found in museums. We don't think it's the only way to bring medieval (or any other) reality to our lives 

Every one of us, from those that study Historical European Martial Arts, those that spend their free time attending SCA events, enjoy LARPs, can't wait for their local Renaissance Faire, or revel in the exacting standards of Living History, have come to our shared passion for different reasons, but all with a thirst to live experiences that are unknown of in regular, daily life.

We recognize that there are many different approaches to modern recreation and interpretation of medieval life and even differing levels of authentic recreation within these approaches. Some people strive for as an authentic experience as possible (Living Historians); others are there to fight, feast and drink with like-minded friends; while others come at it as an extension of their gaming passion. The true Living Historian will never, ever use stainless steel armour, wear machine sewn clothing or combine items from differing historical periods, while other reenactors may wear “medievalish” boots with rubber soles or even modern boots to fight in and LARPers dress as Elves or Orcs and fight with latex and foam weapons. Everyone should enjoy their hobby in their own way.

Each of these subcultures have their own myths, rules and legends.

While one person is okay to drink wine from a modern bottle, but will never, ever camp in a nylon tent; another may refuse to use a plastic dish, but doesn't have a problem washing their hands before eating or wearing modern socks under their boots. Historical reenacting is simply a set of subcultures that require the participants to meet a certain level of “similarity”. That's it. Truth be told, modern sheet steel is as different to the iron/steel people used 800 years ago as is stainless steel, but, you know, there are some rules. Stainless is too modern while rusty armor is more “period”.

Medieval reenactment and related movements is a many limbed tree and we are perfectly fine with this. We feel that this way of understanding ancient life and times makes sense and allows many magical moments to people however they enjoy it.

At ArmStreet we love LARPers with their latex weapons; SCA events that allow barbarians and Romans to fight with XIV century knights; Battle of the Nations fighters who insist that pushing people to the ground looks more real than hitting them; and Renaissance Faires that bring the magic and insanity of our hobby to the masses... we think that the aura and spirit are equally, if not more, important than exacting historical accuracy or society myths. Reenactment is fun and cool because you can touch and use things that look real, LARPs are full of crazy-looking creative people, Battle of the Nations is cool cause it's perfectly brutal and real and SCA is cool because it opens the door to people to “play” at whatever level they are comfortable with (and it is really cool that Pennsic is larger then 70% of America's towns for that fortnight and you can see all these great people in one place. The Spirit, The Magic, is more important than simply the appearance.

We don't think that world needs one more company which can make a perfect copy of a XIV century bascinet. Yes, we can make it, we could make one that is hard to discern from the museum original, but this is not what our company is about.

ArmStreet has never pretended to be a company for Living Historians, we are a company for those that dream. We create new charecters, not copies or replicas. We create visual interpretations which links our reality with different ones. 

Some of our team members were actually those people who started first role-playing games and historical martial arms tournaments in Ukraine back in 1991. Other of our team have degrees in history and one is rebated steel sword fighter and international champion. We even have a bona fide clothing designer. We are a family at ArmStreet with all of us living our dream to help others find theirs.

All of us are creative people and our products reflect our own interpretation of ethnic or medieval products or different fantasy realms. However, our pieces retain all of the functionality of real items. Our clothing looks period and is beautiful to modern eyes as well. Yes, our armor is more functional than historically accurate and we do mix different periods pieces and different techniques into individual kits. We create something new that retains the spirit and style of the original piece and time period, retains the all of the protective attributes of the original, while providing our customers with a product that won't look like every other one at their event .

Our customers give us feedback with their hard earned money. We help them achieve their dream and at the same time they allow us to live ours. It's all about dream. Find your dream. That is what is important.