NoKipple - Official Thread

[Megatron1505]

Just to add that if anyone would like any detail pictures of any of the products please do ask.

[Megatron1505]

NoKipple Travel Part 1 - Indonesia

 

 

 

Something we were very clear on from the beginning of this project was that if we were going to work with a brand, then we needed to meet that brand and get to know them as people. Establishing that relationship with our suppliers would be key to how we want to operate. With that in mind we set out to travel to Jakarta, capital Indonesia in March of 2013 to meet face to face with a collection of brands that interested us from Indonesia. Please excuse the poor photography in this section, much of it was done one the fly with an iPhone.

 

 

 

Neither Jon or I had been to Indonesia before, we were aware from what friends who had visited and friends who live in Jakarta had told us that we should expect a sprawling a busy city, and possibly the most vibrant and fastest growing denim and work wear scene in the world at the moment. Our mission was relatively simple; we had 5 brands to meet in three action packed days after 29 hours of travel. No problem!

 

 

Also compacted into this time we had to acclimatise to the 40 degree temperatures (not something we see in the UK in March), the time difference and the traffic, luckily the local beer, Bintang, proved to be extremely helpful in assisting us to adjust.

 

 

We had come to Jakarta with high hopes for what we would see, but I think it was fair to say that our expectations perhaps did not mirror our hopes. We had been used to dealing with and wearing goods made in Japan and the USA where the best quality garments are made, so we naturally assumed that the standards would be less in other countries. We were wrong, and pleased to be wrong.

 

 

 

To say that Indonesia has a lot of young brands is an understatement; it’s almost a bit daunting when you see the amount of new labels starting up every month so it was our challenge to seek brands who not only had the right mix of quality, substance and difference that we wanted, but also the longevity to be around for a lasting relationship where the retailer and the brand grow together. We think that we had success in finding just the right brands.

 

 

 

Before I talk about meeting the brands who we are working with I should also say that there are other brands who we met that we could not work with from launch. This is not a reflection on those brands or their products, just a matter of simple logistics for us and we will be taking another look at those brands as we grow and logistical issues lessen.

 

 

The first brand we actually spoke to in Jakarta was also the first Indonesian brand that made us sit up and take notice, that brand was Elhaus. Elhaus are a partnership of friends Raven and Eduardus who are bright modern thinkers with an enormous amount of drive to succeed and an interest in pushing what can be done with simple garments, they like the science of fabrics and when they came up with the denim which eventually became the collaboration NKxEH01 jean they approached it as a chemist might approach the creation of a new polymer or compound. What did it need to achieve? What could be done to make it special? This approach impressed us beyond words, as confirmed fans of Breaking Bad the Elhaus version of White and Pinkman struck a chord with us just as deeply as the delicious banana pancakes we shared at our meeting.

 

Me and Jon meet Raven and Eduardus of Elhaus

 

The second brand we have chosen to work with from Indonesia were something of a later addition to our agenda, we had seen Sagara boots on various forums and their stunning aesthetics had made an extremely positive impression upon us, but they were located some distance outside of Jakarta (in Indonesia’s garment manufacturing capital of Bandung), so we were unsure as to whether they would actually travel the distance to meet us at our hotel. Well, they certainly did and we are certainly glad that they did.

 

Our first viewing of a Sagara Boot

 

Sagara are old school, they are completely made by hand and their owner Bagus, is very much an old head on young shoulders. Sagara arrived at the meeting with a full range of samples, a pre-prepared Powerpoint presentation and videos of their workshop and manufacturing process, we were completely blown away. Something which we have said to people many times since when discussing Sagara with people is that if they were made in the USA, Canada or Japan then they would be regarded as one of (if not the THE) finest boot makers in the world. We are very excited to see what people say when they get their hands on these boots.

 

The Sagara Combatant Boot

 

Our visit to Jakarta was all too brief, but the warmth with which we were greeted and the quality that we saw there made the trip so worth while and we look forward to returning soon to see what these guys have planned for 2014 !!

 

 

 

 

[Megatron1505]

NK Travels Part 2 - Tokyo

 

Shinjuku

I love visiting Japan, I have done it several times with my family and we have always had a fantastic time with really friendly people, Jon had not visited Japan before but was really excited to be going to Tokyo too, who in our particular scene of interest wouldn’t be?

 

I introduce Jon to the taste phenomenon known as the McDonalds Ebi Fillet Burger

 

This time however it felt different, we were quite nervous and aware of the need to present ourselves well and to hopefully connect with the people we would speak to. The challenge in one respect was easier than Jakarta as we had slightly more time, and only two brands to meet (Tush was introduced through his connection with Trophy Clothing), so in a way we could take it a little easier. In another way though it was perhaps a bigger challenge, the Indonesian brands had all spoken very good English whereas in Tokyo we would require an interpreter, the youthful but extremely competent Kohta, there is also the famed fear of the misunderstanding which we were told by “people in the know†could have dire consequences for any potential business we were looking to conduct in Japan. As it turned out any apprehension we felt was completely unfounded, thankfully.

 

Jon and our intrepid interpreter Kohta try to Google directions.

 

We travelled to Japan in May of 2013 as part of a motley crew including Giles and Paula of Iron Heart and Danny and Junior of Rivet & Hide all taking the same flight from Heathrow. Unlike the rest of the crew we opted for a business hotel in Shinjuku, whereas they stayed in a much nicer hotel (better bar) in Shibuya, near a lovely Korean barbeque which I made a real mess at on a night out with the IH and R&H teams. Also out there we had the opportunity to meet and talk with Kiya and Demitra of Self Edge, and Roger and Freddie of VMC Zurich, a great experience for us as a fledgling retailer.

 

This street amuses many an immature westerner, of which I am one.

 

Our first meeting was planned for 12 hours after we landed at Narita airport, we had hardly slept, hardly eaten, but we were nevertheless excited when we rolled into Daitabashi station on our way to an evening meeting with Masaki Egawa and his assistant Takayuki of Trophy Clothing. Trophy were the first brand that I wanted to work with when we first discussed a retail venture, their clothes are absolutely incredible and I could not believe that they were not a massive player in the field of quality denim and work wear, that is until I met Egawa-San and he informed me that international retail had simply never occurred to him as he was happy simply selling to their loyal customer base in Japan.

 

Daitabashi Station

 

Egawa-San was exactly the opposite to my image of him, I had expected a serious man wrapped deeply in his business and his designs, I had thought that any man who produced designs of such meticulous detail must surely be a quietly determined designer. What we found was a man in seemingly constant good humour, with a wide genuine smile and an easy going demeanour. We spoke for a long time about how we wanted to take Trophy Clothing and introduce them to the Western market, about other brands we had contacted and met, and about the future for NoKipple and Trophy, and it was such an easy meeting that Jon and I celebrated with more than a few beers back in our crappy hotel bar.

 

Egawa-Sans pride and joy.

 

 

The next day was the exhibition for the Trophy F/W collection 2013 and once again we were stunned by the quality and detail we saw. We predict big things for Trophy Clothing and we cannot wait for their products to start landing in the hands of customers.

 

Egawa-San and Takayuki

 

In the afternoon after visiting the Trophy exhibition we made our way to Ebisu to meet with Yohei Goto, owner of the much celebrated brand Jelado. I had been aware of Jelado for quite some time, through the “Unknown Japanese Brands†thread on Superfuture, and through publications such as Lightning Magazine. I knew that Jelado were very well regarded by a lot of people who’s opinion I tend to listen to, and again I was at a loss to explain why I could not find a single none domestic retailer for them, it seems that there were a few things about Jelado and Yohei Goto that I did not fully understand.

 

Goto-San shows us his wares.

 

Firstly, Jelados product range is huge and spread over 5 sub brands catering for such things as Athletic Wear, Military inspired wear and Rock Star wear all with a definite vintage 50’s twist. As you would expect from such a highly regarded brand Jelado use the finest materials and manufacturing techniques to create their wares, but whereas other brands draw inspiration from a narrow niche of vintage wear Yohei Goto gets his inspiration from a much wider canvas as he spends a serious amount of time collecting original vintage clothing and studying how it is put together to gain his inspiration. Where vintage ways are best he uses them, where improvements could be made he makes them.

 

Jelado Products in the store.

 

Secondly, Goto-San is a professional kick-boxer and quite a good one at that. We were intrigued to know how his two passions sat together in his life and his explanation was great, he told us “When I was young I loved vintage American clothing but I was too skinny to wear it, the sleeves were shapeless and the jackets did not hang correctly on me.†“So I started kickboxing to give me more size and muscle, and now my favourite clothes fit me wellâ€, great story. Yohei Goto takes a huge amount of pride in what Jelado makes, his brand is very popular in Japan and they are certainly ready to begin replicating that success over here in the west.

 

Omotesando on a lovely sunny day.

 

Japan was a fantastic success for us, it allowed us to complete our launch line up with brands which we have absolute confidence in and who make starting something like this relatively easy.

 

We are already looking forward to returning to Japan next year to see what we’ll be bringing over for 2014.

 

 

[hemi]

Just awesome and inspiring mate!

[Megatron1505]

Thank you Hemi we had great fun travelling and meeting everyone 

[--simon--]

Those Sagara Combatant boots look very tasty, quadruple stitching!

[Megatron1505]

Something we're big on here at NK is ethical purchasing and provenance. We like to know that the things we sell are made by craftsmen who earn a decent wage for what they do just as much as we love to know about all the process that go into making the items so special. 

 

With that in mind here are a selection of images from our suppliers giving a "behind the scenes" look at what they do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Megatron1505]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Megatron1505]

 

[Maynard Friedman]

Congratulations Mega, this whole thread looks very exciting. It's great to see quality, new brands being made more widely available and also to see the forum members 'doing it for themselves'. Best of luck to you and Jonathan in your venture.

[Megatron1505]

Thank you, and now we are mere days away from launch I sincerely hope that more people feel the same way.

[louisbosco]

love what i see so far. especially that shirt from jelado.

[ToddjColey]

Hey Gav, wishing you my best mate! everything looks sweet so far!

[Megatron1505]

Thank you Louis and Todd.

The Jelado shirts have a fit like no other brand I've seen, which is what makes them so popular in Japan. You get a real feel for how much thought Goto-San puts into how his clothes look on the wearer.

[summ3rhays]

Very exciting stuff.  Good luck on the opening!  The black toe cap boots look so nice.  Officially on the list for xmas.

[Megatron1505]

Thanks Mike, and the boots are a wise choice as they are absolutely stunning.

[HoustonChris]

Totally loving the Combatant boot from Sagara.  And as a committed boot nerd, I really appreciate the shots of the manufacturing process; the pics instantly remind me what I've seen by some of the best Texas bootmakers.

 

I've gotta sell some of my stuff so that I can buy all of this great gear you're teasing us with, Gavin.

[Megatron1505]

My apologies for the teasing Christopher, the wait is almost over 

[Megatron1505]

NoKipple In The Community

 

Today I ventured to a local college to talk about NoKipple to some media students who are helping us out with an upcoming collaborative project, more about that much later.

 

The visit involved me giving a half hour lecture to a group of around 100 students about Japanese denim, raw denim, the denim sub culture, denim contests, sick fadez, and the brands and people involved in the niche market. 

 

It was an interesting experience.....for me at least.

 

 

 

[beatle]

professor mega  

[Megatron1505]

Whole new meaning to educating your customer base.

[beatle]

Train em young !!

[nutusufu]

That Elhaus collab is insane! What's the retail price on those?

[Megatron1505]

Nowhere near as expensive as the worlds first totally hand woven, left hand twill, heavyweight, hank dyed jean should be.

 

All will be revealed very shortly 

[S-Town]

So, what's the story behind the name "Jelado"?  And, is it pronounced like "Gelato"?

Edited November 7, 2013 by S-Town

[Megatron1505]

Weirdly, Yohei Goto just explained that to us as part of an upcoming three way interview series we're doing with Denimhunters, involving us, Masaki Egawa of Trophy and Yohei Goto of Jelado.

As it's in the interview I don't want to steal his thunder, instead I'll link it in here as soon as it is published.

[hectic]

Hi

 

The website is live – www.nokipple.com

 

Yeah, so, start a webstore they said, it will be fun they said – hah…

 

It’s been nearly a year since we started the NoKipple project and I thought perhaps that you may be interested in reading a little about the process, the challenges, the existential dread, the cliff-like learning curves and the actual genuine pleasure in making a thing real.

 

I’ve been inventing companies, concepts, inventions for years now – all from behind the fictional safety of a warm four pint enclave in the pub. It all seems so straightforward – booze inflates egos, removes objections and applies a faux clarity to the notional plan – then you wake up the next day and go to work. Hmmm. After vexing myself multiple times in this way I got sufficiently impatient - let’s do it.

 

The easy bit is at the beginning: We need a name! NoKipple is a compound word – “kipple†is a science fiction neologism that means garbage, rubbish, unwanted dreck; “no†is the obvious modifier here – from the very beginning we wanted to sell genuinely great gear made by cool people – I believe we have made a good start.

 

Other easy things – researching brands, rinsing the web, talking to like-minded enthusiasts, sitting in the pub again looking at early samples and reading product catalogues, buying new things, emailing with new people in different countries, sharing ideas and energy, moving from notional bullshit to the inkling that it might be able to exist.

 

Less easy things – finding the money, facing up to the cash burn rate, juggling a full time job, long haul coach class when you’re 193 centimetres tall, taxi rides in Jakarta, projecting your genuine enthusiasms and earnestness to strangers through a fog of jet lag and humidity, managing expectations.

 

Even less easy things – the burn rate, learning critical technical skills, managing front and back end dev resources, product photography (my knees hurt), imports, tax incredulity, obsession with margin viability, insurance, storage, domestic harmony, detail obsession.

 

The hard things – the fucking burn rate, ugh – got to go to work, acceptance that everyone will have an opinion – about the gear, the website, the photography – exposure, right? The realisation that getting to launch is just the beginning – who knows what will happen?

 

What I have learned most of all is that execution is a bitch – I’ve helped other people out before with their own projects and companies – so what, it’s easy to have an idea – execution is everything. That little prick Yoda had a point – do, or do not – everything else is pints and wanking.

 

We’ve made it to launch, let’s see how the dice fall.

 

Best regards

Jon (NoKipple)

 

 

[Megatron1505]

Just to add to Jon's statement. All stock is not yet with us, our range will increase in the coming days/ weeks.

[UkeNo]

Good stuff guys.

Fingers crossed for you.

[Maynard Friedman]

Best self-start advice/summary I've ever heard Jon - you should copyright and publish that post, pure gold.

Edit: oh and as I said to Gav earlier, best of luck, you have a great proposition.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Maynard Friedman