The Anatomy of NOKO
We wanted to get away from all recommendations from the marketing guys giving us the spiel that to connect with your market you have to share yourself and be relatable to your audience, we tried to move away from the usual about us info but having been asked several times who are we and what are we about. I have decided to put you all out of your collective misery and pull together a broad brand overview.
There is no us, there is only I.
I have worked in fashion, I use the term fashion loosely, as one persons view of fashion may differ quite differently from another. Is fashion just couture or is it high street, is it just street, who dictates fashion and why do so many slavishly follow a view of fashion dictated by a conglomerate and written about by others?
I have worked for many so called fashion businesses large and small across several the globe and I am grateful for the people I have met and learned from and the experiences I have had along with encountering and embracing many different cultures.
After many seasons in the industry I decided to accumulate all that knowledge and decided to create a brand to what I believe in. I have always been interested in fashion from a young age, as bell bottoms and paisley shirts will testify and to have the opportunity to create and deliver a brand that reflected my personal tastes is a dream come true, but I didn’t want to create a fashion brand and attempt to sell a lifestyle of here today gone tomorrow and further add to the global fashion waste. I wanted to create clothes that have a timeless appeal and perhaps naively not follow or be dictated by popular fashion but be stylish in themselves and allow others to purchase an item that is not only functional but adds to their self of being, knowing that the item purchased has no shelf life and indeed may have been recycled.
Having started out with a broader range it soon became obvious that to be timeless the garments could only be neutral colour ways, that colour way of course had to be black.
Black jeans, black shirts, black jackets are my wardrobe staples along of course with George the seven pleat skirt which I was apprehensive about showing but I am so pleased I put it online as it has become one of the brand’s best performing styles, showing me there are other guys out there who have the same want of style.
The styles are not mass produced but ethically produced and I am consciously trying to produce items that are sustainable and where possible are locally produced and manufactured using ateliers and artisans.
I said I, but every individual also needs a a supportive team and I certainly could not have done it all by myself and I am extremely grateful to my family, friends and numerous collaborators who have assisted me along the way either through design, modeling, photographing, styling, sourcing or indeed being hyper critical and forcing me to adjust and or rethink.
The basis for the designs for the collections starts with wanting to achieve styles that are beyond fashion and have a timeless appeal. I genuinely want to move away from wasteful products where fashion lasts a season a month or a week.
There is also a small collection of vintage pieces to complement the core collection. These vintage items have been found on various trips and as part of recycle and reuse policy, the items are repaired (where necessary) and cleaned prior to being offered for sale.
I welcome any feedback and would love for you to reach out to me with your thoughts and comments.
With love and thanks.
Reach out to me via steve@nokoclub.com
I look forward to hearing from you..................
Steve