ULLR and SKADE is a Nottingham based, independent fashion brand that are taking part in NFW. I was lucky enough to interview one of the brand owners Nick Radjabi and talk all things fashion.
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| All images not my own. |
The Interview...
Tell me a bit about your brand and how it came about?
Nick - it's me and my friend from school that run it and started a couple of years ago, when we both moved back to Nottingham from separate universities at a similar time and met up. He had just done a ski season and I'd just finished working in retail during uni in Leeds, and when he was out skiing he noticed all these free style skiers wearing these big baggy T - shirts. I'd just finished working in retail and we unanimously decided that we wanted to do something within the fashion industry. I was fed up of working in retail and I wanted to progress further and I felt that many of the brands were a bit boring, they weren't very exciting and fresh. So originally in the beginning we wanted to create casual skiwear, but then we thought that was quite saturated, so we wanted to take this idea and move it in a different direction and be more casual wear rather than focusing on skiing and skateboarding.
So where does the name 'ULLR & SKADE' come from?
Nick - I love all things Scandinavian and our name was inspired by their Greek Gods and Goddesses. with ULLR - The God of Winter and SKADE - Goddess of Hunting. We wanted to bring these two characters together to unite them together as an ideology under one umbrella, almost like a family.
What would you say as a brand your values are, what do you stand for?
Nick - all our stuff at the minute is made from eco friendly cotton, so we try and use eco friendly fabrics, materials and Eco friendly inks. All of our stuff at the moment is screen printed and that is all done locally in Nottingham. So we pride ourselves on the quality in the eco friendly cottons and inks that we use; and because it's all based in Nottingham it has heritage and a lifestyle about it.
Why did you chose Nottingham?
Nick - it's a great city and easy for us as we live here, but we really do want spread across the midlands and take it down south as my friend that I do this with has moved to Oxford and we do it between us, so he has connections in London, which will hopefully mean that we can spread it a little further and also in Nottingham where we get all of our stuff printed they have a little showroom of t shirts , fabrics, jeans jackets so it's nice for me to go down there and meet them and try on the stuff and say what I want, so there's that personal connection.
What are you most looking forward to about Nottingham fashion week?
Nick - I think for me it's the connections, I love networking and meeting other brands. It means that we can stand out as a brand, we want to be a bit unique with our name and our heritage and make us different from everything else.
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| All images not my own. |
What are some of your inspirations and influences in your work?
Nick - well in terms of brands, I love French and Scandinavian design such as apc, acne, Nudie Jeans, Oliver Spencer, Comme Des Garcons, even Paul Smith who's a local Nottingham designer, his stuff appeals to me from a style point of view.
I personally love Alexander McQueen another British designer, and even though our stuff isn't couture I take inspiration from his more casual wear in MCQ.
At the minute what would you say is your favourite piece in your collection?
Nick - We've just done an indigo sweater actually, it's indigo dyed denim look sweater. That's my favourite piece at the minute. But our whole theme for Spring/Summer 16 is Miami Vice inspired, so there are lots of pastel colours we've done our first line of women's crop tops, because our line has been unisex until now.
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| Nicks' favourite piece from their most recent collection. |
If you could choose anyone to be the face of your brand who would you choose?
Male - David Beckham and/or Pharrell
Female - Rosie Huntington Whitely
Where would you like to go next with your brand?
Nick - like I've said before I don't want to be just a t shirt brand, so I would love to go into jewellery as well as leather goods and accessories, like luxury leather goods, for example clutch bags for women and wallets for men. So that's the next step that I would like to get into. I love publications as well so maybe creating a magazine that would be cool. Even maybe shoes at some point, like loafers and boat shoes.
What advice would you give to aspiring designers ?
Nick - don't just do it for the sake of doing it, we've invested a lot of time and money into it and a lot of people tend to give up, but if it is something you truly believe in and want to pursue in then go for it! People get scared I think but you just need to have that confidence. Make sure you have a good story/ ethos that you can truly believe in and stand behind.
What's the best lesson you've learnt since starting a brand?
Nick - for me it's that I'm always learning!
Finally, what made you want to work within the fashion industry?
Nick - well I've always been interested in men's fashion and styling and I wanted to progress in that area in terms of merchandising and buying, but I never did it at university or had any help or support to get into it as a career in a professional environment, so it's been something that I have had to learn and teach myself.
So
Until next time my lovelies,
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