#i used to but they’re total sellouts with shitty content

[myguydaniel]

watcher really just,, don’t want their audience to enjoy their content huh

[thehoodhipsters-blog]

6 QUESTIONS WITH OHKAY CHRIS

What is the purpose behind Ohkay? & how do you want your brand to be perceived?

  I guess that’s a question I ask myself all the time. The thing is, I was seventeen when I started all of this. My Instagram name was OHKAYCHRIS and I wanted to do something with clothes, so I taught myself how to screen print and sew different patterns on tee shirts. I had no name for the pieces so i just slapped the word OHKAY on them. Over the next year and a half, it all just fell into place. I basically found a new friend group because of clothes and photography and we just took it on. These were the Boston Rooftop kids but they also did fashion stuff, Merkinsloth and all of them. It was crazy because over the past six months or so the brand took off so much. So before I could even establish a meaning behind it, it was selling out. The logo is so powerful, and it’s so crazy to me. So now it’s this big brand that so many people know about and look up to in a sense, and just now am I focusing on developing the meaning of it. I guess I could have gone with anything, but I stepped back and looked at it from a consumer point of view. I thought about “what makes this brand different from all the rest?”. The big thing I realized was that it got to where it’s at because of the kids. When I say that, I mean all of the kids. There’s kids all over the world that wear this stuff and buy whatever I put a logo on. So I realized a few months ago that it was important to highlight the idea of empowering teenagers. You know? You don’t have to be 22 with a college degree to start a company. You don’t need $5,000 or rich parents to start a brand. I took an idea, printed a bunch of hoodies and tee shirts in my basement, then it expanded across the globe. I’ve shipped out every one of the 2500 orders we’ve done. All by hand. Every piece that has ever been made has been designed by a teenager. Most times it’s me, but sometimes we’ll work with other kids to bring an idea to life. But the cool part about it, is that it’s pretty much made by teenagers for teenagers. There’s no brands out there that are like that. No brands focus on teaching kids they can do whatever they want. Most times, brands are just out there to overprice hoodies and take money from the kids. If I wanted to, I could have been a brand that paid celebrities to wear the stuff, jacked up the price, and made it “super exclusive”. But that’s not cool in my eyes. Maybe that’s cool to the “fashion kid” or the kids who only care about making money. But that stuff is lame to me. OHKAY is so much more than clothes. It’s an idea. It’s the big picture. Sometimes, it’s a logo on a tee. And yeah, it’ll sell out. And that’s really cool to me and it brings a smile to my face. But it’s the idea behind the logo on the tee shirt. OHKAY is meant to be a brand that the kids can look up to and learn from. It should teach a lesson while still standing as something people want to wear. I want it to be something that everyone can relate to, you feel me? I want it to be something the suburban kids model their new innovative ideas off of, while at the same time the city kids are wearing out to parties. I want it to be the brand the kids in London buy because they can relate to it, and the kids and Paris will find out about through the grapevine. I don’t want it to be some super-mainstream sellout brand. And I never want to be like any of these other internet kids and sell an embroidered hat for $85 just because Rihanna wore it for a photo. Why? Because this brand isn’t made for you to buy so you can fit in. It’s meant for you to buy it to stand out. You get me? It’s for the kids. Not the industry. 

 Who are some relevant influences in fashion today? 

 Us! I feel redundant saying it so much, but The Kids Are The Future! Like I genuinely believe that my friend group of internet kids are the next generation of Virgil Abloh's, Raf Simmons, and the rest of them. The internet produces a certain breed of teenagers. I’ve seen it first hand. It gives kids a platform to express themselves in any way. We just choose clothes. You are what you wear. You represent a certain image, a certain brand, a certain aesthetic. And the kids who follow, they look up to it. Through the internet, I’ve made friends all over the world. All through clothes, basically. Like my homie Leo in London (@ Gully Guy Leo), he’s fourteen. Fourteen years old. And he’s got kids all over the world wearing tracksuits to look like him. One of my best friends Brandon in LA (@ iBrandsonsapp) inspires me all the time through clothes. My best friend Serafina (serafina.0) she’s a voice for fashion for a lot of girls. She speaks through her clothes, though. Our friend Maddi Bragg in LA, too. The list goes on. But the kids are the future, and that’s what I find so fun about the internet. What we wear creates an influence to the next generation. I say it all the time, but on the internet you’re either a player or a watcher. Me and my friends on the internet, we’re players. Some of us bigger players than others, and that goes for different groups and different locations. But the kids who look up to everyone on the internet, they’re the watchers. So it’s important for people like us to be good influences all around the board, from our style to our etiquette. But then again, fashion is a grape vine. “Fashion” is such a crazy word because it can mean so many different things. Over the past year or so, Fashion and Streetwear have merged into one. To me, they’re two totally different things. But to most people it’s all under the same umbrella. Fashion is a road. The big players pave it, then different people follow down it. Truthfully, they all come from the internet. And within that, fashion influence has been deeply routed in rap over the past six to twelve months. There’s a top-tier team leading this “fashion” shit. It’s like an all-star team. Virgil Abloh. Ian Connor. A$AP Bari. Rocky. Lil Uzi Vert. Carti. Ye. Those guys. The “VLONE COLLECTIVE” as I like to call them. And it’s crazy how much influence they have on the culture. Ian or Rocky could wear a piece today, and the resell value of it will triple overnight. Kanye once wore this gildan hoodie from a shitty brand called Anti Social Social Club and it became some “fashion” brand. The big guys have all the influence. Virgil has Lil Uzi Vert rapping about buying Off-White, so what do the kids do, they buy Off White. Bari has Carti singing “VLONE THUG” so kids go out and spend $300 on a VLONE tee shirt to feel like their idols. I’m not saying this is a bad thing at all, it’s the culture. It’s how the cookie crumbles. It’s how the players perceive and shape the image of the game for the watchers. And it’s how the watchers consume the content of the players. But all of that is important to know, especially for me since I’m running a brand just like they are. They have the captains of the team being the brand owners, and the captains are telling the other players to shape the brand in certain ways so the watchers learn to love it. So for me, I use my internet friends as teammates, and I grow my brand that way. It’s all about watching and learning. But yeah, the kids are the future. Don’t get it switched up. 

Who do you aspire to be and what do you strive to accomplish within the world of fashion? 

 No one! I’m already it! If you asked me when I was 17 starting out OHKAY “what do you want to be in two years” i probably would have said something like “idk, happy with a brand that people look up to”. Now, I got it! You got all these kids out there that dress a certain way, do certain things, say certain stuff all because they want to be like someone else. It’s a big world and I’ve seen a lot of it and met a lot of people in it, and I’ve never once found someone that I want to be just like. Everyone’s unique, and that’s the coolest part of the industry we’re in. Everyone is playing their own game, just intertwined in the big scheme of it all. I don’t really want to be the next Raf Simmons or Rick Owens. Their stuff is cool, but that’s just not me. I have a lot of people I look up to, but none of those people I want to be just like. Like Ian for example. I love Ian and I look up to Ian but I’ve hung out with Ian and I learned that it’s cool to like people from afar. It’s not cool to copy people. I never want to be the next anything. I just want to continue being myself. I learned early on that it was important to Make Being YOU The New Cool, and I did. And it worked. And I get to travel the world whenever I want and stay with anyone I want and hangout with nearly anyone I can find on the internet. And I’m happy. That’s the most important part. I’m so so happy and the way I live my life, I’ll always be happy. I have a support system of kids who genuinely enjoy the brand and are willing to help spread it, and that’s all I need. I got some money. I got Global Entry and an updated passport. I got friends all over the world. I got my own place in two different states and I got a lot of clothes that mean a lot to me, and that’s all I need. As far as aspirations, I don’t even want to get into that fashion shit. It’s super cool, but it’s not for everyone. I’m already in fashion, I guess. I go to fashion shows in New York and I’m friends with all these “fashion” kids, but OHKAY as a brand isn’t fashion. I’m never making hoodies with extra extra long sleeves like Vetements and selling them for $1500. I’m never selling a T shit for $500 like Rick Owens. That stuff is cool, but just not for me. I want to build this brand to the point where every kid, ever, knows about it. And I want to make a ton of cool stuff that every kid can wear and relate to. That’s all. I don’t want Kate Moss in my tee shirts. I don’t care if Rihanna wears my hats. I want the band kids in highschool to buy stuff and feel cool about wearing it, while at the same time the coolest kid in school is using a backpack me and my friends made. If that makes sense. Fashion is crazy but a lot of kid don’t understand fashion. Kids understand brands and streetwear. And that’s where I want to keep it. In their spectrum of understanding. 

What would you say is one of the best experiences you've encountered due to your brand? 

 Man, my entire life is built off this brand. I do a lot of shit. Like a lot. From the time I wake up to the time I go to bed I probably do more stuff than most 18 year old kids do in a week. But that’s because there’s so many moving parts to my life. Because of the brand. But these past twelve-or-so months since the brand has really been growing, I’ve done stuff that most eighteen year olds won’t do until their 28. I went to London twice. I’m actually going to London in two weeks to shoot a campaign for these new chains I did. Oh, and a new Converse shoe, too. But that’s for another conversation. I got to book Ian Connor and Playboi Carti for a show which was really cool. I got to shoot photos of Kanye at Madison Square Garden which was kind of life changing. I was like five feet from him. I’m trying to think. Best experience….. I truly don’t know. Everyday is something new for me. Some days I’m in LA looking at new fabrics or learning new ways to manufacture stuff. Some days I’m in Chicago hanging out trying to speak spanish with my embroider woman. Some days I’m in Boston hanging out on rooftops with my friends talking about how we can continue to grow this idea. Some days I’m in New York hanging out with Internet Kids that I met through doing the brand. Some days I’m in London with what I would call my favorite group of internet kids. The brand itself has made more money than my high school teachers made. And that’s so sick. I sit back and look at it like look mama, I ain’t making minimum wage mama, I’m on mama, I’m on! And that’s cool. But that's not my money. That’s the brands’ money. And my job is to look at it, and say to myself “how can I invest this back into the brand” so that one day, every kid out there does know about it. Like what big project can I do next? What piece can I make that proves I’m not some screenprinted tee shirt brand? What big brands can I work with or learn from? And through that, I’ve been able to move around a lot. I get to travel because of the brand, and that’s something I’ll endlessly be thankful for. And I get to sleep on people’s couches anywhere in the world, because I know people from the internet, through the brand. It’s this crazy cycle. But like I said, everyday is new. Oh! We threw a party once. It was in Boston. I was in Boston for a few weeks and I wanted to do something fun so we rented out this club-type place and told everyone about it. We had like 300 people come. There was a line down the street. I got to DJ it. I never had a birthday party or anything growing up, and I never threw parties because I never wanted to disrespect my mom's house, so I said well let’s rent a place out, learn to DJ, and throw a party. And we did. And it was crazy. That’s when I knew Boston was on our side. And we proved that we weren’t some screenprint tee shirt brand. We were an idea. We were a bigger picture. We were a line down the street and a group of kids with and idea that worked. Why? Because we always believed in ourselves and never let anyone tell us otherwise. 

 What do you consider before designing a piece on f clothing? What is the thought process behind your designs? 

 First it’s like “Ok, would I wear this?”. Because if I wouldn’t wear something, chances are I won’t make it. Second, I’m like ok so what’s the design. Maybe it’s embroidered, maybe it’s screen printed. I get that part down. Then I pick how we’re going to manufacture it, who’s going to make us the stuff, and how I’m going to get all of it. Then we put the pieces of the puzzle together, send a bunch of emails, and within a week or something, I’ll have samples done then we put stuff into production. It’s a complicated process but I understand it from the inside out since I basically wrote the instruction manual for it through trial and error. But for me, if I can’t see my close friends wearing it, I won’t make it. I’m sure I could make some generic mainstream shit and put it on a Gildan hoodie and it would sell out and I’d make money off of it. But that’s not what the brand is for. It’s just cool stuff that I want to make for my own purposes, then we happen to make 30 extra to sell. But that goes back to the player and watcher idea. Kids look up to my style and the aesthetic of my friends and their styles, so everything I make, I cater to fit that look, so that the people who buy it will genuinely enjoy it. I never want people to buy stuff because they want to “support the brand”. Like cool, thanks for liking it. But I want you to want to wear it. Don’t buy something and let it sit in your closet, because then the next kid who really wants it can’t get it because it sold out and we don’t restock stuff! So I make stuff that I want to see people wear. 

Are there any details about Ohkay's SS17 collection that you'd like to talk about? 

 We don’t really have a “Spring Summer Collection”. That’s another thing I don’t like about this “industry” is that all these people who make brands only release stuff in “collections”. In real life fashion, collections make sense. Buyers look at the Spring Summer 2017 collections and see what they want to stock in certain stores for the 2018 year. I just make stuff that people can buy right away. So we’ve been doing stuff on a different path. We’ve been releasing stuff every sunday, or every other sunday. Which I think is cool. Maybe we’ll switch it up for summer and do a few piece capsule and not release anything else all month. But I never want to be restricted to the “Spring Summer Drop” type thing. I think of ideas, I design them, then I get them to my manufacture all in 24 hours. Like if I wanted, I could make a shirt tonight and have twenty of them printed and ready to sell in like two days. And I think that’s cool. So we take a different approach to it. Which in term, is beneficial and hurts us all at the same time. We don’t get the buzz of “Tune in tomorrowood H for our big spring collection” but we also get to be like “WOAH IT’S TUESDAY WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE THIS WEEK TO RELEASE ON SUNDAY NIGHT?” while me and my production team friends sit around a table listening to jazz music. But as far as upcoming things. We have lots. Tons of stuff. Chains. Converse Shoes. New colorways for basic stuff. Lots of new embroidered stuff. I love embroidered stuff. New hats. Shorts for spring. I love shorts. Pants too, maybe. Lots of new tee shirts. Oh, we’re doing a transparent capsule! I don’t know how people are going to react to it. But like it’s going to be all see-through material. I’m so excited. I love colors, too. Spring and summer is going to be full of colors. Lots of projects with other artists I really like and look up to. Lots of stuff planned. Just wait on it. It’ll all come in due time.