Desde Bali, el secreto mejor guardado de la industria de la moda, Yasir Bawazier nos presenta su joven marca para gente que quiere divertirse con la moda.
Bleach Project: “Comencé este proyecto hace 3 años. Y aun sigo haciéndolo todo yo solo, desde el concepto al diseño, pasando por marketing, redes sociales, look books. También tengo un equipo trabajando para la marca en producción y gestión. Desde 2013, hemos pasado de hacer camisetas con slogans a ser más una marca high end fashion con patronajes, diseños y materiales serios. Sin embargo, queremos que nuestro público no se tome la moda demasiado en serio. Queremos que se divierta con nuestra ropa, pasando de normas y reglas. Queremos saltarnos las barreras de la moda masculina y ser súper fluidos en cuestión de géneros”.
Antecedentes: “Estudié moda en el Amsterdam Fashion Institute. En su plan de estudios combinan diseño y gestión. Creo que todo diseñador debería conocer ese aspecto del negocio para comercializar su creatividad. He trabajado durante 12 años para marcas. Mi experiencia más prominente fue en la marca australiana Shakuhachi. Ahí tenía la presión constante de tener que ser súper creativo, pero no conocía otros aspectos del negocio. Ahora tengo toda la libertad del mundo, pero tengo la presión de tener que hacerlo todo y asegurarme de que a final de mes la gente recibe su salario”.
Bali: “Grandes marcas como KTZ y SkinGraft producen aquí. Desde los 80, importantes marcas internacionales han utilizado la habilidad de los artesanos balineses a la vez que disfrutaban de un fantástico estilo de vida. Durante todo el año hace un verano de 35 grados, y está rodeada de playas. Salvo en la estación de lluvias, siempre luce el sol y corre una brisa increíble”.
Candy Flipping: “Es el nombre de la colección primavera verano 2017. Es una aproximación moderna al final de la década de los 70 y comienzos de los 80, una mezcla de la locura disco y glam. Es una especie de homenaje a Bowie y a Prince”.
Promoción: “Hacemos una feria al año. En 2014 fue Hong Kong, Japón en 2015 y Shanghai en 2016. Pero a la mayor parte de nuestros clientes les contactamos vía email enviando periódicamente nuestros look books. Y la verdad es que las redes sociales juegan un papel muy importante. Te sorprendería la cantidad de tiendas, bloggers, prensa y casas de moda que nos envían mensajes director por Instagram”.
Objetivo: “Quiero que mi marca esté en tiendas junto a HBA, KTC, Public School, Acne Studios… Llegar a París, Londres, Nueva York… Lo mejor está por llegar”.
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www.bleachproject.com
Fotos: Yasir Bawazier
Modelo: Samuel Ellam
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Más entrevistas de moda
Did you create Project Bleach alone or do you have more partners in the company? How many people work full time for Bleach Project? I started Bleach Project alone without partner and still continue to do so by myself, from concept. design, marketing, social medias, and Now literally taking photos for look book, campaign and social media. we have a team of 12 people working for us, mainly dealing with production sides and management.
Bleach Project was born in 2013, how has been the evolution of the brand in these 3 years? Did it grow a lot? How has it changed your designs? Of course. we started with streetwear, making mostly slogan tee with sporty vibes. and Now, we are more high end fashion with serious design and cut and not to mention using more expensive fabrics.
How would you define your collections and to whom they are aimed to? It’s celebration of fashion and live in general. since the very beginning we want our customer to have fun with our clothes and not take fashion too seriously. we should take out all the norm and the rules. evening wear should be worn during the day and pyjamas to a dance party. we want to break boundaries in menswear by being super gender fluid. i think this is the time where fashion barriers should be blurred and menswear or womenswear becomes obsolete.
The brand was born in Indonesia like you, but you have lived in other countries. What made you leave Indonesia and what was the reason to return to your country? Well, I have a wanderer soul just like my ancestors. I have middle eastern background, my great grandfather comes to Indonesia 4 generations ago and make a life in this country. but we are nomads at heart. my families is spread between 4 continents though most of them resides here. at the end of the day, it was business decision, it’s easier for me to base my business here since I am a citizens and also speaks the language, and not to mention we have the resources given it’s human or fabrics which considered quite affordable. also, it gave an easy jumpstart when you start a small brand before it takes off the ground.
In your press release you say that Bali has been the best kept secret of the fashion industry, why? Do you produce all your clothes in Bali? Do the fabrics are also from Indonesia? In Bali, there’s quite some big brands produced here like KTZ and SkinGraft. and not to mention many international brand that has used the skill of balinese for may years since the 80’s and meanwhile having an amazing lifestyle. some of the fabrics are imported of course and we have quite big fabrics importer to do that and of course some fabrics produced in the country like Rayon and Viscose. but balinese is very good at hand craft skills like beading, embroideries and such.
How do you to advertise your brand internationally? Apart from social networks, do you go to fairs? Yes, I do attend to fairs but not frequently, we limit to once a year. we did Hong Kong in 2014, Japan 2015, Korea and Shanghai 2016. but most of our clients from other parts of the world reach us via email by sending them our latest look book periodically. and to be honest Social media plays important role, I mean you’d be surprised by the amount of retailers, bloggers, press, fashion house contact us via instagram direct message.
You say that your most successful marketing strategy is the collaborative project with other international artists, what is this project? We do collaborative projects with creative from all over the worlds. given it’s model, blogger, photographers or artist in general. as you can see on our ‘collaborations’ section on our website. each season, we contact few prominent creative people from the industry to help promote our brand by creating images or editorials with the pieces from our latest collection. In return they get the exposure via our social media and the freedom to express their creativity and we get images to continue promote our collection. it’s a win win creative solution for both sides.
You have worked for 12 years in other brands as a designer, what are the major houses for which you worked? What is the best and worst of working for yourself? The most prominent experience i have is working for the Australian brand shakuhachi (www.shakuhachi.net) for 3 years. it’s a womenswear brand based in sidney, there I was forced to be super creative in time pressure and continue making innovation in design and continuously answer to the director but I don’t have to do other aspects of the label. Working for myself or my own brand, I have the freedom in the world but I have to deal with every aspect of the industry, from designing, to production to make sure that everybody get their wages at the end of the month.
What was it that motivated you to devote to fashion? Why did you choose to study fashion in Amsterdam? Well, as cliche as it is fashion is my passion and the only thing i want to do since a very young age. I have never tried to do other things or have doubts in doing this business. the school I went in Amsterdam, Amsterdam Fashion institute (AMFI) is one of the best fashion school in the country and it offers the course of fashion design mixed with management. which i think an education that every aspiring designer should have. Every designer should know the business aspect and how to commercialised their creativity.
How is your life in Bali? I’ve looked at your instagram and you are almost always in shorts at the beach. Well, the weather is summer of 35 degrees all year around, and Bali is surrounded by beaches and water. so short with nothing at all is sort of the uniform except few moths of rainy season, it’s mostly sunny with blue sky and amazing breeze.
You say that in each collection you expect to put your brand on the next level, what would now be the next desired level? What is your greatest achievement to date? My desired level would be world dominations, I want my brand to be hanging side by side next to HBA, Vetments, KTZ, Public School, Acne Studios, etc and Actually walk the runway in Paris, London or NYC. my greatest achievement is yet to be made.
What are the average prices of your clothes? It ranges with t-shirt of US$ 69,- up to US$ 499 for leather pieces.
