BRKNHOME Spring/Summer 2007
HYPEBEAST recently had the opportunity to sit down with Josh and Kenta from BRKNHOME to find out more about the brand, their thoughts on our culture, and have a look at their latest collection, which will be available in stores very soon! Read our interview after the jump.
HYPEBEAST recently had the opportunity to sit down with Josh and Kenta from BRKNHOME to find out more about the brand, their thoughts on our culture, and have a look at their latest collection, which will be available in stores very soon! Read our interview after the jump.
BRKNHOME.. how is everything lately?
things are good. spring is here. time to get outside. rock some tees.
Let’s start it off, tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do and how did you get to where you are today?
well first off brknhome started off as our (josh & kenta) weekend project. something we just got together and worked on as an outlet to get our work and personal tastes out to the market and see where it would take us. we aspired to get our product into only the best select shops. with these top shops doing a great job representing our line, we’ve been able to keep putting out our ideas and what we feel is in good taste.
The BRKNHOME logo, the clavaman, care to elaborate on that?
the idea behind brknhome is that we are like a product of a “broken-home”……without parental guidance or authority to tell us what we can and cannot do. we do not answer to anyone or follow any particular trends or formulas…..like two kids that do what feels good to us.
you know when you’re a kid, you and your friends dream up the biggest challenge that would defy everything that the system and our authority figures had taught us to do? like planning and pulling a big heist. the balaclava symbolizes the spirit.
You have some nice distribution in place. How do you get into stores, do you call them or do they call you?
before we even had our first shirts printed, we made a list of the shops we wanted our brand to be represented by. a short list, but that’s what mattered to us. when we had some designs ready we sent our linesheets to the shops on our list and only to those shops. and after some persistence a couple of these shops took a big chance on an unknown brand out of Vancouver Canada. once we were in a few of these select shops other shops started to show interest.
BRKNHOME consistently delivers some of the best graphic tees in the industry. Where do you pull your influences from?
thanks! we draw influence from everywhere really. from pop culture, world culture, history, music, film, friends and daily conversation.
So what does the new collection have in store for the fiends? What is the underlying theme behind this collection?
this time around we started with a loose theme of New York & Film. something we both have love for. we took the quote “champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends” out of the film the 25th Hour. there’s a really funny scene out of Summer of Sam where a character thinks Reggie Jackson is the .44 Caliber Killer/Son of Sam just cuz he wears the number 44 and plays for the Yankees, so we flipped that in a graphic.
Spike Lee also recently made a documentary to comment on the lack of support given by the US government to the ppl and city of New Orleans, titled “the Breach of the Levees”. so we flipped his commentary into a graphic by taking the cover art from Don Mclean’s “American Pie” and turned it upside down. to make a further connection to that record and the idea, we flipped a line out of that song “drove my Chevy to the levee and the levee was dry”……to the levee was BRKN (broken). we also did a Jim Jarmusch inspired piece called Coffee & Cigarettes.
What’s next for BRKNHOME? What can we expect to see in the upcoming year?
we just want to keep putting out strong graphics based on what we’re feeling at the time. we like playing off current events so, we’ll see what the world have to offer as far as inspiration. we’re dabbling into a few custom cut&sew pieces and offer something more than our graphic tees.
just the way we’re very particular with shops we sell to and the graphics we put out, these cut&sew pieces will be about the small details of quality and aesthetics.
Being Based in Canada, how do you feel things compare to the US or the rest of the world, in terms of t-shirts and all that streetwear stuff? Do you think things are progressing in the right direction?
being based out of Canada we feel like we get a different but good perspective of the market. feels like we get a see it from a step back and not fully in the middle of all the action. being in Vancouver we have a strong connection to the Asian markets, so we got a good grip on what’s happening across the Pacific. as for the direction of streetwear, we can’t say if it is going in the right direction or not, but as long as it’s evolving and progressing it will stay healthy.
What inspires you everyday and how do you stay motivated?
people.
What are your favorite brands? Apparel or not, what’s dope?
Kenta: Wtaps, Patagonia, and anything that’s stood the test of time.
Josh: Barker Black, Filson, Jeanshop, Jil Sander
What do you guys like to wear and who do you think is just doing things wrong?
jeans & a tee. hoodies and jackets when needed. comfortable footwear. and wear it until it’s worn out.
can’t really say who’s doing it wrong…different tastes and styles, but only time will tell.
What music are you guys listening to?
Kenta: Dubsensemania, Studio One, DJ Harvey
Josh: dub, soft rock, 90’s hiphop
Any last words or final thoughts?
thanks Pete. again, thanks to the people that took a chance on us at the beginning.
go get a copy of Steven Vogel’s “Streetwear”.
don’t just wear it, live the lifestyle.
Thanks for your time! Its been a pleasure.
