Hypebeast Community Center: Komune

From its digital content-focussed roots to drawing crowds outside of its Lower East Side boutique, Komune strategy lead Alex Tao explains the importance of community and the driving philosophy behind its curation.

Fashion 
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Give us the Komune elevator pitch.

Komune is a multi-brand retailer based in New York City, dedicated to supporting emerging designers and creatives. We aim to create an experience-driven platform that fosters discourse and discovery for those passionate about thoughtful design.

The Five W’s

Who shops at Komune?

Since opening, we’ve realized our audience is more diverse than we anticipated. Some of our customers are die-hard fans, others stumble upon us by chance.

What is Komune’s main message?

We want to empower the people around us—our brands, employees, and customers. Ultimately, we know we have succeeded if our community feels comfortable and represented in our space. Our community is the source of all our success; without them we would just be lowly clothing merchants.

When did you launch Komune?

In September 2023, we hosted a pop-up to test the viability of Komune’s philosophy, brand curation, and business model. The results from the pop-up helped secure our first round of funding, enabling us to open permanently in the same location in September 2024.

Where are people wearing the brands sold at Komune?

Anywhere on land—just not in the water as we don’t offer swimwear yet. Our customers are strictly terrestrial.

Why was Komune created?

We started Komune because we were intimidated by fashion. Sometimes, retail shopping can feel cold and impersonal, so we tried to counter that with our “distant friend” approach, imbuing our social media with tangible interests and recurring faces. The goal is to make our space feel “friendly” (quite literally).

Secondly, we aim to be an educational beacon. Some folks hesitate to engage with fashion, fearing a lack of knowledge. While we believe fashion requires no prerequisites, we strive to provide genuinely insightful educational resources.

Your brand name is a homophone of the English word “commune.” Can you tell us more about the significance of Komune’s name?

The name Komune comes from Van Gogh’s idealistic vision of an artist commune, where avant-garde artists could work and collaborate in a shared space. Our store aims to evoke a similar spirit—empowering the brands we showcase while inviting others to appreciate their work.

Long before opening a permanent location, Komune had already built a community via social media. Can you tell us more about the emphasis on brand community and storytelling?

We love the internet — our team lives online. Our internet community is just as important to us as our in-person visitors. Social media allows us to extend the lifespan of our storytelling, making our actions less ephemeral. If we host an event for four days, nobody remembers it after the fourth day, but a YouTube video documenting its process preserves the event as a digital time capsule.


 

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A post shared by Komune (@komune.space)

Why do you think it’s essential to maintain a physical presence instead of solely offering e-commerce?

It feels necessary for the current retail landscape. Fashion e-commerce is like one massive undifferentiated sales floor, where few products are exclusive to a single retailer, there are hardly any barriers to purchase, and competition revolves largely around price. For larger retailers with the financial cushion to discount early and pay for SEO, this is favorable. It’s definitely not favorable for a retailer of our size—one with two sales associates and a five-person office team. Brick-and-mortar retail is a huge part of our value proposition where we can differentiate the buying experience.

Komune shares its street with a number of major local designers and emerging independent names. What makes Komune different from other establishments in Manhattans’s Lower East Side?

Honestly the LES has been so pivotal to our growth. All the other businesses are equally community-oriented and it’s been encouraging to see them show out for each other. In that sense, we’re no different—we strive to contribute to this shared spirit of community.

However, I would bet a decent amount of money that we are the only store in LES that sells Blackmerle.


 

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A post shared by Komune (@komune.space)

Would Komune ever open any new locations in the future? If so, do you have a dream location?

Selfish answer: Massachusetts because I’m from Massachusetts and I want my parents to visit the store. [Alex Tao]

What are some of the team’s key takeaways from 2024? Any goals for 2025?

Initially, we were hesitant to present any lengthy concepts since we felt a broad aversion to “yapping,” but we eventually learned that our customers are actually quite receptive to them—whether that’s in our media, event inspirations or buying rationale. In 2025, I hope to meet an entire family of Komune-enjoyers.

Many of the brands at Komune are unconventional in one way or another. Do you have any words of encouragement for people who want to venture outside their comfort zone to try new styles?

Start with Blackmerle.

What does fashion mean to Komune?

We believe that fashion is best enjoyed for the pure purpose of self-pleasure.
Internally, we call this value “Komune for Komune’s Sake (K4K),” inspired by the idea of l’art pour l’art. Sometimes, our purchases are driven by impulse, but we trust our customers recognize and appreciate authenticity. We wouldn’t want to pander to a certain trend, rather, we stock our brands simply because we like them. It may not be the most profitable strategy, but it’s the one that brings us the greatest satisfaction, time and time again.

Hypebeast Community Center: KOMUNE


Komune is located at 92 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002. Open hours are from 12 pm – 7 pm, Wednesday through Monday. Shop Komune’s curated selection of designers and brands online at the retailer’s official web store.

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