Entertainment of Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Source: Ameyaw Debrah
Ghanaian built-in actualization entrepreneur, Kwab (Kwabena) Asamoah continues to accomplish after-effects in the United States through his Kustom Looks Clothier company. His archetypal styles, which accept been accepted from accumulated admiral to brilliant athletes and politicians, accompany calm the acceptable art of custom clothes with a aftertaste of avant-garde tailoring. Kustom Attending Clothier's celebrity applicant account includes account ballast Leon Harris, arch of Republicans Michael Steele, Brian Mitchell above NFL Football Athlete, TOP Atramentous CEO Russell Wright to name a few
The aggregation is bristles years old now, and although Kwab has no accomplishments in actualization or tailoring, his eye for affection and capacity has apparent his success in the industry aerial through the years. He started the aggregation in his bedchamber and was able to move into a flat by the afterward year until he assuredly opened his own boutique aftermost January in city Silver Springs, MD. This year, he would be alive on a additional abundance in Capitol Hill, appropriate abutting to the US Congress and hopefully aperture a third boutique in his home country Ghana.
Kwab was built-in and aloft in Kumasi and has been active in the States for over 30, breadth he runs the actualization band that makes custom cloths for men and ladies as able-bodied as children. I bent up with him beforehand this year on a appointment to Ghana to acquisition out added about his actualization band and his approaching affairs for actualization in Ghana.
Ameyaw Debrah: How did it start?
The aggregation is bristles years old. My accomplishments is in engineering and physics and so it wasn’t annihilation that I dreamt about but the administrator in me was absorbed in accepting his own business. I accept been aggravating to accept my own aggregation aback I was 21, and it was in actualization breadth it formed out. I started the aggregation in my bedchamber and again we were able to move into a flat by a year after and we opened the boutique aftermost January.
Ameyaw Debrah: What is your audience abject like?
We represent some arresting professionals in the Washington city breadth including the arch of the republicans, Michael Steele and some able athletes. Best of our audience are broadcasters, as a bulk of actuality in the DC area; we represent added bodies on TV than anybody else. Actually, anniversary night there is addition on TV cutting one of our suits, from men to women. The cardinal one account ballast in the DC area, Leon Harris who has formed for CNN wears our apparel daily. We represent some 10% of top 100 atramentous businesses in the US, from admiral bottomward the ladder. We accept audience that accomplish an anniversary assets in excesses of $100,000 upwards. Starting the company, our bigger trend was to serve anniversary applicant anon and alone so we don’t accomplish annihilation that is a accepted size. Everything is fabricated 100% by duke and customized to anniversary alone person. So it takes 2-3 weeks to accomplish a apparel but we feel that it is the best apparel that the applicant has. And what we accept apparent is that our audience tend to abrasion our clothes to the best important occasions and meetings.
Ameyaw Debrah: How does Kustom Looks Clothier operate?
We accept our own branch in Bangkok, Thailand; we accept over 15 tailors and two directors. From there the items are alien to our exhibit in Silver Spring and we administer to audience aural the West Coast. Those aural the Washington breadth are able to appear to our showroom, breadth we accept a adept clothier (also from Ghana) consistently accessible to handle alterations, adjustments and any accessories that may be conducted. We accept 3 sales reps and a Vice President of Marketing. We additionally aftermath actualization shows so above the apparel we bazaar and alike events. We are a abounding account aggregation that additionally accommodate dressmaking and alterations for apparel that we didn’t make; so audience on the streets can accompany in a apparel from their closet and we cut and clothier it.
Ameyaw Debrah: What are the new trends in fashion?
The capital affair that I am seeing now is that bodies are accepting aback to dress. Up to about 2007, it was appealing burghal so we saw bodies in a lot of jeans and a lot t-shirts but those things are starting to change now. Even in the hip-hop amphitheatre we now see bodies cutting jeans and they abrasion it with a action jacket. The canicule are starting to appear in which the African-American association is starting to apprehend that with bodies like President Barack Obama in altered positions, they accept to be in a position to abode their looks. So bodies are bathrobe and attractive better. I anticipate Obama has set a altered antecedence for the African-American chase and I anticipate we are demography a altered censor about our appearance, which is abundant for us because bodies are accepting aback to the button-up shirts, accepting into jackets and starting to apprehend the bulk of the suit. The canicule that the alliance was about who is the hippest, the hardest or who is the man, has now switched to who is the smartest, who is the best accomplished or who is the best successful? So all these are now advancing into fashion.
Ameyaw Debrah: So your audience are about blacks
I would say about 90% of our audience are Africa-Americans mainly because aback we started the company, I lived at Prince Georgia County, which is the best flush canton for African-Americans. So aback I started the company, majority of my audience were those in my surroundings. Aback we confused to Silver Spring, we accept been able to alter our articles and we now accept altered contest that abrasion our garments. So we apprehend that trend to abide with us affective into DC and Capitol Hill, we are acrimonious added Congressional folks, and we apperceive that not abounding of them are black.
Ameyaw Debrah: Accept you approved to absorb African fabrics or motifs in your designs?
Not really, what I am attempting to assignment on is to booty the styles that we see in Africa and put it into added European centered garments. What I beggarly is that a lot of ladies aback home in Africa abrasion admirable pieces from skirts to acme and those accurate styles I anticipate would construe able-bodied in America. However the American is added bourgeois with business so he wouldn’t abrasion the bounded prints from Africa; it’s a little bit added colourful and airy than he would appetite in the workplace. So if we can booty the aforementioned appearance and accord it to them in a grey, atramentous or blue, they will abrasion it. That’s activity to be one of the trends I am activity to attending into for 2010. We will try to booty the styles from Africa and put it with the added accepted European fabrics and see if we can get that out for a actualization show.
Ameyaw Debrah: What’s your appearance on Ghanaian actualization generally?
Ghana actualization is on the up! A lot of bodies in the West anticipate Africa doesn’t accept the bazaar potential. But that is amiss because a dollar actuality is a dollar there and what bodies don’t apprehend is that, Ghana has become the New York of Africa. There is bags of dressmaking and accomplishment and labour in Ghana, so as we abide to analyze the befalling of ambience up Kustom Looks in Ghana, we are attractive to be able set up our own factory. I anticipate Ghana is a abundant situation, because we accept a abundant bulk of talent, a lot of charge and we accept a artefact that is accepted for MPs to the accustomed being who wants to abrasion suits. Actualization is such that no bulk breadth you go, everybody wants to accomplish a account with their image. And to be able to bear on that, you charge to accept a artefact and a customer abject and I anticipate Ghana is there appropriate now.
Ameyaw Debrah: What should Ghanaians apprehend from Kustom Looks?
They should apprehend the best 100% hand-made apparel as we abide to acceleration to the top. I accept 110% in our artefact and I accept that it would angle adjoin any added artefact out there. What we are attractive advanced to accomplishing is to get our mother country to apperceive about our artefact and to bear it there. Our accompany and ancestors don’t accept to biking away to get affection products. What we would rather do is to accompany it to them so it becomes acquaintance and accessible in Ghana. We appetite to appearance not alone Ghana but the blow of the western hemisphere what we can do.
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