We are happy to announce that Namibian streetwear brands aren’t just slap a sloppy logo on a cap and t-shirt anymore. We have moved on to better concepts. Well, thanks to hip hop artist Cassidy Karon of Paradox.
Find out what the latest hot Namibian brand, //CONCEPT, has to offer.
First of all, how’d the name come about?
In an era where everything goes by so fast and even the greatest works can be missed, it’s important to have a brand that stands out at first glance, your design language must be well thought out, your logo must be inviting if you want anybody to remember your brand name. I saw a lack; nobody really has a logo that you can create as easily as a text or a hash tag. Cellphone friendliness was my main concern. Secondly, I wanted something that I could add any text to, and would still enable the consumer to identify with my brand, therefore the forward slash forward slash was born. The fact that I am a web developer by profession played a big part in this decision because the “/” is everywhere in coding. The CONCEPT comes from the product being in its purest, earliest form and from the experimental nature of our design approach.
What are your end goals with //CONCEPT?
Possibilities are limitless; I want to compete at a global scale and produce one of Namibia’s most successful and sought after brands. It definitely doesn’t end with fashion. I want cross collaborations, I want to design a space suit for NASA, I want especially to venture into furniture, so I wouldn’t say that I have an end goal, because to say that would imply that the concept has bounds and the brand stands for exactly the opposite.
What is your best selling product right now?
The mustard/yellow range baseball cap range. People have become bored of safe conventional color pallets.
Who is behind //CONCEPT?
At the moment, mostly myself, I’m the designer, photographer, videographer, editor, stylist, delivery guy (hahahaha).
With so many brands out in the world, I had to make clothes that deserved to exist; therefore I’ve got one very talented tailor, who’s teaching me the art as we work. Most streetwear brands locally just had the brand name printed on apparel, for me this approach lacked creativity and clearly wasn’t anywhere close to the standard outside Namibia. This never enticed me to buy local streetwear because” I want it”, but rather just to “support”. Having a tailor allowed me creative freedom because it meant we could put out a product that we conceptualized and not the only “plain option”.
I’ve got the most challenging quality control system in place – Ricardo Mannetti (Namibian National Football Coach and longtime fashion enthusiast) personally ensures that every detail is done to perfection.
And most importantly the homies, who do the footwork, the awareness, social media posts, the shares, the late night light bulb moments etc.
Why do you see the need to create it?
Firstly,
I didn’t want to comb my hair so I made a cap and the rest was history.
Secondly,
Culture; the fashion industry has been booming for a while now, but still it felt like there was a barrier, there was no culture that spoke to me directly, that spoke to the youth and the creative locally. The streetwear culture locally was absent, and this not due to a lack of demand, because If you look around you’ll see more and more people with a “SUPREME” or “OFF-WHITE” item in their outfits and this proved to me the lengths people will go in order to stand out, to be relevant with the trends in the world, to be part of the cultures and subcultures.
Also, I felt like as an artist and most importantly as an expressionist, my outfits were being limited to what was in the shop, it meant we would have to either import or travel to buy something that really resonated.
What can we look forward to in terms of the brand?
Music Video styling – we’ve been working with a few of Namibia’s top tier musicians to contribute in terms of style and creative direction for music videos, so that allows us to experiment with pieces that wouldn’t be suiting for everyday use.
Windhoek Fashion Week – The biggest event right now that we’re looking at is the fashion week, we are working endlessly to make a great impression and cement our brand at the upcoming Windhoek fashion week.
We’ve become known for headwear, caps to be specific, but there’s so many exciting creations coming in terms of clothing as well.
New products to expect?
I don’t want to talk too much on it before hand, but I can give you all a glimpse…
//Summer Time Shorts (Cross Gender) – Colors, is all I’m going to say.
//Techwear Range – Street style approach to the rainy season.
//Concept Eyewear – These will be LIMITED so keep your eyes glued to our gram.
And in the spirit of being off beat… //Designer Room Doors – This has long been something I’ve been dreaming of, to use a door as a canvas, a tool for further expression, so this is one of the things that I personally am most excited about.
How does one purchase a //CONCEPT product?
Unfortunately our catalogue is currently only available on INSTAGRAM (@forwardslashforwardslash), therefore you can only contact us either by DM or you could call directly at (+264) 85 6494680
We are working to setup an online store in the next few months.
Check out 3 //CONCEPT products we should all own right now.
- Face Mask/Multi-purpose headwear; I’ve been really taken by the face mask culture brewing and like other cultures, it’s more than likely to miss us, so I decided to introduce it to the Namibian streets. N$120-00
- Tie-die Shirts/Dress(Extra Large Shirt for Her). If you are tired of the same conventional looks, this is definitely a way to elevate your style. N$250-00
- Visor Caps. With the growing interest in more and more creative hair styles, we didn’t want to interrupt the process, so that’s where the visors come in, for the people with hair that needs to be seen. N$220-00
Follow //CONCEPT on Instagram: @forwardslashforwardslash
