In this issue of ASIAN VOICE, we feature LAKH a brand with an identity rooted in sneaker culture. Based in Hong Kong and famous for its signature Pinroll Jogger, the brand has been constantly evolving, giving its customers the many long waited drops. What is their next mission and what are they willing to achieve?
Nana : Can you give us an introduction to LAKH?
LAKH : LAKH is a Hong Kong-based streetwear fashion brand found in 2016. Innovation Matters is
our message with the goal of providing unlimited innovative ideas and design elements on our garments. Which applied to the original meaning of lakh – a unit in numbering system equal to one hundred thousand. A wide variety and flexibility. We always jump out of the box in term of using different fabrics, colors and shapes and inject them into our designs.
Nana : Why did you name it “LAKH”?
LAKH : Back in the day, pinrolling was a huge trend for sneakerheads in order to showcase your
favorite kicks. I was a big fan of pinrolling and obviously it was hard to find a well-designed pants for pinrolling in the market. So, it inspired me to started my own brand and to create LAKH’s signature Pinroll Jogger – A three-ways jogger pants from classic joggers, double bottom pinroll to classic pinroll jogger style to offer a tighter and quick way of tapering your pants.
The innovation concept behind of the Pinroll Jogger’s design applied to why I’ve chosen “LAKH” as the brand name.
Nana : What were some of the inspirations for the brand?
LAKH : I’m a sneakerhead. I have a great passion for sneaker culture. And my teammates also
love sneakers. It is the core DNA of LAKH and I’d say it influenced me the most for the creation of the brand. Beside that “Minimalism” is a style which I admired and influenced me on a lot of the design direction. You can tell according to our pieces. Instead of having heavy graphic stuff, we definitely put more efforts on fabrics and details.
Nana : What does your brand value most?
LAKH : The brand value of LAKH is to deliver innovative ideas and diverse aesthetic on design throughout our cut and sewn pieces. We have to think about what people are really looking for and develop with our innovative design concept. There’s an aspect of performance in everyday wear that we really want to do.
Nana : In what way do use social media to promote your brand?
LAKH : We’re basically put out collection lookbooks, videos, editorial photos on socials. Sometimes we
do interviews as well. We believe that creating good and unique Instagram feed is so important to improve your brand’s identity. It’s literally like a CV of your brand. We want to offer a good impression and attractive information to our audience thru socials. We often create inform graphics editorial photos in order to deliver more details about our pieces. The Archive project posts was a good example of explaining how we used photos and captions to interact with our customers and bring out the concept of upcycled fashion.
Nana : What were some of the challenged have you faced running the brand?
LAKH : One of the most challenging experiences was the design input for each of our labels. Each
label has its unique features. We need to proceed with caution on fabrics decision in order to drawn within a balance between functional and innovative aesthetic that combines comfort and ease.
Nana : How do you come up and decide on the themes?
LAKH : LAKH generally have six key labels: Supply, Signature, Utility, Knit, Denim and Plus. To
showcase the diversity of our designs, every staring season we basically putting new elements and injects with its defined aesthetic into each of our labels. For example, knit focus on athleisure and cozy kind of vibe. Utility brings functional elements with utilitarian aesthetic pieces. Denim is about craftsmanship and the process of denim wash technique. “Plus” is our premium line which offering luxury quality and premium fabrics experience to our customers.
Nana : Is it possible to know a little about your next collection?
LAKH : We just released our latest “STEREOGNOSIS“collection under our utility label. The key pieces patch pockets utility shorts featuring the TeflonTM️ fabric protector, offering water repellency performance. It’s a perfect blend of streetwear with utility embellishments.
Our next drop would be a collaboration with a legendary Japanese streetwear brand. We try to put our signature pieces together for a suitably fit capsule. You may see a match-up piece fused with our Ten Pockets Cargo design along with their iconic washed denim. So yeah, Stay tuned!!
Nana : Is there a particular artist, movie, place, book that you would recommend our readers to check for inspiration?
LAKH : Well, definitely the movie La La Land. The scene when Emma Stone sang “The Fools Who
Dream” for her audition. She kept failing on her audition but she never gave up. This scene inspired me to think that running a brand is not an easy task. You have to keep your dream alive; you might face challenges and problems in any aspects. Therefore, it requires faith and belief in yourself to achieve your dreams. I’d also like to recommended a book called “Hartcopy”. If you are a sneakerhead then you’ll know. It’s like a bible for people who love sneakers. It covered a numerous collaboration across the major brands. With clean and minimal aesthetic for the layout design and featuring an illustrator Arthur Ortega to design the artwork for the covers. What a book!
Nana : Can you give our readers who want to make a brand of their own some advice?
LAKH : Never go with the flow! You have to make your own way. As I’ve mentioned, it’s not easy to
run a brand. You need to persist with your dreams and goals.
“Never go with the flow!”
LAKH
