AN INTERVIEW WITH VA-G

Written by: Emmanuel Daré Anthony

Edited by:  Ose

Foward by Ose

A while back a good friend of ours  ’Emmanuel Daré Anthony‘ caught up with the VA-G  for an interview. VA-G (Visual Artistic garments) is a clothing brand created by  Vidal Bull Jr and Alan Adewale, their brand sits in a unique collection of  printed garments and cut and sew pieces. Their brand doesn’t sit in any particular category, for instances they are not “street” like Benjart neither are they “high fashion” like Gucci but, i like the unique energy the garments give of and i also like the designers themselves. Check out the interview.

Tell us a bit about your background, hobbies and what you were doing before you started your business/career?

VA-G is a brand new, original and innovative clothing range to explode from the UK. VA-G began in early 2008 by the  designers Vidal Bull Jr and Alan Adewale. Vidal Bull being from SIERRA LEONE and Alan Adewale being from NIGERIA . We both studied at the university of Bedfordshire, alan studied graphic design and vidal studied media production.

Tell us more about what got you started & what inspired you to do it?

VA-G stands for Visual Artistic Garments, because the garments we create are visually outstanding and attract customer interest for an authentic and artistic piece of clothing.

Breaking away from the stereotypical urban trends affiliated amongst our common society and with both of us growing up in South/South East London our main aim was to produce a brand that could change perceptions and break barriers of what a modern youthculture, specifically young black youths who felt were not socially accepted.

It’s our uninspiring backgrounds surroundings and pessimistic attitudes we are faced with, that spurred us on to creating VA-Garments. Our clothing is recognised for its creative designs built up of block geometric shapes, juxtaposing primary and secondary colour combinations, and detailed attention paid to the experimental and unique cut and construction of simple

Menswear jacket and Womenswear dresses.

[Show as slideshow]

What was the major influence & impact behind the idea to start your business/career path?

We are inspired simply by a vision to technically explore both Menswear and Womenswear garments. We was influenced by ourselves, seeing whats going on around us and wanted a change. We are stimulated by everything around us. We are inspired by cultures for example our S/S 10 collection was based around the East of London and the wealth of style that can be found there. Other inspirations include high-end fashion designers such as Givenchy, Louise Goldin, Yamamoto, music and controversial artists such as Banksy who is definitely not scared to be different.

How did you get your business/career path going?

By simply just taking each day has it comes, always planning and never taking a day of rest. We started at university doing lots of fashion shows, touring and never looked back since. We are a limited business, every piece of our work is copy right andjust making sure everything we do is done to the up most professionalism .

What would you say your biggest challenges & lessons you’ve learnt from them in life before you started your career path/business?

There no friends in business, and you always have to do things by yourself. When we first started no one belived in us, they even laughed at the name VA-G calling it VAG.

And what would you say are the most challenging things you have experienced while doing business/career path?

KEEPING THE CUSTOMERS HAPPY AND MAKING THEM WANT MORE

The main factor that sets us aside from our competitors is not only our constant drive to keep raising the bar and setting and achieving our goals, but our unique stamp on clothing and the appeal that keeps our customers coming back. As previously stated, we cater for the mass audience and try to draw on our experiences and influences and dictate this through our design work and I think people understand that and like it. Most streetwear/fashion brands are stereotypical or even orthodox mimics, doing ordinary things like prints on a t-shirt. Although we do much of the same we have attempted to branch out and even use the cut and sew techniques, which is how we produce our runway pieces. We blend high fashion with urban culture. We are continually aiming to be innovative by producing new styles each season for our consumers and always coming out with something new and fresh.

What would you say are key tools one needs to keep a career path/ business going?

Depends on what type of business you are in, for us I would say have a good business plan and know what your target audience is, have a good team and make sure everyone plays there role to the best. There is no such thing has second place.

How have you coped with adversity, setbacks in your business/career path?

just keep on bouncing back, wonted make no sense if vidal and I sat down and cryed about setbacks. We believe things happen for a reason and thank GOD everyday for giving us the power to bounce back and stay focus

What would you say is the major bad decision you have made in your business/career path to date?

None, we have never regret a thing we have done, our only bad decision is not giving the coustmors more goods /products to buy.

FOR MORE VA-G VISIT http://www.va-gltd.com/

For Daily Updates Subscribe to flyprints by Email

flyprints

Quality AND Quantity