seen interview alfiebanks®

”Seen. blog produce highly popular articles focused around style, music and other lifestyle aspects which demonstrate what we love and pride ourselves on.”

”We want to make a lot of noise about the brand’s that we work with and our aim is to expose our demographic to them in the best possible way. We feel that our questions to alfiebanks® will do just that”

Seen. blog

1. We want to get to know the creator first. Can you tell us a little bit about where it began for you and your personal journey into fashion?

From a young age it always felt good to get some new sneaks or wear a fresh new sweater. In a way, buying clothing and sneakers has always been a hobby of mine and being an entrepreneurial person I decided to turn my ‘passion for fashion’ into a business. Although I have no formal qualifications in fashion, building a clothing brand has always been one of those things I’ve wanted to do.

2. And following on from that, what was the journey for alfiebanks®; from idea to established clothing brand?

The idea of alfiebanks® started as a small time hobbie, selling clothing to friends and friends of friends. We started to grow rapidly from word of mouth and 2 weeks before I was due to go travelling in December our orders doubled.

When I left for Brazil with my girlfriend I could see alfiebanks® had the potential to become something bigger.

Over the next 8 months we travelled throughout South America, Central America, SE Asia and Indonesia. When we were chilling on the beach or enduring long bus journeys I’d think about England, the countries we’d visited, the people we’d met and how these factors could contribute to the direction of alfiebanks®. Later I began brainstorming for the ideal target market, the brand aim, marketing strategy, winter collection, these were just a few of the many important areas to consider before the brand could be deemed anywhere near established. Naturally, the logo followed and you can read about it’s meaning here.

3. Have you drawn on your own tastes and inspirations to help shape the mould of alfiebanks® style & design?

Yes, we take great inspiration from our travels and surroundings when visiting the city; sports, music and the many different cultures that make London one of the most ethically diverse cities in the world. These tastes and inspirations will continue to define the brand as a street and sportswear brand.

4. In a marketplace where everyone seems to be taking their styles graphic your line is a refreshing take on simple street and sportswear style. Is this something you see running throughout your future pieces too?

A design is ready when there’s nothing left to take away. This quote sums up the style of alfiebanks® perfectly, everything’s stripped back bar the finer details.

This approach currently defines alfiebanks® and is likely to continue within our staple collections. However, we are looking to collaborate with artists for limited edition collections where there are no boundaries.

We have only just scratched the surface with our first collections, there’s still a lot to come.

5. Fashion moves quickly. How do you/will you ensure that you are always a step ahead of the curve and leading the way?

Top secret… Nah no secrets here, I’m not a competitive person so I wouldn’t say leading the way is my main focus for alfiebanks®. However, being diverse is important to us and we always look for inspiration on how we can branch off from the other brands out there.

Of course we keep our eye on the latest trends and aim to set our own, but for now, we just do what we do. If it looks dope we’ll go with it and if it doesn’t work, we listen to our customers, there’s always next season.

Visit the alfiebanks® online shop.