Bria: Where are you from?
Alfred: I grew up in and I'm originally from Seattle, WA.
Bria: How was your childhood growing up? And did you have a creative drive as a
kid?
Alfred: As a child, I loved and was always into the arts. I drew cartoons a
lot - Spiderman, X-Men, Calvin & Hobbes, Dragon Ball-Z, etc. I played
the piano for 10 or more years. I was always into music. My brother and I would have to save our lunch money during high school and collect records and albums. I used
to make houses out of cardboard as a child as well so my mother thought I
would be an architect. Then in high school, I learned how to crochet hats
because I would always see Lauryn Hill, Common, etc. have those crocheted beanies and at that time, you couldn't find them anywhere, and I wanted something
unique. So I got into the game, making hats before I expanded into doing
garments.
Bria: What first engaged you into the fashion culture?
Alfred: From as far back to when I was 13 years old, I was
into presentation and how I expressed myself with my appearance. Everything had
to look a certain way. Every detail from the shirt, jacket, shoes,
accessories, and even my hair cut had to be executed. I learned to cut my own hair
at that age and to this day if I'm wearing my clothes and I go out, I will not
go out without a haircut. It was art to me and I was the canvas to
express my art. Later in life, that attention to detail would lead to sales and
a strategy to promote my brand on a guerrilla level. I was heavenly
influenced by music videos also. I wanted to look like my favorite artists in
the videos.
Bria: How did your clothing label, LAVSH come to fruition?
Alfred: LAVSH was founded in 2007. I started the brand with
my bestfriend, Danny Prasad, we have been friends since we were 13 years
old. LAVSH came into fruition because I would get ideas and visions and I
wanted to create them. As I said earlier, I initially got into fashion by
making hats in high school for fun. In college, I wanted to push myself and I
became curious with creating clothes. My mom had a sewing machine and I would
go to the thrift store and alter/deconstruct a garment and learn how to put it
together. After awhile, I would make make my own clothes and I wore my creations, and people would ask me where they can get a piece.
From there, we started making custom pieces for
people by default. There was a demand for the product, but we couldn't
manufacture these cut-and-sew pieces because it would cost $200,000 to start a
line. It was either quit, since we didn't have the financing or sew it
ourselves. We chose to dream and sew it ourselves.
Later I met my mentor Jacque Goldsmith when I
was in Seattle and she's been in the industry for years, and worked with pioneering
brands like Alphanumeric, Enyce, and MECCA. She taught me how to sew, pattern make,
taught me about the industry, working with factories, etc. Then when I
moved to Los Angeles, I had another mentor Rose, who worked with lines like
Jeremy Scott and Brian Lichtenberg, and she expanded my knowledge as well.
I would spend 18 hours a day for 3 days [consecutively] creating
a single jacket, pants, or accessories, depending on the intricacy. We
would wear it out to events, tradeshows, parties, etc. Eventually, we had
artists like N.E.R.D, Kid Cudi, Mayor Hawthorne, Janelle Monae, Keri Hilson,
Chris Brown, Black Eyed Peas, Jeremy Scott, Shay Mitchell, Jasmine Villegas, and many others wearing LAVSH. Recently, we were even featured in last month's issue of Vogue.
Bria: LAVSH is a very distinctive brand and in my opinion it promotes a lot of
individuality through the line with very assertive quotes. What inspired you to
do that?
Alfred: The
LAVSH brand and customer are rebels and underdogs. We incorporated quotes and a
message with the [clothing] line organically, because it was just in our nature. We
wanted to make a visual impact with each design as well as each product name.
We reflect culture, real people, and we all go through the same experiences,
obstacles, and challenges, so people can identify with the message.
Bria: What has been the biggest positive and negative aspect of your journey in the fashion industry?
Alfred: The
positive aspect of this industry is seeing that my designs, lifestyle, and message
have touched and attracted the people, tastemakers, stylists, and artists from
the music industry, film industry, and top publications like Vogue. Also, the people
I've met and the places I have been privileged to see and experience.
The
negative aspect is the obstacles with financing, to reach the people and to
create everything that I'm thinking. When you are an independent brand,
meaning, without an investor, it's like an artist in the music industry
without a record label. It's like having a dream to go to college, but your parents
can't afford it and you don't qualify for financial aid. I feel like Kanye when he
dropped "Through the Wire" when he said he paid for the video
himself. He came out of his own pocket to market and promote the video, pay for studio
time, etc. I was rejected by investors and brands to design for them, so
we decided to start our own dynasty like Jay-Z did with Rocafella Records.
Sometimes these people [i.e. investors] don't understand it's not just about money and how many
units we move. I understand where
they're coming from, but we want to contribute something to culture like how [Alexander] McQueen
is remembered. So to this day, we are still an independent brand.
Bria: From a creative standpoint, what or who inspires
you as a designer or just personally?
Alfred: There
are many influences that inspires me as a designer. I observe culture. Whether
it's high fashion, vintage, street wear, punk, skate, or surf culture. I'm also inspired by fashions in
music. I am inspired by life and the experiences I have daily, seeing
architecture, colors on a building, etc. I am inspired by people who doubt me and tell me I can't do something, in despite of all the accomplishments and
overcoming of so many obstacles.
Bria: What do you hope the names LAVSH and Alfred
Lape will define in the next 10 yrs?
Alfred: In the
next 10 years, I would like LAVSH & Alfred Lape to stand for excellence,
rebellion, and expressing the feelings of culture...be a brand of substance, quality, and innovation. We want to leave a legacy and set a precedent. When I die, I
want to be remembered like Steve Jobs and Apple.
Bria: What advice do you give to someone who has a
creative vision but can't seem to meet the opportunity and/ or lacks resources
to bring it to life?
Alfred: My
advice to someone who has a creative vision but can't seem to meet the
opportunity is to: 1) truly love what you do. You will go through peaks
and valleys; successes, challenges, disappointments, and sometimes I felt that I wanted to kill myself.
[Editor's Note: Alfred cites several lyrics as references to his advice]
"Unemployment line, credit card declined
Did I not mention I was about to lose my mind?
(my mind, my mind, my mind)
And also was about to do that line
Okay, okay, you know we going all the way this time"
via "All of the Lights" by Kanye West
"Damn, them new loafers hurt my pocket.
Before anybody wanted K-West beats,Me and my girl split the buffet at KFC.Dog, I was
having nervous breakdowns,Like "Damn, these ni**** that much better than me?"
via "Touch the Sky" by Kanye West
"So they made lighter, my type of dreams seem dumb.
They said wise up, how many guys you see making it from here.
The world don’t like us, is that not clear, alright.
But I'm different, I can’t base what I'm gonna be off of what everybody isn’t.
They don’t listen, just whispering behind my back.
No vision, lack of ambition"
via "So Ambitious" by Jay-Z and Pharrell
"Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem.
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams...
I made this one beat where I sped up this Hal Melville sample
I played it for Hip over the phone, he's like "oh, yo that shit is crazy
Jay might want it for this compilation album he doin, called The Dynasty.
So after that I went back home. And man I'm, I'm just
in Chicago, I'm trying to do my thing. You know, I got groups. I got
acts I'm trying to get on, and like there wasn't nothin really like
poppin' off the way it should have been. One of my homies that was one
of my artists, he got signed. But it was supposed to really go through
my production company, but he ended up going straight with the
company. So, like I'm just straight holdin' the phone, gettin' the bad
news that dude was tryin' to leave my company. And I got evicted at
the same time."
via "Last Call" by Kanye West
[Editor's Note: Alfred continues on with his answer]
Alfred: It was crazy because like Kanye, he worked on Jay-Z's Blueprint album and he
didn't have any gigs...he was barely living. We went through that and had our LAVSH
garments on celebrities for the American Music Awards, Superbowl, etc. Then
things slowed down for a minute and it means a lot that I can identify with
that verse because I felt like I was the only one that went throught that. It drove
me crazy how I would talk to my friends and some of them didn't get it. They were worried
about their girlfriend controlling them or was just short of paying their house
or car payments and at one time we didn't have a car or a place. I felt like this...I was drinking a bottle of vodka everyday for a couple of
months at a point in my life, even started smoking, I didn't know what to do to be
successful because what I was doing was not enough. It was stessful when people
would see us from the outside and ask us how the business was and we said
"great" but we felt embarrassed. I remember Danny would go on a bus to Vegas, then go back to Los Angeles to work to keep the business going and also work a
side job, while I kept sewing new ideas.
Are you willing to be broke, sleep in the car,
eat Top Ramen [Noodles] everyday, have people constantly telling you you can't do it, people
laughing at you, family telling you to go back to school, time away from
your friends and family, working 19 hours or more a day and put your life into
your vision and your business?
Are you willing to take that money you spend on
your girlfriend, eating out, going to the movies, going shopping, getting mom and friends birthday presents, buying the latest technologies, snowboarding,
giving out Christmas gifts, and putting 90% of your money back into your
business buying fabric, materials, office supplies? We've been there.
[Editor's Note: Alfred continues on to the second part of his answer from the previous question]
The second thing is Pharrell had a great interview and someone
asked him how do you start a clothing company. He told them that everyone's
journey is different and he talked about how strategies change because of how
fast things travel through the internet; and that the advice he would give now, maybe
would not apply next month. He had an analogy of trying to get to New York
through the Lincoln Tunnel in rush hour and comparing it to starting a clothing
company. He said someone will make a helicopter to get over the tunnel.
Bria: Describe what a Visionary means to you.
Alfred: When
I first started making clothes for fun in 2003-2004 my best friend Danny and I would talk about being the biggest brands in the world, having our
product seen on the biggest celebrities, and on televised events like the Grammys, Superbowl, and music videos. We had these ideas in my bedroom, living at home with
my mom and one sewing machine. We had a few pieces made that were not sewn correctly, and the fit and proportion wasn't right.
At that time people laughed at us and how we
wore our clothes. People thought we were crazy, family and friends doubted us,
banks denied me for a loan, the hypebeasts of the world didn't report on us.
People told me in my face that my brand wouldn't be successful. Stores and
retailers didn't want to carry our brand. Someone's mom even told me that I
dream too big...it made me second guess myself and doubt myself.
They [i.e. doubters] couldn't believe that anyone would even buy our
product, they said it was too different. Investors didn't think we would sell
even at a price point of even $50 for a jacket. But we kept creating and
believing and stayed consistent for years. Then we started selling LAVSH
to celebrities for a couple thousand dollars per piece. If we had listened to those
people [i.e. doubters], we would have never accomplished the things we have or seen the
potential in our product.
When I transitioned from making hats to men's
clothes, they laughed and doubted me. When I transitioned from making men's to
women's clothes they laughed and doubted me. Now, I'm transitioning and expanding from
making cut-and-sew men's and women's products to a collection with tees,
hoodies, and crewnecks and they still tell me it will not sell.
We had dreams and visions of having consumers and fanbases from Europe and abroad...and now we have orders from France,
Canada, etc. I feel like "Can't tell me nothing!" [i.e. Kanye's track "Can't Tell Me Nothing] To me, going through all of these obstacles for
years yet we kept believing in ourselves in despite of the distractions is visionary.
Bria: Please leave some last words of wisdom for all aspiring creatives.
Alfred: Visit this link http://blog.lavshlv.com/post/21720865150/pharrell-shares-excellent-advice-about-life-the
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Support Alfred Lape's LAVSH brand here.