Our relationship with Kiya goes back several years, far beyond industry pleasantries. When Self Edge first opened its doors in 2006, we were proud to have 3sixteen stocked there amongst the great brands that were being introduced to the North American market. Below is an interview that I did with Kiya which we published back on January 15th of 2007. It’s slightly edited down, but much of the information is still relevant today. It’s interesting to see how far the store has come in the past 2-3 years. Looking back, we’re also thankful for the help, guidance and friendship that Kiya has provided to us along our journey as a brand.
We introduced 3sixteen denim at Self Edge this past week to a great response. Check it out at the Self Edge online store here.
Johan: To start off, Self Edge is denim. You carry some of the most sought after denim brands in the world. How did you put together this impressive list of labels?
Kiya: It has a lot to do with years and years of research. I’ve been in the denim scene and following denim for a good ten years now and had mentally compiled a list of what brands I wanted in the store when I finally was ready to open Self Edge. So when the time came, I wrote emails, sent snail mail letters of proposals, and proved to each and every one of the brands I carry that I was the one they wanted to represent them in America; that Self Edge is where they needed to be if they were interested in bringing their product to the States. From there I worked out agreements to varying degrees to have rights to do certain things with these companies that nobody else had really attempted to do up until now; to not just sell their product but to become PART of their family, support them throughout their product line and look towards the future with collaborations and such.
Johan: Tell me more about some of these brands – what makes them so exclusive? What are some of the details on these pieces that make them so desirable?
Kiya: Where do I start? Every piece of denim we have here at Self Edge is unique in its own right. We don’t carry the run of the mill products that you’ll find at other denim boutiques. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the labels we carry and what makes them unique:
Sugarcane – These guys specialize in reproductions of vintage cuts from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. They go to great extents to use the actual deadstock hardware from the originals, such as the zippers from 1955 found on their repro’s. Once they run out of the zippers, they stop making that model. They also have a couple of special original models, one called ‘Okinawa’ and the other ‘Hawaii.’ Both are made from 50% cotton / 50% sugarcane fibers. The Okinawa comes with a Python skin patch and the Hawaii comes with a hair on hide patch. They use sugarcane fibers because they are shorter than usual cotton fibers, giving the denim a slubbier than usual look that’s very unique to this denim.
Johan: And they smell delicious…
Kiya: Very flavorful indeed. Sugarcane denim is made in Japan, as is all the denim from all the Japanese companies we carry. Certain models of Sugarcane denim are assembled here in the states using Sugarcane Japanese denim but then sent back to Japan to be tagged and inspected.
Next is Iron Heart. These guys make one of the heaviest weight denims in the world, 21 ounces. Unbelievable quality and attention to detail on every pair; they use 100% Zimbabwe cotton which gives them a very soft hand. Their cuts are a little more on the modern side while still maintaining a classic sensibility. This is one of our best sellers as almost anybody that tried them on falls in love instantly.
Last, we have Imperial Denim: Japanese denim assembled in Australia with two of the most desired cuts in the world. They make two cuts, The Duke (slim) and The King (relaxed), both made in blue and black. Their black denim is unbelievable, retaining the sheen you see on selvedge while still producing a very solid black surface with very little visible imperfections.
Some of the models I carry have never been in North America before, but most of the brands HAVE been in some stores. Still, having one store in the entire country carry a brand or two on and off means it’s near impossible to get. Iron Heart, for example, has never been available in this country. Some of the models and styles of Sugarcanes we have aren’t available anywhere in the world besides Japan and Self Edge. It wasn’t until this year that Samurai has become available in this country through Self Edge and another store in NYC. From my understanding there are no more accounts to be opened in this country for Samurai.
Johan: What does your personal denim collection look like? What are some of your favorite jeans?
Kiya: My denim collection is to denim what Bobbito’s sneaker collection is to sneakers. My favorite jeans of the moment? Dior Homme 21cm, Iron Heart 634-Selvedge, Sugarcane Okinawa Raw. My favorite jeans of all time? Yamane Limited Overdyed Selvedge HK Editions, Diesel Kratt Raw from 1996, Dior Homme 21cm Japanese Black.
Johan: So what are we talking, like 30 pairs? 50 pairs?
Kiya: I can’t say exactly, but I have more than 50 in my studio, and about 10 times that sitting in storage that as accumulated since 1992, so about 14 years.
Johan: Madness. Is there any sort of resell market for denim like there is for sneakers? Do people keep deadstock pairs of jeans knowing that they will appreciate?
Kiya: There is actually a far bigger resell market because it’s been going on for over twenty years. People have been trading and reselling vintage denim for many, many years – years before the first Jordan sneaker ever came out. Vintage deadstock Levi’s are quite valuable. But most of the very young people getting into denim these days don’t care too much about the history and the very vintage stuff, they’re more concerned with the future and the cutting edge brands like Iron Heart and Samurai. I feel like it’s parts of the sneaker culture’s far younger fan base leaking into denim culture’s far older fan base.
Johan: From my perception, there is definitely a core group of customers who seemed to have transitioned from sneakers, into hoodies, and now denim.
Kiya: Denim culture, much like sneaker culture is here to stay. It’ll never go away because it’s such an essential part of life. Keep in mind that denim has had huge spikes in interest from collectors and fashionistas for over 50 years. We’re still in the middle of the sneaker culture’s first huge spike ever. Denim has been hitting over and over again ever since 7 For All Mankind made pocket designs hip, but it’s been hitting in different ways and it’s finally hit in a way where the urban streetwear market is taking notice in a big way. As far as what I’ve seen from sneaker collectors getting into the denim market, I’m seeing quite a few heads treat the denim market the same way the hoodie/t-shirt/sneaker market is treated – with hype. But what’s hardest to believe is that the really, really high end denim market (the market that includes brands like Iron Heart, Sugarcane, etc…) was immune to hype, up until now. It is true that there is hype among our scene, every genre or scene has hype of some kind, but as hard as it is to believe, the denim scene that included Japanese selvedge brands was the anti-hype of the world. Here’s the important part; these brands pride themselves on being faceless, brandless, logo-less. They don’t have press releases, they don’t have blogs, they don’t have online stores, they release products and only a handful of people worldwide take notice. It’s the exact opposite of the world of Nike, Adidas, 10 Deep, New Era collabs, all over print anythings, etc. Where as these brands I just mentioned barely show a product to a rep and ten minutes later it’s on every message board and fashion blog in the world.
Johan: Do you think that Self Edge, or even this interview, will begin to compromise the faceless, brandless image that these brands pride themselves in?
Kiya: Definitely. For better or worse, these brands are about to be taken to another level, but we have trust in one another.
Johan: “We” as in you (Self Edge) and the brands…
Kiya: Yes. We treat the brands we carry with the utmost respect and follow true to the traditions that they’ve been used to for many years. We work very closely with the companies we represent, we don’t just place orders and sell through our stock and do a reorder.
Johan: Do you fear that with this new attention from the streetwear market crowd that the denim culture will somehow become bastardized, watered down?
Kiya: Of course. I very often compare the denim market to the vodka market. It’s a huge business sector and has been for quite some time, individuals with some extra money or financial backing are seeing an opportunity to make some money, so they’re starting their own line. But everybody is trying to jump to the front of the line. The problem with that is the only way you’re going to make yourself known quickly is to plaster your logo all over your product. The true denim market WANTS faceless jeans. They want denim that looks like classic jeans or have no pocket designs at all, not even a simple arc. That’s what sets apart the current denim market. The ones that want huge embroideries or silkscreens on the pockets and the ones that want logo-less jeans with a very subtle marking that makes them unique.
Johan: You’re in a position where you’re very in tune with the culture, yet you could profit a lot from the rising attention and possible watering down of the culture.
Kiya: I’m not looking to “profit a lot”, if I was I wouldn’t be opening a physical store with a high overhead in an unproven fashion sector.
Johan: But, you are running a business and although money may not be your main goal, it still holds weight.
Kiya: Of course. I definitely have that in the back of my mind when I place multi-thousand dollar orders for denim that nobody has ever heard of. I try to spread the word about anything I’m into. You know I started Self Edge with Demitra, my fiancée, because I love denim and I’ve wanted an outlet to spread the knowledge and she partnered up with me and we’re doing it together. It’s the same reason I started Anti-Yo; I love the scene so I wanted to have a creative output within the scene and also see where I can take my own company.
Johan: Perfect segue. Self Edge is not your first retail venture; tell me about some of your other shops and businesses.
Kiya: Self Edge is my fifth business, but the fourth that I started. My father started Techno Copier twenty-six years ago. I owe my entire business sense to helping him run this company for fifteen years of my life. Then came Anti-Yo, a yoyo/skilltoy/lifestyle company. We make high end expensive metal yoyos, skate decks, clothing, etc. We’re the largest metal yoyo manufacturer in the world, our products are sold in 9 countries and many online stores and we have a team that we travel with all over the world. Then came Turf, my shoe boutique in San Mateo that opened over a year ago and has been doing quite well. We’d love to do another Turf someplace.
Johan: How did you make the jump from Anti-Yo into Turf?
Kiya: I have no idea man, my brain is constantly running on some “what am I doing next” stuff. My partner in Turf, Bryan, aka Bwals, is an old San Mateo head. We’ve been in the same circle of friends for many years, it was only a matter of time we got together to do something big. Then came Transit, a clothing store in San Mateo that carries brands such as 10Deep, Stussy, LRG, Diamond, 3sixteen, Mighty Healthy, Rockers, aNYthing, etc. Then came Self Edge. I still have one more business venture before I’m done, a chocolate boutique.
Johan: Most of your ventures in the apparel industry have been on the retail side of things; what draws you to retail?
Kiya: It’s very simple: I love shopping. I love spending money and buying stuff. And I love stocking a store with stuff I like. It’s like a personal closet but people come in and pick stuff out of it. And I find brick and mortar retail very rewarding. I’m not so into the internet way of doing business. I grew up in a family business, from when I was 5 years old on, so I saw the way it worked and the way you run a small operation. I like meeting people face to face and having a real time conversation. You can’t do that with an online business. But then again, that doesn’t bother many people and the overhead is far lower, which is why we have so many online stores.
Johan: The internet has really taken away a lot of the experiential values of streetwear.
Kiya: Definitely. An article of clothing is reduced to a 1″ by 2″ picture on your screen with a description that’s four sentences long and a price. Very sad.
Johan: My earliest and fondest memories are of shopping and buying stuff from brands that I had never heard of and in turn, was sure that other people had never heard of either.
Kiya: People don’t do that any more!!! That’s kinda the downside of having a retail store, hype has killed youth fashion, totally destroyed it. The only things that sell are hyped up labels for most stores. Browsing doesn’t exist any more either for streetwear.
Johan: As much as you love retail, you also have some experience on the design/label end of apparel. Tell me about some of the collaborative projects that you have in the works.
Kiya: First off, we’re doing a Self Edge x Iron Heart collab. I’m designing everything about the denim from the cut to the stitching to the tag. 100 will be made, releasing those in late January. I’m meeting with the owner of Iron Heart and he’s personally handing me the sample this Sunday afternoon at the Beverly Hilton: Japanese selvedge, 21 ounce denim, hidden rivets, all rivets/hardware are sterling silver, indigo, Zimbabwe cotton, custom back tag. Cut is more modern/slim, it’s a bit of an anti-fit. I’m very inspired by Hedi Slimane. He is a god.
Johan: Does that make Dior your favorite brand?
Kiya: Maybe. I have no favorites, but let’s just say I drain my bank accounts anytime I hit any of the three Dior Homme stores in this country. Hedi is a true designer, reviving brand after brand and not looking back.
Other things I’m working on are collabs with Sugarcane and Imperial. I can’t give any details on these projects yet. I’m still finalizing things on those fronts so I can’t say much about them. The only clue I can give is 19cm, that’s it. I’m also in talks with Levi’s, they want to do a pair of jeans for Self Edge.
Johan: Tell me a little bit about the article that was written about Self Edge in the SF Chronicle.
Kiya: Yeah man, the reaction has been insane. The Chron came to me about it. They wrote about SE on their culture blog on the Chron’s website, sfgate.com, and they got so many hits and emails from that that they decided it was worthy of a feature article. So they had a reporter interview me and do massive research on denim and write the article. The entire thing took four weeks of research and writing. It was a really informative article so people of all ages have been contacting us. We did a huge amount of sales on sunday and most of the buyers were over 40 years old. It was insane. Our site hits went up 300% per day. Amazing what a front page article will do. I’m still in shock at HOW many people actually read the SF Chronicle sunday edition. What’s nuts is how large the photo of me is on the front page… it’s unreal… and totally embarrasing.
Johan: Haha I laughed when i saw your pose. It’s pretty awesome… and Spiderman like.
Kiya: Dude, that’s too much. I was worried it was going to look like I was break dancing. The entire thing was embarrassing.
Johan: It was worth it bro! Everyone knows that a successful business owner has a great team – tell me about the Self Edge crew, especially the one with the new ring on her finger.
Kiya: The Self Edge crew consists of four people: Demitra, the co-owner of Self Edge is also my fiancée. We’re recently engaged and I’m forcing her to wear heavy raw uncomfortable denim, she does it because she loves me. And of course she loves the products we sell. She also comes from a background of family run businesses so it’s second nature to run a small operation like Self Edge.
Jan, aka Stuntastic, is an employee and my male model. He’s really a hipster but denies it, it doesn’t matter to me just as long he stops talking about his bike and keeps selling jeans.
Lastly, Derek, aka Justice, is another employee. He left Diesel to work for Self Edge, he’s dressed head to toe in Supreme and even has a Supreme duffle bag and Supreme condoms he uses when he brings the emo sluts home at night.
Johan: Thanks Kiya! We’re expecting big things to come out of Self Edge in ’07.
