My interview with menswear designer Kestin Hare:
As we stand, September 2015 there are two Kestin Hare stores in Edinburgh and one in Shoreditch in London, with wholesale coverage in both France and Japan, what would you like the next move to be?
“I think we need to let the dust settle a little! We have just opened two stores in the same month and our team has almost tripled in size. We need to get the business working like a well-oiled machine first… but we are moving towards more of a retail roll out over the next few years. We have another major store with two cities in mind and possibly a second London location too.”
Provenance and sympathetic production are being analysed by shoppers more and more, what is the approach by your brand?
“We are all about manufacturing in the UK. It’s not always possible, but wherever we can manufacture in the UK, we do. We make our shirts in Wolverhampton, jackets in the East End of London, trousers in Manchester, seam-sealed outerwear in Cumbernauld and knitwear in Leicester and Scotland. We think this is important and our customers do too! I believe the quality that UK produces is the best in the world.”
I’m not about to argue with that – great to hear!
If there was an opportunity to collaborate with another design house or retail brand, who would be your choice and why?
“Good question. I like what the Instrmnt boys are doing in Glasgow. They have just done a bike collaboration with Freddie Grubb… so maybe a clothing collaboration would be good!”
Music plays a big part in runway shows, if you were to commission a piece for AW16 where would you start? If you had the choice who would you work with?
“I have a good friend Dan Lea who has a company called Golden Hum who I have worked with before. He has worked with high profile brands such as Prada and Nike. We are actually looking to produce a piece of music with some video for a presentation in our Shoreditch store during London Men’s collections AW16. It’s a project I’m really excited about!”
Tuttavia, Short Film by Dan Lea (Golden Hum)
Film wardrobe: if you were to work with a particular Director, do you have a favourite?
“My favourite film is True Romance… I would loved to have done the wardrobe for that film. Dressing that cast would have been amazing, can you imagine dressing Christopher Walken, Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson and Brad Pitt in one sitting! Unfortunately Tony Scotts’s other films were not so great after that…”
Have you seen any films recently? What did you think?
“No films really worth shouting about… but I have been watching Narcos on Netflix at the moment… it’s brilliant!”
You’ve designed the logo and staff uniform for Leith’s Chop House, what’s the story behind this collaboration? (ps. Our office looks in the front door of the Chop House!)
“I’m good friends with Adam Storey, the architect from Four by Two. His company, which is based in Leith designed the interior of the Chop House. Anything he does I am keen to get involved with; we have a few future projects on the back burner! The staff uniforms are branded with both our logos to mark the collaboration and I’m happy to be supporting and working with other local businesses.”
Thank you for your time Kestin, I wish you every success with your AW15 collection White Noise (images above) and look forward to catching up again soon. Kestin Hare
Interview by Colin Gilchrist for Social Tailor, marketing and project management in fashion retail.