By Josh Marchesini
SynesthASIA is proud to introduce Synterview: a new series focusing on the various perspectives emerging in art, fashion, photography and more. In the first installment, we recently interviewed Liann Sun, co-founder of Rumble Apparel. A recent alumna of McGill University, she sits down with SynesthASIA to discuss the challenges and creativity in launching Rumble's first collection.
Congrats on launching your first collection. I noticed that one of the pieces on your collection have sold out within one month of the launch. What kind of feedback have you received on the collection?
Everyone has been super supportive. I think everyone has been very kind towards us since this is our very first collection. It was really exciting for us to see the first orders placed and get such a good response. I think it’s really good that we’ve received a lot of constructive criticism in terms of our website and other things that can be improved. Tell me about your educational background and how your interests developed in art, photography, fashion. I graduated from McGill University in June 2016 and I studied Anatomy and Cell Biology. While I was at McGill, I did photography for a few clubs, as well as being the videographer for SynesthASIA. I was VP Marketing for PhotoFund, as well as the Tech Director for HKSN (Hong Kong Student Network). That’s how I got into film and photography. Being in these clubs was a really good experience. You receive a lot of feedback from your fellow club members on what photo shoots work and what didn’t, what they preferred and what kind of marketing approaches work. That led me to become the Art Director for Rumble. Your business partner as well, Lilian, she studied Art History at the University of British Columbia, is that right? Yes, so Lilian studied Art History at UBC. She’s now currently at London Fashion Week and she just met Kendall Jenner and the Hadid sisters. She’s very much into fashion. Mixing this interest in art with fashion, I think she’s always had an eye for style. How did you start your fashion label? Were there specific tools or platforms you used to gain a following? We started thinking about this project in June 2016, right after I graduated. We started thinking about putting something together: her eye for style and design and my experience in film and photography. When we first started, we were going in blind. We didn’t know how to go about things. Firstly, we started an Instagram account, posting things we thought looked cool. After gaining a following, we asked ourselves, “Ok, where do we want to put a website?” So there was a lot of platforms and at the end, we went with Shopify. We liked that decision because with Shopify, we get great statistics, showing where our orders were coming from: which website do people access before entering ours. Do they go on Instagram? Facebook? So right now, we have an account on Shopify, Instagram and Facebook. Could you describe the Rumble concept to the readers, the “girl gang” philosophy of RUMBLE Apparel. Yes, definitely! So, with Rumble we think that certain clothing makes you feel a certain type of way. When you wear Rumble, we hope that we get the message across that you are part of a community with people, where everyone can succeed, support each other to foster our dreams. We hope that when people wear Rumble that you can feel like a powerful man or woman. That’s the feeling we want when people wear our clothing. Rumble declares that there is a focus on “quality, small quantity, and fair labour.” Are buyers sensitive to this? While I’m here [in British Columbia] doing most of the marketing, my partner in Shanghai, she focuses on product development. She personally visits the manufacturers to make sure that we keep our word, in terms of quality, quantity and fair labour standards. I think people connect more with the brand and feel better knowing that their clothing is sourced ethically and feel special that their clothing is part of a small batch. In the past few months, designers all over the world have started to use fashion as a response to the political sphere attacking the bodies of women. Maria Grazia Chiuri in her first collection with Dior revealed shirts declaring “we should all be feminists.” As well, the creative directors of Tome released their finals models wearing t-shirts with feminist statements like “The Future is Female, Free the Nipple and My Body, My Choice.” As well, Jeremy Scott, creative director of Moschino, wore a shirt stating “our voice is the only thing that will protect us.” Would you say that the supportive message of Rumble fits into this narrative that we’ve seen in other collections? Yes, that’s definitely something, long-term wise, want to move towards as well. In part of the Rumble concept and message, we support your opinion as long as doesn’t undermine our existence. We do want to exert our message and we’re definitely not afraid to put what we believe into fashion. What questions do you ask yourself before starting a new collection? What is the creative process behind that? With each of our collections, we’re focusing on the top five must-have items of the season. We try to balance what’s trendy with what’s wearable in different scenarios. Lillian and I, we do not put anything out there that we would not want to wear on a daily basis. We put together clothing that we’re into, the trends that Lilian sees at different Fashion Weeks and apply that to what we’d want to wear. Finally, we narrow it down to five items. Since we narrow it down to only five items, it can seem restricting but it makes it easier for us to decide what goes into the collection. What were some difficulties you and Lilian encountered with launching your first ever collection? We definitely learned a lot. Coming from an anatomy and cell biology and an art history background, we learned more about e-commerce. Working with different materials, we noticed that even the smallest changes in the composition of clothing can change, let’s say, the product. That was the case for our Mock necks. With our manufacturer, we sent in the composition and when the spandex count was slightly off, the Mock necks couldn’t be worn. So, we did have some struggles there. I think the biggest learning experience was being able to evolve your brand. You’re going to go things with a set idea about how your website is going to look, the timeline of when you’re going to receive samples, when the photo shoots should be done. I mean, Murphy’s law, things are going to go wrong, especially in terms of getting samples and you’re working with and counting on a lot of people to fit your timeline. Not everything is going to work out, but it’s important to be adaptive and evolve your brand as you go. How hard would you say is it to balance creativity with commerce? I think there’s always going to be people who are really excited about what you’re doing, to learn and to create. I think you can develop something with the right group of people at a very low budget. I think that’s what Lilian and I have been doing. We’ve been really lucky to have met people along the way as well. From our photo shoots, people have approached us, wanting to be a part of something. Putting brains together, you become so open to do the best films and have creative days with people without a big budget. I think you just simply have to be open.
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