100% cotton is non stretchy. After stitching, now comes the fun part of figuring out how to perfect the piece. Questions that came up were based around the 100% cotton material and how it is a non-flexible material: how can someone put their head through the neck hole, and how can someone put their hand through the sleeve? We adjusted the neck to be slightly wider, and implemented a 5 inch slit on the sleeve. Normally, when i wear jackets, I tend to keep the button at the sleeve open (it feels a lot more comfortable). So we made the 5 inch slit reflecting on this idea, also to aid with the stiffness of the material but decided to keep it minimal (as it is a long sleeve t-shirt) and we decided against the button. This also added depth to the blank silhouette. New patterns made. Tomorrow we cut and sew!

Natural materials (I dislike saying this sometimes as it sounds like a buzzword) actually holds a lot of depth (similar to the word sustainability) and changes the game. The idea is to explore newer and various materials that are less impactful to the earth, and when we told our mum she was over the moon :P

Natural materials are softer and feels a lot better . In this modern age of plastics, microplastics, & micro-microplastics,  why on earth would you want to wear something synthetic, something not at its absolute best? We bought 100% cotton fabric for our sample piece.

We stitched our first sample today while pre-gaming for an event. So much was learnt.

We cut out the patterns today. We went to India a couple of months ago, and the level of craftsmanship and the materials there were incredible. Our parents and sister have been telling us since we were children that India is amazing for textiles. I've been to India before, when I was younger, and I'd felt and seen all how materials can vary when I used to spend time at my dad's shop in Nairobi. 

I think we should answer the first big question, why are we rebranding? Over the years, we've felt like our brand had no real motive behind it. Yes, we make cool clothes, and yes, we dove deeper into the idea of creating garments that are more interesting than a regular T-shirt, but I think it never reflected the ideas and passion both my brother and I had . After speaking to all our friends, family, & going to Paris Fashion Week, we realised we barely mentioned the fact that we owned a clothing brand, but our friends would.

On a random day in Soho, we met our friend Jak. He was telling us about a magazine and how he wanted us to write something in it. It gave us some time to reflect on something that had been in the back of both our heads, our heritage, how personal it is to us, and how unique it is. Anoka London is the refinement of a newer, much more personal idea, and something that resonates with us. We've learnt from all the mistakes and successes of the previous years, and we want to carry that knowledge into building something we're genuinely excited about. Looking back on this process and every conversation we had, it felt almost natural to move us in this direction.

Today, we thought about what pieces we'd like to have in our first collection as Anoka London. Exciting and scary at the same time. We landed on three items, a very small collection. One piece we've been wanting to showcase for YEARS, and we finally think the time is right to explore it. The second is something we'd feel comfortable wearing every day. The last piece was something we always wanted in our wardrobe.

Something we learnt during our previous drops is the difficulties in communicating with a manufacturer to make an experimental idea come to life.. From tech packs to hopping on a call with the manu, it is really tough. 

So this is the first thing we decided to do differently. The process starts with my brother and i actually making the entire garment ourselves…in our little home studio. Having no formal garment-making accreditation, we knew this was going to be a learning curve - one im personally excited to take on. I see this as a pro alghough the most obvious con is the time it will take to finally put the product on our wesbite, but it means better quality, understanding the craft and how fabric flows and shapes silhouettes. A little teaser of where we have started - today we made the pattern for a long sleeve t-shirt that we wanted to make for the collection. Trueing the garment took a little longer than expected, but I think it's going to look so sick!