Fashion Meets Passion - Co Be Inc EXCLUSIVE
I started blogging last year and conducted some interviews with very, in my opinion, great and "influential people" . Then i got my 8-5 setting kinda job and writing has been a lil tricky ever since. I have written a thousand-plus articles that were never published due to their relevance running out of time. Today I stumbled across an interview I did last year and that got me thinking,,,, How long can a simple interview remain relevant and still create an act to the society?
Over the years I have worked as an event planner and learnt some key things in business and entrepreneurship like: Branding creates the image of a company or organization and that, just like the saying goes dress how you want to be addressed. That dressing is what we call branding in business set up. If you dress your organization in torn clothes you will only attract people with torn ideas and visions. Create a brand that will live decades and still remain relevant to the people of that generation. For instance Steve Job's brand has remained relevant over the years. Even when you are gone and your kids have to take up the business from where you left, they will keep its standards high because that's what you set from the word Go!
My feature today CO-BE INC, a Kenyan Fashion Brand that has grown from bead work to amazing fashion design has caught my attention. From the word-GO , you should set your pace right and God shall bless you according to your the level that you set your standards. My pastor, Pst. Dodzweit Achero always tells us about the perfect positioning and I have since seen the effects of that. God blesses us according to how we position our visions and lifestyles. I have seen Co Be Inc grow from a little child to a toddler and now its almost at its adult stage. I say adult stage, because it has matured in its ideas and vision as a fashion house.
Today, Co-Be Inc has showcased in so many runways and dressed thousands of Nairobians with their branded designs and African wear. They have fused the modern wear and African wear to make quite appealing looks to die for. They happen to dress several celebrities and act as stylists for several other celebrities. Enough said, and now a rerun of my old interview with one of the founders of Co-Be that,I believe to be relevant, will give you the inside story of their growth from how it came to be up to date. (by up to date i mean 2014 when i held this interview. A quick update on their progress this year will be coming to you in few weeks. and you will be very amazed trust me)
" I like the fact that you take time to appreciate Art. Let me get to answering
the questions.;
Our fashion house is Co-Be, Inc. Most people just call us Co-Be.
Co-Be is a Kenyan fashion brand, offering clothing, shoes and
accessories for men, women and kids. We also offer design consultancy,
costume design for music videos and movies and styling services. Co-Be
was founded in 2010, before we even joined our campuses.
It was founded by Bevern Oguk and Collins Karanja who are the head
designers and tailors. We also have associate tailors for our
different product lines. Why a fashion house? Well to us, its been
actually a realization process. Everybody knows we started with
accessories, as I am an artist also and Collins has love for art. We
initially wanted to do artistic t-shirts and shoes, then we started
making accessories. As we grew, we realized that we had more to offer,
we realized we were a big fish in a small pond, that's why we decided
to form a fashion brand. We actually see this as more of art than
fashion, so basically its been a growth process, ever since we
started.
We have made connections ever since. Collins works with re-known
stylist Connie Aluoch while I work as a design consultant with luxury
brand, Kemaya Africa. We have been featured a considerable number of
times in the media, The Standard, Daily Nation, Business Daily, The
Nairobian, Nairobi News, Salon Magazine, True Love Magazine, GBS TV,
NTV, CCTV News Africa and several fashion blogs.
We have showcased in several local fashion shows, the biggest being
the first ever Strut It Afrika Fashion Week 2013. We are also taking
part in the coming East Africa Fashion Week 2014 in April.
Our biggest clients right now are the stylish working class, thanks to
our last collection 'Of Black Skins.' Our previous clientel (which we
retain) was a lot of the young and bold, thanks to our previous
collection, "The Orientation", and using Octopizzo as our brand
ambassador for the Co-Be Snood. Other celebrities we have worked with
include Cheekszone of CodeRed, graffitti guru Bankslave, Lele Ngoma
Band, Joe Muchiri of Capital Fm, and many more.
I wouldn't say there was a break through or turning point, its been
constant growth, being consistent, outdoing ourselves and having fun
of course. To be honest, fashion is a very competitive business, one
moment you are in, the next you are out, takes a lot of hard work to
stay relevant for even two fashion seasons in a row.
We are majorly online, but we are working on our distribution and availability.
Our Kenyan Fashion industry is growing, no doubt about that. But there
has been a bad belief that anything made in Kenya is low quality, that
is why people prefer second hand clothes to tailor made Kenyan
clothes. That perception needs to change. The second issue is the high
costs of production of pret-a-poter. The third issue is the designers
own availability. Designers should stop copying each other too, it
doesn't hurt to be creative. We should also realize that fashion is
not entertainment.
Anything else I'd like to share, buy Kenyan, build Kenya." BEVERN OGUK- CO-BE INC
www.co-be.biz
FACEBOOK- https://www.facebook.com/Co.Be.inc
Email: inccobe@gmail.com
Tel: 0720553350
Over the years I have worked as an event planner and learnt some key things in business and entrepreneurship like: Branding creates the image of a company or organization and that, just like the saying goes dress how you want to be addressed. That dressing is what we call branding in business set up. If you dress your organization in torn clothes you will only attract people with torn ideas and visions. Create a brand that will live decades and still remain relevant to the people of that generation. For instance Steve Job's brand has remained relevant over the years. Even when you are gone and your kids have to take up the business from where you left, they will keep its standards high because that's what you set from the word Go!
My feature today CO-BE INC, a Kenyan Fashion Brand that has grown from bead work to amazing fashion design has caught my attention. From the word-GO , you should set your pace right and God shall bless you according to your the level that you set your standards. My pastor, Pst. Dodzweit Achero always tells us about the perfect positioning and I have since seen the effects of that. God blesses us according to how we position our visions and lifestyles. I have seen Co Be Inc grow from a little child to a toddler and now its almost at its adult stage. I say adult stage, because it has matured in its ideas and vision as a fashion house.Today, Co-Be Inc has showcased in so many runways and dressed thousands of Nairobians with their branded designs and African wear. They have fused the modern wear and African wear to make quite appealing looks to die for. They happen to dress several celebrities and act as stylists for several other celebrities. Enough said, and now a rerun of my old interview with one of the founders of Co-Be that,I believe to be relevant, will give you the inside story of their growth from how it came to be up to date. (by up to date i mean 2014 when i held this interview. A quick update on their progress this year will be coming to you in few weeks. and you will be very amazed trust me)
the questions.;
Our fashion house is Co-Be, Inc. Most people just call us Co-Be.
accessories for men, women and kids. We also offer design consultancy,
costume design for music videos and movies and styling services. Co-Be
was founded in 2010, before we even joined our campuses.
It was founded by Bevern Oguk and Collins Karanja who are the head
designers and tailors. We also have associate tailors for our
different product lines. Why a fashion house? Well to us, its been
actually a realization process. Everybody knows we started with
accessories, as I am an artist also and Collins has love for art. We
initially wanted to do artistic t-shirts and shoes, then we started
making accessories. As we grew, we realized that we had more to offer,
we realized we were a big fish in a small pond, that's why we decided
to form a fashion brand. We actually see this as more of art than
fashion, so basically its been a growth process, ever since we
started.
We have made connections ever since. Collins works with re-knownstylist Connie Aluoch while I work as a design consultant with luxury
brand, Kemaya Africa. We have been featured a considerable number of
times in the media, The Standard, Daily Nation, Business Daily, The
Nairobian, Nairobi News, Salon Magazine, True Love Magazine, GBS TV,
NTV, CCTV News Africa and several fashion blogs.
We have showcased in several local fashion shows, the biggest being
the first ever Strut It Afrika Fashion Week 2013. We are also taking
part in the coming East Africa Fashion Week 2014 in April.
Our biggest clients right now are the stylish working class, thanks to
our last collection 'Of Black Skins.' Our previous clientel (which we
retain) was a lot of the young and bold, thanks to our previous
collection, "The Orientation", and using Octopizzo as our brand
ambassador for the Co-Be Snood. Other celebrities we have worked with
include Cheekszone of CodeRed, graffitti guru Bankslave, Lele Ngoma
Band, Joe Muchiri of Capital Fm, and many more.
I wouldn't say there was a break through or turning point, its beenconstant growth, being consistent, outdoing ourselves and having fun
of course. To be honest, fashion is a very competitive business, one
moment you are in, the next you are out, takes a lot of hard work to
stay relevant for even two fashion seasons in a row.
We are majorly online, but we are working on our distribution and availability.
Our Kenyan Fashion industry is growing, no doubt about that. But there
has been a bad belief that anything made in Kenya is low quality, that
is why people prefer second hand clothes to tailor made Kenyan
clothes. That perception needs to change. The second issue is the high
costs of production of pret-a-poter. The third issue is the designers
own availability. Designers should stop copying each other too, it
doesn't hurt to be creative. We should also realize that fashion is
not entertainment.
Anything else I'd like to share, buy Kenyan, build Kenya." BEVERN OGUK- CO-BE INC
www.co-be.biz
FACEBOOK- https://www.facebook.com/Co.Be.inc
Email: inccobe@gmail.com
Tel: 0720553350
Comments
Post a Comment