5 Minutes | Brandon Svarc
Posted by Oak and Oar on
Brandon Svarc, President and Founder of Naked and Famous Denim, was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer a few random questions.
In case you aren’t aware, the Naked & Famous Denim collection is proudly made in Canada. Any time Brandon does not designated towards running Naked and Famous is invested into his secondary Canadian based workwear label, Paulrose Products. Originally started by his grandfather, Paul Svarc, Brandon revived the brand as an outlet to further work with vintage Japanese denim and shirting fabrics.
Enjoy our inaugural 5 Minute feature with Mr. Brandon Svarc.
My job title is…
Founder / President / or whatever you want to call me.
If I had to describe Naked and Famous in three words I would probably have to go with…
Luxury denim basics.
If I hadn’t started Naked and Famous I would likely be…
The founder of the greatest new candy brand in the world!
I think the appeal of specialty denim comes from…
Our desire to be unique and to stand out. We want luxury products to differentiate ourselves from the monotony of the mass market.
5 things people don’t likely know about me or the Naked and Famous brand are…
1.) My grandfather was born in Transylvania so I may or may not be a vampire.
2.) Our very first collection consisted of 6 mens jeans and 12 womens jeans.
3.) My middle name is David.
4.) We made metallic silver weft jeans for women once.
5.) I have 11 toes. (not really, but that would be a funny rumour)
My favourite piece of the 2011 Naked and Famous collection is…
Glow in the Dark Selvedge denim jeans! Prolly because it’s the funniest new style. Available now at Barneys.
Whenever I pack my bags for Japan…
…I’m always loaded up with maple syrup and other fun Canadiana crap as gifts for suppliers and customers.
One scent I would like to incorporate into the scratch and sniff denim would be…
Well we chose raspberry scent. But the options I had were: Japanese Mint, Soap, Apple, Grapefruit, Banana, Lemon, Eucalyptus and Ravender. Yes “Ravender”.
The longest I have gone without washing a pair of jeans was…
A little over 1 year.
When I tried on the 32 oz Naked and Famous denim for the first time I thought…
These are the greatest pair of jeans we have ever made! And, they are surprisingly comfy. Though there were some pressure points on my boney hips.
The thing that will surprise people most about my background would be…
I have a degree in Finance but I sell jeans.
The last article of clothing I purchased was…
A suit from Native Son. Handmade in the famous Martin Greenfield factory in Brooklyn.
Next time you’re in Montreal I would highly recommend checking out…
Schwartz’s, for the best smoked meat sandwiches ever.
Right now I would have to say my favourite Canadian brand/designer is…
KIN. Designed by Sydney Mamane of Sydney’s in Toronto. Great fabrics and superb fits.
The most exciting thing that happened to me in the last 24 hours was…
My wife just got sworn in as a lawyer last night! Hooray! She says I have to call her “Maître” from now on. (That means “master” in French and is the title for lawyer here in Quebec).
If my house was burning and I could only grab three things they would be…
Passport (what a pain to replace), cell (to call 911), Laptop.
How did you get into making specialty denim and what was the determining factor in planting the roots of Naked and Famous in Canada?
Well my family has been in this industry here in Montreal for 60 years, so our roots were planted long ago by my grandfather. We don’t make denim in Canada, we make jeans. I wanted to have “specialty” denim made for us in Japan because it’s the best and that’s what we want to be.
Naked and Famous, though it has strong ties to creating simplistic no frills quality Japanese denim, does not seem to be afraid to step off the path of traditional and explore new off the wall ideas. We have seen this in the 32 oz pair of denim, glow in the dark denim and more recently a pair of scratch and sniff jeans. Why is it important for you to push the brand to explore non-traditional avenues with the collection?
It is important because we love it. We love having fun and doing crazy new things that no one else in the world has ever done before. We love to create and innovate. We love to shock people with weird ideas and strange products. How boring would life be if no one pushed the limits?
What can we expect for 2012?
Lots more great basics plus new crazy stuff as always. I can’t get into any specifics yet but I promise great things to come!
Anything you would like to add…
My grandfather would always say “Wear it in good health!”
Thanks Brandon.