'ND I : our first lookbook

Hello! Our new line 'ND I is officially on racks at various retailers around Singapore! We released some of the test shots about a week ago and now the images you see below captured by Chuck Reyes are the final result of months of work and preparation between sifr, K.I.N, and the lovely Resham from Nocturnal. Growing the idea of 'ND I has been a beautiful dance between all its participants from the beginning with the mood boards to the sample edits to the construction of it's custom rack and till just recently the launch of the line this last Friday. The garments capture the female form in a eloquent understated manner referencing masculine details from menswear tailoring in order to accentuate a almost rigid yet feminine silhouette expressing a tinge of sexuality. The use of a lightweight cotton modal jersey is soft to touch on the skin and more than comfortable in the tropics. All these combined with a sombre color palate come together to produce sifr's and Reshams take on a contemporary basics line for ladies.

Sincerely,
sifr & Resham

A few more words below in the form of our official press release:

‘ND I is the abbreviation of And I.

‘ND I is a contemporary take on women’s ready-to-wear t-shirts. It borrows masculine details from traditional menswear tailoring in the form of darts and tucks to create an almost rigid yet feminine line of everyday garments. This is a structured knitwear line.

The use of a cotton-modal blend was chosen to combine the strong traits of each type of fabric. The modal fabric gives the garment an almost soft, supple feel maintaining a stable degree of drape, while the cotton holds it together with it’s sturdy build. This blend is ideal in maintaining cohesiveness with the overall aesthetic of the label. Sturdy yet feminine, strong yet compassionate.

Inspired by the idea of interaction and exchange of energy between people, couples and lovers, the direction is to create a product for the androgynous woman and man. Be it partners or even same-sex couples, the thought of exchanging these garments with one another is an idea that would like to be explored and conveyed through the development of this product. These notions make up the core of this collaboration.

February 2011 marked the beginning of this contemporary clothing label.
With intentional use of a sombre color pallette, the line evokes a certain sense of calmness while retaining a confident edge. Sleek, youthful, sophisticated and contemporary in it's appeal with styling being crucial in the process of creating (unique) looks.

The 'ND I design procedure starts at the hands of Resham and Suraj Melwani and then filters on down to the photographic and graphic expertise of Daryl Chan and Christopher John Fussner Jr. The inaugural photoshoot was conducted by the talented Chuck Reyes who works under the renowned Geoff Ang from Geoff Studio. Our model was the ideal Linda Hao; student and part-time model.

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"images from the projection/lookbook for 'Nd I, a structured women's knitwear line co-designed suraj of sifr and kin and his wife resham. it's being model here by linda, who's just a crazy multi-hyphenate and all around awesome chick." -Chuck Reyes

Stockist

K.I.N

51 Haji Lane

eclecticism

Paragon #03-08

Retail Therapy
Wheelock Place #03-13

sifr 2011 : hong kong sourcing day 2.3

One of our last videos from Hong Kong!

This video takes us inside the sample room that we are currently working with out of Kowloon. So after a year of producing with Indonesia exclusively we've finally made a comeback into China. We're doing several styles with the sample room captured in the video and we're looking to grow that selection in the coming collections. Besides producing out of this great sample room we're also doing our first batch of knitwear out of HK! We were more than happy when some of the samples that the knitwear supplier showed us from their portfolio had Flippa K tags attached.

If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments section below!

Next up we have some footage from our recent shoot for our new project and we will be shooting some out of this world footage straight from Jakarta with our new footwear and clothing manufacturers.



Sincerely,
sifr

Friendly Fire: Karya & K.I.N

Before we embark on our next window display installation this coming Friday, we'd like to recap the first one we did with Karya. The idea of the having our display transcend it's common role of visual merchandising display unit came about in our weekly company meeting. In a matter of weeks we had our first installation designed and setup by the wonderful architecture collective Karya out of Kuala Lumpur. For our next bit we are working with the multi platform creative agency kult. We hope to see you there this Friday for the launch of our second installment for our window display series.

Click the link below for the event information.

CLICK ME

Enjoy the post below courtesy of the folks from Karya!

As promised, updates on the dismantling process of our 5 months stint on the window of Know It Nothing are up! We're deeply grateful for K.I.N for the opportunity given to kickstart their initiative in promoting and showcasing regional talents. So without further ado, march through the updates people.

KARYA|KIN 2011 from architectsforpresidency on Vimeo.

The Capsule Life

The recent 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that has devastated Japan really hit "close to home." Over the winter months, I did a homestay in Japan so I feel more than just a sense of sympathy for the nation. I hope all family and friends of Sifr/KIN are alright.

From the news reports, I understand that Japan is just as orderly, polite, and calm as usual with no reports of looting or violence despite mounting pressures-- nuclear threats, lack of food and clean water, and rising numbers of missing people. These issues are extremely pressing and I urge you to reach out and help the Japanese community.

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For now, here are some of my favorite pictures of my capsule life in Japan: exploring the Nakagin Tower and staying at a capsule hotel.

The Nakagin Tower is quite sad and eerie. Despite being one of the only built examples of metabolist architecture, it is in a state of decay not regrowth. I knocked on every door in both towers but only encountered a few people- both of whom were busy with office work. One office was packed with papers and completely dark. The other office was more friendly towards me, but unable to show me around as it was a child pornography trader.

My stay at the capsule hotel was just as eerie- I couldn't tell if people were living humans or ghosts. No one acknowledged anyone else in the building; it was all very secretive. The room was quite luxuriously large compared to the capsule hotels I see online, as the TRUE capsule hotels are only for men.

Makeshift plumbing solutions

Climbing onto the roof of the capsule.

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A perfect closet for 1 fur vest.

A home for my desert boots.

sifr 2011 : march drops

All cylinders are firing over at our office as we are taking part in Blueprint as well as continuing to produce more product to keep up with demand in Singapore. We are going to be exporting this year so we are producing our first collection in over a year and a half. We're really excited to share this upcoming collection with you guys as it's been our blood and sweat over these last few months. We're are continuing to do our best to keep delivering quality products in the months leading up to Blueprint show.

The products below belong to a 2 part March drop, the other part has some other long awaited products that have been out of stock for awhile.

We produced a beautiful 60/2 high density cotton poplin used in these shell stitch pants. We went with a airy and breathable cut, these pants are way too comfortable and allow for maximum ventilation even on the hottest days in Singapore. The pants have a beautiful shell stitch on the thigh and the insides are trimmed beautifully, quality speaks on the inside and outside of this pant. The quality shown here is really what we've been working very hard to produce over this last year. The pants come in a limited run of 50 pieces available at KIN, Rockstar and Tangs. Please click the photos for more information or if you wish to purchase the product right now.




The cloud shirt uses a related fabric to that seen in our "70s throwback shirt". A digital cloud print on 100% japanese cotton broadcloth. We kept things simple with an airy straight cut and relaxed fit, the shirt makes you feel at ease. It features single needle stitching, chalk buttons and a comfortably sized breast pocket. This batch of shirts is available in a short run of 60 pieces for each color at KIN, Rockstar and Tangs. Please click the photos for more information or if you wish to purchase the product right now.




The prince shirt is made from a lightweight 100% cotton poplin with soft handfeel. this slim fit shirt is a contemporary take on a classic tuxedo pleat shirt. it features raw edge pleats that have been safely finished with a picot stitch machine. garment comes with real shell buttons for a premium look. This batch of shirts is available in a limited run of 70 pieces for each color at KIN, Rockstar and Tangs. Please click the photos for more information or if you wish to purchase the product right now.

Sincerely,
sifr

sifr 2011 : voyeur home videos

A little different from the holistic design video we posted earlier but in a similar light. We're taking more video footage about our process, our day to day on trips, insights into spots we checked out while traveling, peaks into factories and offices we visit. On our HK trip we figured that we've been having such a great time these last 2 years it would be selfish to not share it with the people that make what we do everyday possible.

In this video we are kicking starting our second day in Hong Kong. The day preluding this one was an action packed 23hours of work, indulgent food and smooth drinks; unfortunately we don't have much documentation of that besides a couple of photographs. We're about to go upstairs and finish some tech packs and then check out what Sham Sui Po has to offer, hopefully we will find a worthy fabric to sample with and use for production. We have a few more videos from HK covering the sample room and our thoughts of Sham Sui Po, stay tuned!

We are planning to return late May, so if you guys have any suggestions on places to go please let us know. We're up for anything, private kitchens to local noodle joints to beautiful nature spots. Share your secrets with us!

We'd also like to thank Alessandro Schuelli and Fasil Alemante for their continued support and advice regarding our growth! Their words and actions have helped us shape the company into what it is today.



Sincerely,
sifr

K.I.N. Website v2.0

We've been working away at developing our new website to match the new developments at the store. No pictures here, have a look for yourself!

CLICK HERE

'ND I : soft release

We recently conducted a photo shoot for our new brand 'ND I; A collaboration between sifr and Nocturnal. The result is a beautifully understated basics line that uses a silky cotton modal jersey geared more towards the beautiful ladies out there. The shoot took place right along Kallang Riverside Park inside the new TURE building that's now home to the famed coffee shop and bean roasters, Loysel's Toy (Papa Pahletas).

Photos are courtesy of Chuck Reyes.

















Sincerely,
sifr

Recommended Reading: The Basic Handbook of APPAREL

Finally after months and months of sourcing in and around Jakarta, our man on the ground, our factory roadwarrior; Suraj Suresh Melwani has found the mother-load of all sources. He's found some amazing factories and workshops out and around Jakarta.

This one however is the #1 of all time sources we have found in our short lifespan. The source is the next level of reasonably scaled manufacturing meaning we are able to produce great quality product on short production runs, something that we've been searching for since we left China last year.

We're so proud of this find that we want to share the book that our vendor wrote with anyone who is interested in purchasing it at K.I.N for a paltry sum of $25. The book provides an in depth look at production from information on fabric to how to containerize your goods to be shipped out to the client. We're still in the midst of finishing the book to brush up and to extract the wealth of information that this production bible provides.





Sincerely,
sifr