BROWN BAG! sifr & darker than wax & kin

Hello dear readers! We are throwing an amazing party this coming friday on the roof top of kinki. The participants are the new record label based out of Singapore, Darker Than Wax in conjunction with both sifr and KIN. Party opens it doors at 9PM and goes till 2AM! Please RSVP on our facebook, once we hit capacity on the roof deck it will be RSVP priority. Click here to access our facebook event page.

Looking forward to seeing you there and having one too many drinks with us!

With love and passion,
Brown Bag!




THE VIEW FROM THE ROOF TOP OF KINKI!

'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 : 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

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

Jakarta R&D

Above are some photos from the last trip. I'll try to be more up to date in the future.

Back again in Indonesia for more sifr related R&D.

Now that we're up at CK Tangs level 3, it's been a real game-changer. Distribution to a boutique and to a department store are two different playing fields.

With great exposure comes greater scrutiny. Therefore, we're required to make sure that the floor is constantly filled with good product.

With that said, we're back in Indonesia doing more R&D as well as making sure the upcoming merchandise is sailing through the production process smoothly.

I'm at the factory and will be here till next Thursday so feel free to let us know what you want us to feature in the comments section.

- ssm

Office Bags

More documentation of our office. This time, we're introducing the contents and the bags of the office. To be a cool sifr kid, you'll need: a black bag, a sketchbook, a macbook pro, and a flashlight (seriously, I don't know why but all three of us had flashlights; I guess we're all prepared for a Great Singapore Blackout). Anyway,i f you want to know where something is from, just ask in the comment section.

Top to bottom: My bag, Chris' bag, Daryl's bag

For all the Flickr perusers, I'm sure you've heard of the Flickr group, What's In Your Bag. Check it out for more bag-stalking.

Maybe I'll document the guys' outfits next time! What do you think: yes or no? Personally, I feel like a 'what I wore today' (WIWT) post is in order for a company that designs and imports clothes of discerning taste. I mean, don't you wonder what these dudes behind the company wear on a blah blah whatever daily basis?

our first shoot in our new home

as promised here are some photos from our new space at tan boon liat just off outram road. we're splitting the space with primary studios and another company. the space is quite a change from our old 400sqft work area on haji lane, we're now able to stretch out to a comfortable 1300sqft. indoor futsal, skating and huge screen projections are now available to us while at work. the lifts also come with operators, they remember your floor numbers and are a vast pool of insider information for what's happening within the 15 levls of tan boon liat.

the images below we're taken while doing our first shoot for the sifr webstore.











sincerely,
sifr

We've Moved Out

we moved out of haji lane a few weeks back, and by we i mean the upstairs office that was residence to the sifr and kin paper pushers(us). the store is still intact at number 51, the upstairs is vacant, and we're still trying to figure out the best course of action for space that once sold shoes, housed artwork and roofed a couple of people working together.

touching base on the team of individuals that slowly took over the upstairs space. the evolution of the office space took place over a span of 13 months. from the team being scattered across the two floors (we were measuring clothes on the main counter, conducting meetings on the couch surrounded by shoes, typing out letters on the vintage upholstered chairs). we started to congregate in the upstairs region of the shophouse. next thing we knew shoes went downstairs and there was this huge ping ping table in the middle of the room providing desk space for 3 people.

it's almost been about three months since we've moved into our new residences at tan boon liat building, i think it's about time i throw the move out photos up.

*note my leg is busted that's why i am not helping out with the move



















a lot of people have not seen our new working environment, photos will be up in due time.

sifr webstore : we're open for business

The online store is now up and running.

It's taken us awhile to get this together. For feedback, positive or negative, drop us a line at the following addresses below;

info@sifrsite.com or (if you're into handwriting) 51 Haji Lane, Singapore, 189244.

More products will be available in the next 2 weeks.

Kind Regards,
sifr

Behind The Scenes: Product Development

I just received some photos from Suraj documenting some new things we're doing in Indonesia. Suraj has been there for the last week working on a number of things: our new batch of shoes coming out, each pair of shoes is handmade with a combination of a wood and crepe soles and uses 100% genuine cow leather. We're also working on some new items for sifr essentials that focuses on a different aesthetic, I won't attach words to images, please be patient for some product shots. On top of the new items we're doing for essentials we are also preparing to launch some women's styles. Thank you to all the people that have suggested to engage the female audience to us in store, via email, on the street, at a party; we are almost there.


Washing machines.


Washing machines in operation.


About to inspect the fabric after a test wash.


Drying machines.


Checking on our shoe sample.


Looking at some other models our manufacturer produces.