Brand: Fortytwo
| Designer Alexander Kozlov | Year of foundation 2009 | A place: Moscow, Russia | Site: fortytwostore.com |
ALEKSANDR KOZLOV | HUSEYN SHUKYUR-ZADE |
Fortytwo is a joint project. Our advantage is the team. Some believe that a person in a team is just a cog in the mechanism, but it seems to us that the opposite is true. We approach every business from different sides. Hussein was always engaged in management, and I was in design (in the past I was an artist, a master of miniature painting). Initially, we worked at an advertising agency, but left and founded Forty Two.
The title was a funny story. There were many options that we swept aside. 42 is the meaning of life, the universe and all that. In addition, 42 - the unofficial year of birth of rock and roll. Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and a lot of other nice people were born this year. 42 is a special angle. And a lot of things. But initially it was a sign with the house number, which lay on our desktop. After painful deliberation, we realized that this should be a random name that does not oblige to anything. And then we went to Wikipedia and found out all the other meanings of the numbers.
The first thing was to deal with the tissues: what is good, what is bad. When you first approach 10 different rolls of cotton, you do not understand which one is better. First, we bought a bunch of all hell in Moscow. But they quickly realized that they need to be tied up with this, and went to Italy. We traveled around the country, were in large factories, where we ordered Max Mara fabrics, were very small. As a result, selected a small amount of materials that at that time could afford. The fact that materials in Italy are very expensive is a myth. Bring them can be time consuming, but in the end goes almost cheaper than if you buy cloth in the suburbs. Then we went to Turkey for fabrics. There, the industry works no worse than in Italy. True, the Turks do not speak English very well. If we consider accommodation in Istanbul and delivery, it also turns out to be quite inexpensive. In 2-3 days you can cover a fairly large amount of basic fabrics (knitwear and cotton), and more complex ones. Fabrics were purchased with the condition that they could be ordered later. There were no problems with this.
FW 2010 Collection
We faced all the difficulties that we could. The model of the first T-shirt was developed for about three months: they approached the matter very responsibly. Tortured two designers: we had to be 5 mm wider, then already. Now we have a small production, which employs six people: technologists and tailors. We try to be attentive to the little things. This is noticeable if we consider the clothes from the inside.
We create things together with other designers and illustrators. There is a capsule collection with illustrator Alexander Ovchinnikov, creative director of Milk agency; There is a collection of spring-summer 2011, made together with Die Blonde, Nadya Krugovoy. Collaborations are very interesting.
Things Fortytwo buy and respectable men about forty, and boys and girls. This clothing is not about any particular style. Everyone has trousers that you always wear - favorite, shabby, perfect for you, who won't let you down. We try to create such clothes. We are not doing anything new. Everything has already been invented before us.
We were originally going to organize production at the "Flacon". It is not for nothing that it is called a "design factory", its creators tried to gather around them the maximum number of people involved in design. Soon there will open many showrooms, and gradually everything will grow into something serious. Now on the "Flacon" there are several designers who make clothes. We want to unite all and act as a united front.
We learn from our mistakes and we are still undergoing a "survival rapid course". Difficulties are found everywhere: buying fabrics, choosing a designer - it feels like we have only old grandmothers doing this, who hardly understand what they want from them. Production is also a separate problem. In Russia, as always, begin for health, finish for the rest. The first batch is sewn off normally, the second one is somehow unsure, and then you run after things all over the Moscow Region. Further, having received these forced things, you try to sell them. We were lucky: at the same time, stores began to appear with us that wanted to sell collections of Russian designers.
Collection SS 2011
Everything that we do, somehow comes out by chance. From the very beginning we decided to participate in all the markets that could be found. In St. Petersburg SUM a girl came up to us with a translator, she liked our prints. She was a representative of the Berlin showroom, which sells things designers from different countries. That same evening I wrote her a letter. And she answered - bring things. Then there were problems with logistics, things could not finish. But in the end it all came together. It does not bring any money, it is an image story. But in the future, if we decide to expand, overseas someone will already know about Fortytwo.
Why do so many young designers fail? The main problem is that people can not squeeze. You need to get to Italy, to travel, choose, analyze, where better or worse, and not just come to the first available stock. Our problem is that there is no example. Something always happens with Russian designers, with Sultanna Frantsuzova, Chapurin: an investor came, left. Some kind of tin is happening. It should not be.
Fortytwo is a very young brand. The industry in which we are trying to work is also young, so there are many chances, the main thing is not to miss them. Initially, we made men's clothes, now we are releasing women's clothes. In late February, we want to make outerwear and shoes.
You can buy Fortytwo items at the Flacon design factory, Russian Street stores, Ekepeople and in small showrooms.