Korey Skipper of the Kloude fashion label.
FROM Kaiti to Sydney, after working double jobs and selling car boot-style at university, former Kaiti kid Korey Skipper is designing for the big guys.
“I almost crashed when Culture Kings decided to go out on a whim with us. They’re one of the biggest streetwear brands in Australia; Bieber, ASAP Rocky, they all shop there,” says the 28-year-old, who attended Kaiti School.
Not only is Skipper’s Kiwi-born label, Kloude, being stocked by the popular streetwear store, it’s selling out.
“It’s cool seeing people you don’t know wearing your stuff. I went into one of the stores the other week and there was nothing left,” he says.
While Skipper officially launched Kloude with friend and fellow Kiwi Josh Chettleburgh in Wellington four years ago, the concept was born years before.
“I was making and designing clothes while I was at Massey University studying sports and exercise science,” says the designer.
“I was going to become a teacher. At the time, I was working for Red Bull. My job was to take Red Bull to events so I would make four T-shirts and have them in the boot of my car and tell the guys to check them out.”
When Skipper started selling out, he decided to put teaching to the side.
“It was a risky move,” says the Kiwi, who grew up on Belfast Crescent in Inner Kaiti before moving to Palmerston North at the age of 10.
Although Skipper had never trained in fashion, he had always been attracted to the industry.
“I’ve always improvised to keep up with trends. I grew up around rich kids, but I wasn’t. I used to take stuff from op shops and cut it up.
“I’ve never claimed to be a fashion guru,” he says.
Australasian streetwear sceneFashion guru or no fashion guru, Skipper’s designs are hitting a sweet spot on the Australasian streetwear scene.
“We’re in 32 clothing stores across Aotearoa now,” he says.
It’s not surprising Kloude is soaring given the inspiration behind the name.
“I wanted my clothes to be above everything else. I was looking up, dreaming and it just came to me,” says the designer.
Like the name, Skipper’s design inspiration has few limitations.
“A lot of designers use a common theme but I never limit my inspiration.
“Something might just come and it might be completely different to the other designs,” he says.
“It can be inspired by someone walking down the street, a catalogue, whatever.”
But you won’t see Skipper walking down the street in Kloude.
“I don’t really wear my stuff. I’m not a show-pony kind of guy. I would prefer to give it to someone else and see it on them. I wear it now and again. I know, I’m an absolute weirdo.”
He might be a self-professed weirdo, but you couldn’t call the entrepreneur lazy.
“Financially, we didn’t have a lot of equity when we started. We didn’t have a design, fashion or business background. We took a very big risk.”
“When we started, no one would give us full-time jobs, we went to China five times in one year. We were pawning off stuff from China — headphones and things.”
Juggling jobsEventually, Skipper did manage to secure full-time work with Coca-Cola, but juggling his burgeoning fashion business alongside a 40-hour week proved exhausting.
“One weekend I had to go to China to source some fabrics, so I conduced all my Friday work into Thursday, drove to Wellington (from Palmerston North) that night, caught a flight to Hong Kong, caught the train into China and went straight to the fabric markets.
“I spent a day there and then I caught the train back to Hong Kong, flew home and went straight to work.”
That was the start of Kloude, and while the brand is now making an impact across the Pacific, it’s a bittersweet success for the young founders.
“We’ve always found it hard to find success because we haven’t seen any of the money,” says Skipper, acknowledging they have built the company through personal finance. All profits currently go back into the business.
“We’re in discussion with investors at the moment,” he says.
In the meantime, Skipper is already setting his sights further afield.
“I definitely want to get us into the US and EU markets.
“My goal is to get a bit more comfortable with Australia next year, and then we’ll approach the US and EU in 2018.”