Menswear Style Podcast

Jake Posner, Founder of NO ONE TRUE ANYTHING / Organic Cotton Clothing

April 12, 2022 Menswear Style Episode 172
Menswear Style Podcast
Jake Posner, Founder of NO ONE TRUE ANYTHING / Organic Cotton Clothing
Show Notes Transcript

Infusing rich trending styles with a unique perceptive on the world, with a design that aims to be timeless - incorporating minimalistic and simplistic, yet thought provoking, fashion statement led core styles, with sustainable production being at the heart of the brand. NO ONE TRUE ANYTHING have a phrase that dominates the Ethos of the brand, “F/FAST FASHION”. With a high-end, sustainable approach to streetwear, the brand has officially dropped its DEB—UT collection, leading with the PI-LOT capsule. The capsule showcases hoodies and t- shirts, with the purpose of fashioning a new outlook on how sustainable clothing should be perceived. The world of fast fashion has had its moment and ruined the industry for too long, while causing a climate catastrophe and exploiting people. Jake wants his brand to be seen as one that is pioneering and bringing sustainable fashion production into the world of high-end fashion.

In this episode of the MenswearStyle Podcast we interview Jake Posner, Founder of NO ONE TRUE ANYTHING about how after having a dream he decided to launch his own fashion brand and go door-to-door looking for manufacturers in Portugal. Peter Brooker and Jake talk about the brand philosophy, the metaverse, dyslexia, sustainability, design inspiration, being featured in British Vogue 'Bright, Young Things', and what new garments to expect from the brand in 2022.

Whilst we have your attention, be sure to sign up to our daily MenswearStyle newsletter here. We promise to only send you the good stuff.

PB:

Hello, welcome to another episode of the menswear style podcast. I'm your host Pete Brooker. Today I am talking to the founder and creative director of no one to anything Jake Posner, and a little bit about no one to anything their approach to creating the brand was to captivate an audience with nonsense. Their branding is broken down into symbols to reflect how the no to visionary minds processes words, the word processing is something unique with dyslexia are playing a fundamental part in our daily lives and our literature. The no one to anything, visionaries believe that creativity holds no bounds and should be an expression of the mind even when restrictions are put in your way. When creating their debut collection. They were told how their vision of a high end sustainable streetwear fashion label would be almost impossible to produce with too many components needed to fulfil their vision of creating what they had already envisaged. With many hours of research and meetings with various textile production companies, their vision started to appear and their components started to merge and attract. Okay, well, fascinating story. Really interesting narrative to this brand. And here to tell us more about no one to anything is the founder, Jake Posner.

Unknown:

So I'm Jake Posner. And I found no one sure anything I did a while ago. And it's sort of now only just coming to coming to fruition really. I believe it or not, I had a dream whereby I created a fashion brand. And, like, I know, it sounds really cliche, but that's the truth. And I woke up the next day, it was on a Friday evening, I had the dream, and I woke up the next day on a Saturday. And I need to do this, like something's telling me that I need to go and do this. So sort of set about it. And always had the idea of wanting to make in Europe and sort of knocked on some doors, physically didn't sort of just use the internet physically went to went to port school, lots of some doors, this is sort of the end of 2018 such beginning of 2019, trying to trying to basically work with with manufacturers and suppliers to to really get what I was wanting to achieve. And at the time, I was told no, you're too small, we haven't got enough money. We can't fulfil your orders. And I was like, fine. Okay, look, here's some details of mine if we could stay in touch. And then the pandemic came.

PB:

Yeah. So how did

Unknown:

that bad? You know what I'm gonna, I say this as lightly as possible. But for me, on a personal level, it benefited me. Because the factories that I'm working with didn't have the orders coming in from from the big from the big brands, the big players and within sort of fashion industry. got back in touch. And I was really lucky. When I was out in Portugal, I, I was speaking with an agent who basically can help deal with my orders and my ideas and my designs and sort of get them to, to to the suppliers. And I contacted her. And she was like, yeah, like, perfect, now's a good time. So it sort of stemmed from there, really? And then, yeah, got to work on it,

PB:

too. So talk to me a little bit about the brand, how it is now and like what is the philosophy of the brand and what makes it different.

Unknown:

So the brand is very much in its infancy base. You know, I'm trying to I'm trying to I'm trying to find my way, it's a very competitive industry. And I feel like the philosophy of the brand is, essentially, it allows me to be the truest version of myself, which I really like. You know, I've always wanted to be in a space where I can create stuff. Using my mind, some people would probably call it strange, but using my strange brain, I just, I just have a thing and I just sort of blurt out random stuff and draw random things. And you know, people would always be like, What are you doing? But at the same time I wanted, I was creating and the designs, I wanted it to have an actual backstory to it. So I feel like the philosophy of my brand is, you know, the name sort of, if you sort of hear the name for the first time, you might think it doesn't really make sense. And that's exactly what it's made to do. And slogan, I guess sums that up as well. No one's sense made a lot of sense. And that sort of all stems from my from my dyslexia. And that also stems from my ulterior motive, or my material perspective on how the world works. And I'll sort of give you an example of that. It's like everyone's all of a sudden got so hung up on on this metaverse. What is the need? Why do we need a metaverse? You know, during going back to pandemic and during the pandemic, we were all locked in our houses and we're all talking to each other on Zoom or house party or, you know, whatever it might be. And we all complain that we couldn't go out. We couldn't do stuff. But yet, we're now all of a sudden in a in a in a frame of mind whereby the metaverse is now the whole new thing. And everything has been taken over by the metaverse with all buy clothes on metaverse. And I just feel like we're now you know, back to going back to one guy like the metaverse or Netta is Mark Zuckerberg, like Mark Zuckerberg had his time. And I feel like we really need to as as a human race really need to move on from from being stuck behind a desk and ordering everything from from Amazon or sitting on sitting on Facebook. And now now that Metaverse coming out and building a life of Metaverse, like, have We destroyed our own natural world that much that no one wants to live in it and people bury their heads in the sand. And they now and they now live in a virtual world. And that's my that's where it comes from like that is that is ultimately the brand name. And then you've got the it doesn't quite make sense with the Dyslexia as well. So I guess those are the two key philosophies. Yeah,

PB:

I have that. Also that fort where I think when I noticed it more when you're in a group, maybe you're out for a drink, and there's about seven or eight a year around a table and then there's always one person on their phone. And I do you think like well, how boring Are we that you have to now kind of get involved with some kind of useless Doom scrolling of Instagram, and you know, get some kind of common thread or check a forum on your face? It's basically the the invisible slap to the face, because they're not saying anything. But but they are saying something at the same time, right? Yeah.

Unknown:

Yeah. Like, what was the like? You're saying actions speak louder than words?

PB:

Yeah. And they're not saying no word, but their actions are just basically not as interesting as this cat, though. I'm following on Instagram.

Unknown:

Yeah, and, you know, again, you know, when we're when we are scrolling through these platforms, there's, there's realistically, again, it goes back to goes back to the brand name and sort of the ulterior motive, there's no one else actually getting any benefit out this apart from apart from the likes of people like Mark Zuckerberg, you know, these these platforms, money through people taking our attention. And then the advertising as well. So you know, like, they deliver the impressions to people so that the the, the advertising revenue carries on coming through. And I just, for me, I just feel like it's, it's a massive step in terms of how the human race actually needs to be to interact.

PB:

So I noticed on the website, you mentioned your dyslexia there, how has that played a part in how you're shaping this brand.

Unknown:

So the way in which that shaped the brand is, if you take, for example, like the debut collection, for me to be able to spell a lot of words, and for me to be able to write things like like an email, or blog posts or press release, whatever it might be. I'm breaking down nearly every single word into syllables to try and make sure that I'm spelling it in the right way. So the debut collection, it's day two dB. hyphen, UT. So it's essentially debut broken down into into the two syllables. And that's something that I really feel is important to me as a person, and to me as a brand. Because, you know, going to school and being dyslexic was difficult. Yeah, I became the class clown. I didn't want to be the class clown. But it was my way of being like of showing up hiding my frustration from not being able to do the work.

PB:

And so have you kind of channelled that and almost like turned your weakness into your strength for a harness that and used it as a tool?

Unknown:

I would say both, I would say that I use my dyslexia too much to be a strength of mine. And also at all. And I know that a lot of I know that a lot of people suffer with that thing. It's like, I might be wrong, but I think it's about 4 million people in the UK do have dyslexia. And I feel like Like, some I never was, but I feel like some people would be embarrassed by their dyslexia. I've never been embarrassed by it. I've always I've always sort of harnessed it and loved it and shouted about it. And I sort of want to want people through through, you know, the messaging of the brand and the concept of the brand. I want people to be able to feel comfortable in themselves as well. By being like, look, this brand is done, you know, whether or not it works really well. I don't know, I can't, unfortunately, into the future as much I hope it does. But you know, whether or not, you know, people will look at it and be like, okay, so Jake is 28 He failed miserably at school, he got told that he wasn't going to do anything, he got told that he wasn't good enough. And this is all because he was dyslexic, but I'm also dyslexic. And if, if Jake combined it then then you know, I really want to, I really want to achieve, achieve something as well and use my and you know, LinkedIn of now across the sector is a skill. And I want people to be like, my skill can now help me learn and help me create something or help me get the next best job, or whatever it might be. So I really want to sort of as well as create, I want to inspire

PB:

I think people would like being part of a club. And also with fashion, they like to have a narrative in terms of you know what they're buying, they can then just say, if people ask them what you're wearing, then you can always have a cool story behind it. I remember vividly about 20 odd years ago, I had a t shirt, it was by a brand I think called Marshalls or something like that martial artists. And on it was an anagram with this guy sat on a couch but the anagram said something like the the sofa killed my brother Neil. And the guy basically had a brother called Neil who, who was it was a bit of a lay about, shall we say, didn't get off the couch and died, like obesity or something like that. Being a bit of Yeah, job of explaining it. But basically, I've thought the concept behind it was really cool. And I loved explaining it to people and going oh, yeah, this was made but and inside you. Inside the t shirt, there was like a whole embroidered bio. So you'd roll up the hem. And there was like, almost like 400 Odd words that went through the whole backstory. And I used to really love doing that, you know, in pubs. Because when people would ask, you can just roll up the teacher and there'd be the story that you you'd show to people. So I do think people have I don't think that's changed. I think people are but always latched on to having something very, very there's, you know, very clubbable, you know, it'd be something that they're going to tell somebody else about, you know,

Unknown:

I mean, I couldn't agree more, which is why, you know, I mentioned it before, why, you know, I didn't want to just, I didn't want to just make clothes, you know, I feel like anyone can sort of, you know, art, let's make a t shirt, and I wanted something that has a story. Every single time, the tiniest of details, I will sort of not not like not not panic over. I don't know what the word is. But I will really go I really go into detail the tiniest details to make sure that everything is is correct. And sort of as good as it can be. So yeah, to

PB:

take it man. I dig it. Jake,

Unknown:

thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

PB:

Talk to me about the sustainability. That's also a big theme on the website. How do you how do you make that work for the brand?

Unknown:

How am I gonna work for the brands? So, you know, I've always looked at sustainability as either like the food chain or evolution, whereby you start at the very bottom of the food chain or to start a revolution and you have in fashions case you have the the raw materials and the materials that are naturally grown or in some cases or in most cases at the moment unfortunately, the materials that are grown harmfully. So that is the sort of very beginning of the food chain with where it starts the materials then the next stage of that is the human race. whereby people are actively gathering the materials whether that be the cotton, or whether that be sort of like viscose or anything like that. And to be able to really have the central brand, I really think you have to you have to support the human race before you can support anything else. You know, my my pieces are made from organic 100% organic cotton. There are brands out there that are you that use organic cotton, and they can say it's made from organic cotton, but at the same time that organic cotton as long as it's over a certain percentage of the garment. You can mix it also a polyester. Now polyester isn't good for the environment. So if we go back to the humans if, if humans are not paid a fair living wage for the work that they're doing, then the world is never going to improve, the world is only going to get worse. I believe that there are around 18 million people living in Lagos, Lagos is so overpopulated and so highly polluted. But then they don't have any money. Like, for, for Lagos to be able to go to renewable or green electricity. The only way of doing this is by the more economically developed countries, giving the less economically developed countries are grant not alone. But a grant. Because of grant, as I'm sure we all know, you don't have to pay it back. So for me, in my case, when my pieces are made, I don't argue with the price, the price is the price, the price is the price for a reason. And if I also feel that the price isn't enough, I'm happy to pay more, I'm happy for that to be reflected in the people who have made my pieces, I'm happy for that to be reflected in that wage, not going back and not going back into the pocket of the of the CEO, or the managing director of of the of the manufacturing facility, but into the actual workers, because it's all well and good paying people a fair living wage. But if you're just if you're just working to live, you're not nothing's going to change, you know, if you know, let's take let's take the petrol crisis that we're going through now, petrol has been at highest price point it's ever been up. And if people if people are struggling to pay their bills, and electricity, as well as the same thing, you know, we're not going to get anywhere as a human race, and we're not going to be a sustainable, we're not going to be a sustainable, we're not going to be sustainable, like world. And that and that's ultimately, the most in my eyes, the most important thing about sustainability is human race.

PB:

Let's keep the human race going people. Exactly, exactly that. Not for my kids. But for your kids, whoever's listening, it's too late for us, as in my generation. I mean, I'm in my 40s, now I'm on the back nine, to use a golfing analogy, I don't know why I don't play golf and watch it. But like, I always like thinking that when once you pass for a year, you're kind of on the back line, you're closer to the finish line. But anyway, let's said, I want to talk about the design. So talk to me about, you know, how you came up with them what the influence is, you know, what basically did you have to go through to get these garments from your mind to execution.

Unknown:

So, you know, as a kid, I was always influenced by, but by fashion, specifically, more, more, the more the street wear. You know, I'm a big on a big sort of lover of, of, you know, like, like, hip hop, especially like the early the early 90s stuff, and then coming through to like, the early 1000s, when people and people like Kanye were really, really coming to the fore, you know, I'm sort of, on 28. And that, for me was was as young as I was back, then I really grew up on it, and I really loved it, you know, like, like, my pocket money would go on buying, saving up to buy Air Force One trainers. And, you know, it's always something that I've wanted to do, and I've always been inspired by, by, by different brands. And for me, being able to take what was in my mind and putting it onto a garment. I'm not not gonna say I'm not gonna say it was it was easy, but it felt natural. To me, it felt like, right, I have these ideas, how can I transfer these ideas into being something that I really feel is a sense of, there's a sense of, of a design that is worthy of, of sort of, you know, were sort of what I would have liked to see as a kid, but bring it into the modern day. And I sort of got got to work on it. And the dyslexia plays again, back to that it played a big part in creating this in this design with the hyphenated words. And then you also take parts of the design as well, whereby it shouts about sustainability whereby we're taking materials that have already been used and we're recycling them the recycled polyester labels. So you know, I'm not saying recycled polyester is is the is the complete answer. It's not, but it's a start into creating a more sustainable fashion world. And so for me, I wanted to take those parts and develop it into a design and then also using embroidery to show to showcase to showcase his pieces. That was, that was a big, that was a big thing for me as well. I feel like the embroidery has more of a more of an attention to detail on the website, I call it detailed to attention just to be backwards and sort of have a have a sort of, you know, a dyslexic view on it. But I do feel like the embroidery gives it a much more a much more detailed view of, of what of what I wanted to create. And so that that is ultimately the design phase and I wanted it to be a bit more I wanted it to be to start with a bit more simplistic, a bit more minimalistic because I don't want it to be something too in your face to start with. You know, I remember the first time that I saw a brand like Montclair for example. And everyone had these shiny, black puffer jackets on. And I was like, What is this brand that everyone's wearing, I felt like out place I felt like I wanted to know. And all they had on them was a tiny little Montclair badge and a circle on the left arm. It made me so curious that I didn't want the brand name to be the focal point of what I'm creating. I wanted people to sort of see a debut t shirt or a debut hoodie, and be like, what is that? What are people wearing? Like? How can I find it? And for me that that is a really big part of my design. So I sort of drew drew inspiration, I guess from I guess from the likes of Montclair to

PB:

nice, some nice pools. So how how many people are we talking about in the company that I guess you're the kind of the one man band in many ways wearing lots of different hats? But do you have other people doing marketing or social media? What's the setup there?

Unknown:

On a on a one man band?

PB:

All the way down? Love it?

Unknown:

Way down? I yeah, I deal with the supply chain. I deal with the desire to deal with manufacturing. website, I do photography, you know, literally everything.

PB:

You know, be good if you could probably just get a couple of interns. Just to I know, promise them the world a bit like Leonardo DiCaprio does in in pretty much every movie. Come on, follow me. You know, I've taken some places and then and then just second at the end of the day.

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, I've had I've had some I've had some guidance. Don't get me wrong. From you know, I've got friends. I've got Franco Joshua who don't who helps me a lot in sort of giving me a lot of guidance in regards to the public relations side of things, you know, and I'd love to employ him I'd love to bring him in. But the the funds just aren't there. You know, I'm self funded this business. Yeah, we're not yet. I mean,

PB:

I mean, so you've got your one man band at the moment. But talk to me about the British Vogue endorsing the brand to be part of bright young things. What happened there?

Unknown:

Yes. So I sent this actually perfect, perfect timing. So just mentioned Josh, and he went to my scope. And he was a year above me. And at school, I feel like when someone's sort of the year above the year below, you don't really socialise too much. It's sort of like a bit like a bit of a stigma, or something like that, whereby you don't socialise with people in different years. And I was browsing through LinkedIn, and I went onto my onto my article. And it came up Josh, and I saw he did PR, rebuilds and helped my PR. Messaging. So I've messaged him, he was like, look, let's meet. So I've met Josh are all sort of like local, like gym and, and coffee location, and sort of sat there had a coffee, and I told him what I'm doing, showed him some of the pieces and he was like, may I really love it. I like really love story. I really like how you created it. Like, let me help you. Let me let me give you some guidance was like, okay, sure thing, no problem. So he's made, he's made a call to, to, to a PR agency called called Fashion crossover. And, and he's sort of having this conversation. He's looking at me, and I'm like, Ah, you know, what, like, what what are they saying? I was worried that they were saying something bad and it wasn't gonna go anywhere. And he was like, Look, they they want you to sort of put an application into to apply for for for bright young things, which is, which is a voc feature that will be endorsed by sort of, you know, the editor in chief and and the fashion department vote. And I was like, No, your lines were like, No way this doesn't happen. And he was like, No, probably shoot so we've we've gone back and we booked in a meeting with with fashion crossover for the Friday. And I presented the brand and I presented myself what I want to do and what I'm Want to achieve and how I'm making my pieces and etc, etc. And I just remember, I just remember like going home that evening, and I was just so excited. I was like, I really want it. I'd love to be part of this. But if it doesn't happen doesn't, you know, it's not the end of the world I'll carry on doing it. And I was driving Josh mad. I was like, Please, can you call him for an answer? He's like, No, you can't do that. Just wait. And I was like, okay. 21st Like, I remember that day, and it's so much in 21st of December. It was a Tuesday, it's just before Christmas. It was around one o'clock in the afternoon, and we got caught. And it was like, Yeah, we vote want your brand to be selected as the bright young things. And I was just like, this is like the best thing that's ever happened to me. Like I've got goosebumps now just telling the story back. And for me, it was just it was just incredible. And I'm really looking forward to to to being featured in the Breitling things feature in British Vogue print and yeah, it just it just means a lot to me that such a such an institutional publication within within the fashion world and it has sort of looked at my brand and has liked it it means a lot

PB:

I mean it's also nice when someone just kind of backs you or Pat's you on the back and kind of endorses yeah just says look you know what you're doing over here is okay but then it's another thing when you have like an establishment do it you know when Yeah, when someone just get you when a powerhouse comes in and gives you a nice little backdrop you know, that's something else isn't it? So

Unknown:

yeah, it really was a gift.

PB:

Gift Yeah, I love it. Like you're moving forward Jake, what are your plans for 2022 Have we got any other designs any other releases for seven

Unknown:

Yeah, so 2022 is is actually looking promising providing not I have the funds to do all of this but yeah, my my brand is focused so much on on on the slow fashion side of things and you know, the circular fashion and an anti fast fashion. The debut collection is going to be carried on you know, this is sort of the beginning of of the debut collection, introducing a few pieces. Starting with the T shirts and the hoodies. I do have my joggers coming out, they should they should be available next week, I think, and socks as well, which are all made from organic cotton, or made in Portugal as well. So sort of really follows on from from the hoodies and the T shirts. And moving forward. I've just submitted my concept sheets and my designs to to the lady that I worked with in Portugal, who's who's honestly amazing. And we were on the phone today. And we're going through that and they consist of knitwear they consist of woollen trousers mixed with it's either going to be like recycled wool mixed with organic cotton, or recycled water mixed with recycled cashmere for the trousers in the process of have some bomber jackets as well. And some and some long car coats, scarves and beanies. As well for more for the for the winter. And then in May time should have should hopefully have denim jackets. And these denim jackets are they really sort of put the nail put the off of work they really sort of hammer home the the ethos of the brand and sustainability. I don't want to go into it too much now sort of want to save it for when they're available for sort of like, you know, like, like a bit of a surprise, but the the technologies and the way that I'm making these jackets, I think as far as I know, it's something completely brand new to the industry. I'm sure there's a few brands doing it, but it's not mainstream yet.

PB:

When's that coming out?

Unknown:

I'm hoping to have them out in May or June. And you know, of course, I'll also share more on those as as we get nearer the time. drop me a note, but Well,

PB:

where do you hang out? Jake, do you hang out on Instagram? Facebook? Where's your?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, I sort of my go to is is Instagram.

PB:

Where do you Where can people find you?

Unknown:

At no one true? Anything? All right.

PB:

Cool. Same as the website. Yeah. I will leave all the links over on the show notes at Menswear. style.co UK. Jake, really good talking to you. And yeah, thanks for having me and have a great weekend and and keep doing the Lord's work

Unknown:

on try and you as well and I guess better

PB:

for people listening to this I guess saying go oh my I am actually doing this in the dark with my eyes closed I'm feeling my way through this view but enjoyed it

Unknown:

You didn't mention that did we? I just started doing

PB:

cool. Have a good weekend. I'll see

Unknown:

you too. Thank you Peter. Thank you

PB:

you've been listening to the menswear style podcast be sure to head over to menswear style dot code at uk for more menswear content and email info at menswear style dot code at UK if you'd like to be a future guest on the show. Finally, please help support the show by leaving a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next

Unknown:

time

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