We recently connected with J Danny and have shared our conversation below.
J, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
There are many fashion houses/brands that have positioned themselves as the epitome of luxury and symbols of success when worn by an individual. Owning many of these brands myself was an experience and provided a sense of social class. But what if I created a brand with a message that not only spoke to an individual’s lifestyle, but specifically how they view themselves currently and/or what they are striving to become. Everyone is different yet the same. We are all on a pursuit to create and live a life that makes us feel VERY RICH according to our own standards. Knowing our value and worth we are expecting to be treated VERY EXPENSIVE. It was at this moment VRVE was born (the acronym for Very Rich Very Expensive). A brand you can truly be and embody.
J, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m simply a person who has big dreams, one of which was to start a fashion brand. I have always considered fashion to be fun, important, and a way of expressing one’s vibe, emotion, and personality. Fashion has a way of speaking to people even if you have not said a word. To some, clothes are just something you wear to cover your body. To me, there’s an aspect of art to the fashion industry that is interesting and influenced the start of VRVE. As much as I appreciate couture and avant-garde, I gravitated to the comfortable ready-to-wear options to display VRVE and it’s message. When you ask me, “what am I most proud of”, my answer is that I did not let fear, challenges, people, the unknown journey, etc. stop me from creating VRVE.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Similar to many fashion brands, I have a supplier(manufacturer) that turns my designs into reality. However, I had to educate myself on different fabrics, fabric weight, measurements (size), styles in the market, logo techniques, etc. The process is not as simple as going to your local print shop and stamping a logo on a t-shirt. It’s truly a process because fabric is not cut until I speak with the manufacturer and we discuss everything. The company that I work with is also in a different time zone, so this requires many late night discussions about a product prior to it’s development. Then, I request to receive a sample before the large order is made. Once I receive the sample, I review it, wear it, wash/dry it accordingly, Sometimes I take my sample into luxury retailers to compare weight, feel, fabric, etc. to other brands in the store. I also do market price research. Once this is done, I follow up with the manufacturer and if I’m satisfied we proceed with the official order. Shipping cost (imported), paying manufacturer employees, fabric cutting, sewing, quality control etc. is factored in this order because I do not want to be nor am I considered a fast fashion brand. (that is a whole other topic)… The process is extensive especially when you’re doing it by yourself and don’t want to play small. So if there are any investors out there, contact me…
Contact Info:
- Website: VRVEOFFICIAL.COM
- Instagram: @VRVEOFFICIAL