Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kashif Bond. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kashif, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Creating my brand name was fairly simple. I believe everyone is completely different which makes us all 1 of a kind. I’m a unique person and I have a unique birth name so I wanted others to have something to relate to as well. Below is my brand mission statement:
Established in 2014 1 Of A Kind™ was created as a Lifestyle brand. No matter what race, religion, gender, age, background, occupation, financial status, mental health, disability etc.
It does not matter. You are 1 Of A Kind™ and this brand is for you!
I’m also fascinated by Egyptian culture and their ancient history so I included the Eye of Horus in my original brand logo. It’s a stylized eye with distinctive markings and was believed to have protective magical power and appeared frequently in ancient Egyptian art. It was one of the most common motifs for amulets, remaining in use from the Old Kingdom – the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the “Age of the Pyramids” or the “Age of the Pyramid Builders”.
It represents a few different things like knowledge, health and protection from evil or well-being, healing (restoration) and protection. This all depends on where you reference but to keep it straight forward and easier for the average mind to comprehend I chose to stick with the terms: Royal Power, Protection & Good Health.
Today, the Eye of Horus is still used for protection against evil forces and is also believed to bring rejuvenation, energy, and vitality to its wearer. It is placed in homes to improve safety and security from both physical and emotional dangers.
Kashif, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was always an artist growing up dating back into elementary school. I remember being in the third grade at the age of 8 or 9 and being placed into a special class called ‘Artistically Talented’. Me and a few other students would be separated from normal Art class once or twice a week and put together in a smaller group to better focus and further express our artistry skills. We would go over the basics of traditional art starting with pencil types and sketching also the technical aspects like how to draw portraits, shadowing, proportions, blending colors using palette knifes, experimenting with water colors and more. We started with acrylics then gradually went over to oil paints on our final canvases. I vividly remember using oil paints (not only because of the smell) but because it stayed wet for a lot longer than acrylics, it gave us the flexibility to start a painting and then come back to it and continue straight where we left off. I completed some amazing pieces and I never did thank my art teacher for noticing how advanced I was and referring me to that opportunity because I was just a child but it was a highlight of my days and the impact is everlasting with me.
Fast forward from 1997-1998 to 2005 now in high school. I’m 16 and I was introduced to photography. It was an after school class for about 90 minutes and my favorite part of the week. Our school was donated DSLR cameras from Nikon and the teacher only wanted us to capture in black & white. Today it’s still my favorite form of photography and I got comfortable in no time. We were able to take the cameras home to shoot whatever we want and then we all would empty our SD cards onto the Mac PCs back in school and showcase our work with each other. Some of our photos would later be used in the schools yearbook. We also had pen pals in Nicaragua that we would exchange photos with. It was a new experience to connect with them on a weekly basis and to see how different our lifestyles were from living in other countries. At the end of it all, I didn’t want to give the camera back to the teacher I was so hooked. I took thousands of photos and I still have them on a compact disc to this day. Photography became a newfound passion and it’s still my favorite craft/hobby almost 20 years later.
2014 is when I started my clothing brand. This is the same year my daughter was born. Being a new parent I knew I had to create a business that my child(ren) can take control of. Something they can inherit and hopefully pass down to the next generation. I’ve always had a love for fashion since watching music videos growing up but mainly seeing my uncle and his friends start their own clothing brand from the ground up. They would tie dye t-shirts and print them in-house all on their own and sometimes I would help with the tie dye process. That was a big influence for me and the brand is still alive and doing well over 30 years later. Also my uncle was always sewing and creating custom pieces. There was always 2 or more sewing machine tables in our house and stacks of sewing patterns laying around. We would go source new fabrics and thread colors every weekend mostly in NYC. This was 1996-1998 between the ages of 7 and 9 for me. As I grew into a young teen and was able to dress myself I became a fashionable person. I wouldn’t say iconic (maybe I am, who knows…) but I know for sure I’m an inspiration to a good amount of people who’ve looked to me for fashion trends and tips over the years. So with eyes on me constantly (locally) it was only fitting that I start my own brand and showcase my personal style and share it with others. Some might say it was long over due but I think I picked the right time. Now as an adult with my knowledge of screen printing, embroidery and tie dying I can hand make and source the best quality hats, shirts and hoodies for my customers.
Today I do it all. I still paint when I have the time and photography when I take photos of products for my brand social media accounts. It’s really all second nature to me now since I’ve never let one of these crafts die out over the years. This is what sets me apart from other creatives is being multitalented. I’m super proud of myself for that reason and to be able to provide my services to my community and any others who reach out for my insight with their own business or craft.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I’ve been making clothes for the past 10 years now and my brand is in a really good spot, whenever people ask me for advice I feel like the most important question to ask is why are you doing this, if their goal is to make a ton of money, there is a million easier ways to make money than with clothes. Fashion is the intersect where craft meets art and it’s going to take you years to develop those skills fortunately it’s one of those skills where you can get paid to learn along the way, I recommend you set your expectations low. I’ve met countless people over the course of my journey possibly hundreds or so who start a brand do a drop and then get 0 sales and get discouraged and move on to their next thing, just like any form of art you’re going to suck at it and you’re going to suck at it for a long time but you persevere you start by drawing lines then you move to shapes then doing portraits and landscapes and now you’re making art, it all takes time. It’s ok to be discouraged building any new skill takes time. Take a step back but always come back and come back harder. Unless you’re some huge popular influencer nobody has heard of you or your brand you have to build community and you do that by being authentic. Building community is the most important thing when starting a brand, make things that are real, make things you are proud of, things that are authentically you and authenticity will find you. Connect with people who really like what you’re doing and you can make some really good friends along the way. The reward for creating a successful brand is not measured in money followers or influence it’s in making things that make people feel good and proud to own something of yours knowing you put so much heart and soul into it.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
The best way to go is organically. Multiple daily post (or as many as you can), hashtags and consistency. It’s growing slowly but surely. Also interact with your commenters and followers as much as possible. Do not be afraid to engage.
If you have a new account work on getting as much product in hand to do photoshoots and get social proof. Regular looking photos as well. If you have clothing or jewelry get people in your product and post a series of 3 photos/videos at a time so it lines up nicely on the page. A “row”. This helps with the aesthetic of your account. Also sharing a lot of other peoples posts to your story and tagging them in it, following them and liking some of their posts. You can use your friends businesses or other local businesses that you’ve supported recently or in the past.
Hashtags. I’m big on hashtags. For Instagram it allows you to use up to 30 hashtags some people would say you shouldn’t use all 30, some say only 4-5 niche hashtags, it’s entirely up to you but I recommend using all 30 and keep them relevant to your brand. Hashtags are a huge weapon in your arsenal for growing organically AND THEY WORK! The best way to use them is all of them.
Giveaways also work but giveaways not related to your apparel or brand are not recommended (for example I sell clothing so I wouldn’t use Air Pods) Yeah you may get a wave of new followers but they won’t buy your product. Don’t focus on numbers and create quality content.
Last one is just engaging on other people’s post by liking commenting and following a lot of other accounts in your niche. Do this frequently (this works best with a combined effort of all the above.)
It’s really all about engagement. Growing on social media is time consuming but worth it. Yes you can buy followers but you’ll find these followers have no interest in your brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://1ofakindgear.bigcartel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1ofakindgear
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1ofakindgear
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/1ofakindgear
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@1ofakindgear
Image Credits
0to100productions