Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nate Kreiter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Nate, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I have ever worked on is the one I am currently working on.

I’ve been a fashion designer for around 10 years, and most of those were spent trying to prove I could do it, mostly to myself, but also to the world. One thing I learned quickly is that the world usually doesn’t care, and you just need to focus on doing it for yourself, your joy, and why you started doing it in the first place.

During the last few years I was putting out my best work, and it was going well, but there seemed to be a disconnect between the art I was doing and the perception people had about it just being “clothes” or “fashion” when to me, it was above all else, art. The way I designed my pieces, from the original drawing, to picking out the fabrics, to the final construction of it was thought about in a way that when its on the body, its a walking piece of art. Every angle, every seam, zip, button, line, curve, all of it was thought out and combined meticulously to create the entire garment.

I was struggling to understand how to get that point across, as people attention spans are so short nowadays and I can’t just write an essay and outline how I designed the garment that would accurately and effectively get my point across in a way that would keep attention and change the readers perspective. So for 2 years I brainstormed how to solve this problem. Then I came up with the idea for the current project. It consists of some of my most complex to construct garments, deconstructed and displayed in such a way you can see how many pattern pieces, how much fabric, and how much design work, and artistry goes into the creation of it. Once finished, along with a few other exhibits I am currently working on, they will be presented in my first gallery show. The point of the show is to show the journey from conception to completion of each garment I design.

Nate, 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 born and raised in Billings, Montana. Known for its natural beauty, but unfortunately not known for its artistic culture. I knew pretty early on I wasn’t meant to be there, and my impact on this world would have to be done in a different place. So shortly after graduation college, I moved to Los Angeles to live on a couch and work retail… After a few years of being lost, not understanding my purpose or place I hit an all time low. When I was there the only thing that I had was art. So I started stenciling ideas and spraying them on hoodies and tees I had. For no other reason than I liked how it looked. After a while people started inquiring about where to get them, and that’s where N8 started. After my father built my first screen press, I thought myself how to print graphics on tees/hoodies and for a few years that was the business. But that wasn’t art to me, that was just clothes. I then dedicated all my time and life to learning how to make the designs I had in my mind, but nobody took me seriously. Until I met my current design partner, pattern maker and sample maker, Lupita. In our very first meeting together she said a few words that would change my life forever, “We can make anything you can think of. anything.” My eyes were finally fully opened to what was possible in the fashion/art world. We haven’t looked back since, except to reminisce on how far we’ve come.

I also think that is the exact thing that sets N8 apart from other brands. We make whatever we want, whatever we can think of, whenever we want. It’s not seasonal, it’s not to sell a ton of units, it’s for the art, the creativity, and the challenge to make something nobody has seen before. We are fully designed, cut, sewn and sourced in Los Angeles so we have full control of everything.

I think that leads to the thing I am most proud of. Each garment is special to me, and we treat is as such. We are a made to order brand, so each garment is specifically made for the person that ordered it, at the moment they placed the order. This poses difficulties when it comes to cost, time, and margins. But, it also leads to more care, personal touch, and significantly lessens our environmental impact. We don’t over order fabric, finishings, and don’t have unused inventory sitting on a shelf. We create exactly what is ordered with the exact amount of recourses needed. Fashion is historically a really wasteful and impactful industry. We don’t want to be part of that problem.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think one thing that is hard for people to understand is how much energy and effort goes into art, fashion design, and the pieces we create. It’s not super physical in the beginning, it’s all mental. Sitting in front of a blank page, or a pile of fabric swatches trying to come up with something that will be impactful. All the failed drawings, bad ideas, or good ideas that got lost in the mess.

Then once the drawing/concept is done, then you have the hardest part, trying to figure out how to physically crate this garment in the real world to be worn on the unpredictable, ever changing human body. So, not only are you trying to create a timeless piece of art, but you are trying to do so while also wrapping it around a moving being.

It really is wild when you think about it that way, and how the perception is oftentimes that it’s just clothes, or not art. I have dabbled in multiple art mediums in my life/career, but fashion is by far the most challenging to me personally, because oftentimes you are trying to create perfect symmetry on an imperfect asymmetrical body. But that’s where they joy comes, if you make that happen, and it comes out perfect. There is no feeling like it.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal currently driving my creative journey is to bridge the perceived gap between art and fashion. I, along with many other designers design with their artistic expression in mind. In my experience, the gap between people in and out of fashion is significant, and until we can bridge it, we are selling ourselves short. I want people to see a garment I created and just sit and look at it for a minute like they would a painting they connected with in a museum. Or when someone puts on something I made, they look at themselves like the work of art, and their confidence is boosted. To do this, I am going to present these pieces in a gallery in such a way that they cannot be perceived in any other way than art. Like it, love it, dislike it, or hate it, it will ideally illicit an emotional reaction and make the viewer feel something.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopn8.com
• Instagram: @shopn8, @natekreiter

Image Credits
Nate Kreiter