Cult Streetwear Brand Seventh Is So Much More Than Heavyweight Sweats
Brand building is a medium rooted in visual communication. When aesthetics are prioritized to ensure our attention is snatched in seconds, it’s easy to forget that behind the pictures and garments, the sensory experience of consumerism is a collective of people who work tirelessly to craft a cult.
Seventh, a brand conceived with no notion or desire of building a cult, has achieved just that. Through its carefully considered, tastefully curated visual communication, audience engagement, and uncompromising commitment to constructing quality garments, it has built a loyal community who has found harmony in togetherness.
Despite making considered efforts to build a family between itself and its consumers, the harmony between Seventh’s visual treatments and products have largely been its voicebox thus far, leaving fans eager to learn more about the tight-knit team at its heart.
As the brand embarks on a new era with its first seasonal collection, SS23, Founder Bukki Ojo and Creative Director Emmanuel Duru shed light on the story of Seventh.
What is Seventh, and how was it transformed from an idea into reality?
Bukki: I started my first brand at 18, which was editing vintage pieces, such as applying patchwork to denim jackets. I had quick success straight out of college, and in a short time, I went from working at Topshop to leaving and having my products stocked there, among other retailers, at a very young age.
Things were up and down because I didn’t know how to run a business, leaving me in an uncomfortable position. I ended up doing a Master’s Degree in Fashion Entrepreneurship & Innovation without an undergraduate, by the grace of God. In need of income, I was encouraged to start trading my leftover stock at the market in Camden while studying.
Once finished, I decided to purely focus on the vintage business. After five years, I decided that I didn’t want to sell vintage anymore. At this point, I had a store, customers, and a dedicated community, and felt this would be the perfect time to test something out. In essence, Seventh started as an experiment.
I’d built a curated archive of ‘90s and early 2000s vintage sportswear and streetwear, so I said, “Let me use the silhouettes that I’m selling but simplify them.” I loved the quality, fits, and silhouettes of these vintage pieces, but I hated the colors and logos. I never wore it.
Following a trip to Korea, the concept of Seventh was born; to take my best-selling curated vintage pieces, strip them down, and use them as a guideline. I think it was out of that frustration of being unable to find simple products with great silhouettes, amazing quality, and easy-wearing colors that the Seventh design philosophy came about.
Emmanuel, what was your background before Seventh?
Emmanuel: I'll be transparent – I'm learning. When Bukki first reached out to me, I actually wasn't a creative director; I'd just graduated from uni and [creative direction] was a hobby for me, just posting pictures on Instagram. When she messaged me it was a divine time, because I had nothing going on. I took the opportunity she offered, thinking it was just going to be a one-time thing – as she said at the beginning, it was like an experiment.
We soon realized we have such a connection in regards to aesthetics and design, we flow very seamlessly in our ideas, and it's very organic. With Seventh, we always knew that we wanted to create something more than just vintage.
Bukki: Looking at the grand scheme, it seems very ordained and calculated, but it's been so organic. When I was selling vintage, Emmanuel used to post pictures of Nike trainers, and it looked so aesthetic. So the Nike trainers I used to sell, I’d now repost on my vintage page as content.
When I envisioned this brand, I wanted it to be artsy. I wanted it to be minimal and unique, and his feed was perfection.
Emmanuel: One thing I always say is being teachable is key in this industry, because one thing I always had coming in was an open mind. Working with a lot of older people who are OGs in the industry gave me so much knowledge on how to operate as a creative director.
I've learned a lot, and I'm still learning. One thing that was very shocking was designing – I never knew that I could design, but it came very naturally. Bukki would always be working on certain things, and I'd have such a keen interest, even before Seventh, and she was like, “Why didn't you just join the design team and help me design products?”
It feels like you’ve achieved harmony in how you work with one another and generate ideas, from concept to product to community building. How have you been able to refine and transform them into what the brand is today?
Bukki: From selling vintage for so long, I learned how to communicate with customers and how to build a community. From reposting people’s stories to creating a TV show on stories where I was videoing customers, asking what they were wearing, and so on. When we did the rebrand from the vintage business to the brand, I knew that energy and closeness with the community were important. Early on, it was clear that family energy would be our core, from the way we shoot content to the way we communicate online.
These early ideas, through natural refinement, are reflected in what you are physically seeing from Seventh. We prioritize Mother's Day, Father's Day, and all of these family events because that's what's important to us personally. Whatever presents itself with a natural consistency becomes your core, and that reflects through the simplicity of our products.
Emmanuel: When you have your brand identity, you'll know what works for the brand, which makes it easy for you to streamline what you’re doing.
We say we're simple, so we're not going to add certain things to the hoodie or the silhouette, because we also have to ensure that it's consistent throughout everything we're doing, whether that's packaging, clothing, or content. I think we, as Seventh, understand who we are as a brand, and that helps us understand our customers. Seventh isn’t all about our personal likes; it stands alone, so giving it a voice and allowing people to fall in love with it is very important.
In collaborations, we see one or both brands’ identities diluted during the creative process. As you work on collabs, such as your recent project with Little Simz, how do you ensure you’re maintaining your identity and authenticity?
Emmanuel: When collaborating, we like to tell our partner what the no-go areas are. We like to be very open so you don't clash with them in the long run. Obviously both parties want to be heard, but you need to make sure that whatever your morals and beliefs are, they’re understood.
Collaborating with Little Simz made so much sense for us because of her audience and who she is – independent and authentic. Through her work, you can see that she has this consistent focus. Likewise, we also aspire to have and maintain consistency.
Do you see more value in collaborating with individuals than brands or corporate entities?
Bukki: I just watched the movie Air, and in that... they’re just Nike shoes until Michael Jordan steps into them. Michael Jordan made the shoe what it is from his story, his American dream; that's what made them such a pinnacle and in-demand product.
When you're working with a person, you can go deeper than you can with a brand. I'm still not against collaborating with brands, of course, every brand has a story and a background, but it's way more personal when it's a individual. That is something that you can't deny. I'm super open to working with brands, so it'll be a great challenge to see how we can ensure it’s personal and intimate.
You just launched SS23. What’s it been like building your first seasonal offering? What challenges have you faced, and how have you evolved the Seventh DNA?
Bukki: It’s been challenging because our tastes have always been in weighted products. Within the team, Jared, our designer and developer, has been teaching me that quality and desirability aren’t all about weight. My question was always, “If we're working with lighter weights, what can we do to elevate the product?”
We’ve focused purely on the silhouette, the cut, and beautiful textures that are breathable and functional. We’ve looked at these other aspects that add to the product’s value and coupled them with our unique colorways. SS23 is expanding my mind in terms of how deep we can get with concepts. As a result, we are growing up as a brand. Our audience is growing; we want to ensure that we're still appealing to them, and I think that the Spring/Summer does that.
Emmanuel: We needed to not shy away from challenging ourselves. I think once we got our heads together and had our design meeting with Jared, we started to realize that we can create something more.
How can Seventh continue to mature with the lessons you’ve learned from building SS23?
Bukki: One thing we’ve learned is that people want to buy into a look; they don't just want to buy a product.
This has encouraged us to ensure that if there’s a sling bag in our visuals, it's an actual bag that we're going to produce. People are sold by the entire look and want to wear Seventh head to toe. That emphasized the importance of building additional categories, like the shorts, tees, and accessories in SS23. New categories are not just about ticking a box; we want to get them right from the beginning. Our slides, for example, were supposed to launch, but we’re not happy with the product yet; it has to make sense for our consumers.
The main thing across collections that we want to ensure is that – from head to toe, from cap to feet – we can say, “These products are available.” Ideally, Seventh isn’t limited to clothing. Clothing is just scratching the surface. We want to be a brand that lives in different parts of your life. We want to be a brand that lives in your home.
Emmanuel: As a creative director, the main lesson was challenging my mind in how I dress. I love to dress in sets. Even when styling with Seventh, it would always be matching. This Spring/Summer collection challenged me in a way that I had to utilize other colors and textures within the styling.
As a designer, it was working with texture. Innovation can be a challenge because you're not used to it, but in the end, my eyes were opened to what textures are out there and how we can use them in future collections to create standout pieces.
Bukki: I completely agree with that, because I've taken that [thinking] into Fall/Winter. Jared kept saying, “You guys need to do texture. Just come out of your usual same-same.” So going forward, we need to switch it up. We need to have an open mind regarding design, textures, and colors to keep the customer excited.
A brand loses its essence and momentum when it becomes predictable, but when you’re unpredictable, you’re on top, because you’re always surprising.
