RIVERISWILD -INTERVIEW
RIVERISWILD INTERVIEW
There are clothing companies and there are brands. Brands have a soul, a DNA , a certain genetic code that flows from season to season. Riveriswild is one of those unique lifestyle brands. The brand has a core humanitarian goal and creates incredible apparel that have a direct connection to Africa and tells a story. We spoke with Akinwale Akinbiyi who is one of the founders of the brand.
What's your name and the name of your brand?
Akinwale Akinbiyi and Thomas Davis and the brand name is riveriswild (one word).
How did you come up with the name RiverisWild and what is the meaning?
The name comes from a song I listened to a lot in college, the meaning however has nothing to do with the song. The name represents the chaotic fluidity of life, a reminder that change is the only constant and that we must embrace the madness.
How would you describe your brand?
We’re a lifestyle brand with a humanitarian core, we donate a portion of our profits to charities dedicated to ending the global water crisis and host events for similar causes.
How has your personal style influence the DNA of the brand?
Heavily, We don’t make anything we wouldn’t wear, Tom is the more adventurous dresser so we mostly take notes from his style evolution.
How would you describe your design process?
The goal is to transcribe my childhood experiences and African pop culture and history onto western silhouettes. We try to dig for the most interesting and esoteric references to our heritage we can find.
River is Wild has managed to transition season after season from hats ,shorts,shirts and now outerwear without missing a step. What has been the secret?
We work really hard and love what we do, no real secret there, we’re just fashion and history nerds.
What is your brand connection to Africa?
I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria till age 14, it’s our spiritual home and the place we manufacture most of our cut and sew garments.
How has the brand progressed in the first four years with the first two pieces in fall of 2014 ?
We’ve just tried to dig even deeper into African history, continue to innovate and excite ourselves. It has gone wonderfully, I recently quit my job and moved to Los Angeles to work on the brand fulltime.
What has been some of the challenges that people don't see?
Funding, Press, funding, funding and funding. We have a lot of ideas, it would be great to have the capital to explore most of them; However the lack of funds definitely challenges you to be more innovative.
The collection names include Rainmakers, Victoria Falls, Cozy is Calm, Anasi Dreams, Save Titan etc. What's the inspiration behind the names?
Each one would probably take a whole paragraph to explain but we usually name our collections after whatever corner of the continent the inspiration is coming from. Anansi Dreams was Ghana, Victoria Falls was Zambia, etc.
What is Nativeland Gang?
That’s the name for everyone that supports this brand, if you’ve ever purchased riveriswild or come to any of our events, congratulations, you’re in the gang!
What is your personal favorite piece you created so far?
Hard question to answer because it changes weekly, but for me its probably our fleece bombers.
Whats is your favorite movie of all time?
Casino!
Are you an early riser or late night person?
Early for sure, I’m up at 5am every single day.
Whats next for River is Wild and where do you see the brand in five years?
2018 is going to be filled with more events, we want to meet the people as much as possible, in 5 years, we hope to be in as many closets as possible and run our own Charity organization based in Lagos.
Check out River is Wild and make that purchase
http://www.riveriswild.com/shop