GET FAMILIAR: AGELESS GALAXY

As a small, independent brand, almost all our business is based on personal relationships. As true fans of sneaker culture, we are deeply invested in this retail game. We have strong connections to everyone we work with, and to introduce the people behind the tight circle of global Patta stockists, we decided to include retail partners in our Get Familiar series. This time we're sitting down with our friends over at Ageless Galaxy, read down below what the Jakarta based streetwear label had to say.

How did Ageless Galaxy start off?

[TAMISH:] We started AGLXY seven years ago, in December 2013, prior to that we started off as a creative agency. We always had the end goal to start our own clothing brand, but we lacked resources though and didn’t want to take the obvious route of finding an investor. The brand idea itself started with one of my school projects, a branding case study where we created Ageless Galaxy.

Nearing the end of my studies, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer, and while cleaning up my desk I found this project again. Some of the mentalities and quotes I had put in the project got a new perspective in my battle against this disease, leading to me playing around with the graphics and falling in love with the project again.

How did you guys end up becoming a team?

[TAMISH:] Giorgi used to work at a bookshop, this bookshop did not only sell books though, but they were also selling music and fashion at that time. I ran into him there, I just recovered from my disease at the time, so Giorgi didn’t recognize me at first, since I had long hair the last time we saw each other. We ended up hanging out again, eventually at one of Giorgi’s BBQ’s I asked him if he wanted to start a brand. He wanted to do something different and have ownership over something, so after that, Giorgi always joined me after work to work on Ageless. I’m more on the creative side of things while Giorgi takes care of the business side.

Before starting Ageless, were you already familiar with the apparel industry?

[TAMISH:] So, I’ve always designed graphics for local brands here and in Vancouver, clothing was always something I was into, but the money was never there. So when we got the creative agency off the ground, we started investing in our own brand, the wholesale distribution, and eventually our retail space.

On your webshop, I noticed a lot of collaborations with bars and restaurants, how did these come about?

[TAMISH:] Since Ageless Galaxy also does branding projects for clients outside of the apparel industry, we’ve built a lot of connections with bars and restaurants. Giorgi and I love to drink fancy cocktails and eat good food, so we can relate to these worlds. We still reflect on the high intensity of the F&B industry in our own company and it's a hustle that we most definitely relate to and apply to our trade.

How would you say your affinity with retail came to be?

[GIORGI:] At first, we were comfortable with selling our product through other retailers and online. As our product started to develop a bigger story though, the story got lost as we couldn’t tell it ourselves. Hence why we want to create our own space where we can tell the stories the way we want to.

What do you look for in a brand before you add them to your brand mix?

[TAMISH:] It’s all about seeing eye to eye, there has to be a shared key message, we try to stay away from the ‘your logo my logo approach’.

The name Ageless Galaxy, what’s the thought behind the brand name?

[TAMISH:] Aside from us just loving Sci-Fi, it’s also about the need to explore, about the same perseverance that mankind had to travel to the moon. Think about that, think about what it took to get human beings on the face of the moon. Now if you apply that mentality to whatever you do in your own life, that 'whatever it takes' mentality, that's what we are about. And Ageless Galaxy is for everyone that wants to be a better version of themselves.

You guys are opening up a new flagship store, what is the vibe going to be in the store?

[GIORGI:] Music-wise, since our own palettes don’t really match, we’ve found our common ground in Hip-Hop. Aside from music, we want to give people an experience comparable to a speak-easy bar. We want our staff to be able to meet with people and make friends more than anything, and not thirst on making every customer a potential sale.

Talking shop, how is the overall retail experience in Indonesia?

[TAMISH:] The looks are there, it’s just that the experience is more focused on getting the product and then immediately getting out. Everything Is very product-centric; people tend to be on the shy side, we’re trying to break that mentality with Ageless Galaxy.

As younger generations take over, do you feel the tide is changing?

[GIORGI:] Definitely, 5 years ago it wouldn’t have been the time to open up shop, but the younger audience is ready now.

Since COVID-19 has impacted us all, what did it do to your country?

[GIORGI:] Indonesia was pretty ignorant about it for a while, basically, we were still partying and stuff. Everybody said ‘we already have so much pollution here, so this can’t be that bad’. Ultimately, more people got sick, the severity became more clear and the country had to go in complete lockdown.

What did you do to keep Ageless up and running?

[TAMISH:] We started a stay at home initiative where we basically told everyone to stay at their homes, we pushed this through social media. The clothing side of the business took a pretty large hit, but luckily we got a lot more branding jobs from other companies on the agency side. Since everything was moving to online, many of the brands and companies needed to increase their outings. So there really was a lack of content for everyone so a lot of people came to us looking to create content for them, that is what saved us during this period.

Did the government do anything to help small businesses out?

[GIORGI:] There is a government initiative, it only started out a month ago although we’ve been in this situation for 3 or 4 months.

How did you find out about Patta back in the days?

[GIORGI:] I always had an affiliation with European brands, since I travelled to the continent a multiple times. I found out naturally since there weren’t many similar stores back then.

[TAMISH:] I found out through Parra, I’m a fan of his work and stumbled upon the script logo he made for you guys. I started looking it up and since then I’ve been following the brand.

How did you end up getting in touch with Patta?

[TAMISH:] We were doing a project with Adidas on street culture, they wanted to do something different. We proposed to fly someone over who has been in the game and could do a talk, speaking about the hustle of the industry. Someone from our team had an email from Patta, we started talking and we ended up flying Edson over. Not long after, we came to Amsterdam and we went out to your office, even attending Edson’s Dad's birthday, and during these mutual trips the connection was made. We connected really well and before we knew it we flew Tim and Danny the year after. The click was just instant and we vibed on multiple levels, professional as well as personal. So when we wanted to open up our own store, we approached you guys to add Patta to the brand mix. We explained our thought process behind the store, and Patta just felt like the fit because of the family feeling.

If you would have to give one piece of advice for young people trying to set up a brand or open up shop, what would it be?

[TAMISH:] We’ll do one business and one creative related, so firstly, be smart with your money, that’s the main thing. The other thing is, stay consistent with your message, mentality and quality.

Ageless Galaxy is opening their first physical retail space soon, be sure to pay them a visit when travelling is deemed safe again. Stay up to date by following their instagram, or have a peek at their website. Down below are three of the team's favourite items from the current Autumn Winter 2020 collection.