Purity, a brand set to represent Nagaland in celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the brand, Stylo-Label on the 11th of June at Evening Club Shillong was founded by Imkong Tzuwar.
An entrepreneur by profession and a sneakerhead at heart, Imkong Tzuwar founded Purity in 2020 although he had his dreams and plan in action since early 2015.
Born and raised in Mokokchung, he has always been in love with sneakers and moving to Bangalore for his college only enhanced it as he met like-minded people there.
The thought of creating his own street wear brand has always played its tune in his head but living in Bangalore and attending sneaker events and witnessing different brands there helped him push himself to be where he is today.
As Purity begins to garner attention, Imkong recalls how most of his college days were about scribbling designs and the thoughts of creating a brand that was accessible and affordable for everyone.
Having launched the brand amidst the pandemic, Imkong shared how he had very little to no expectations but the great response they got from their first collection laid the foundation and gave the confidence boost to where they are today.
He then went on to share how the initial idea of the brand was to name it “Not-Interested” and make it a brand themed on the laziness of youths today but upon consideration and realizing that it wouldn’t promote anything positive, he ended up diverting everything he had been working upon and started afresh.
“One day I was in my room with a cold and my mom told me to have pure honey to make myself feel better and the idea of purity came to my mind. I took a pen and thought, ‘How does a bee look like?’ and after a few illustrations I came up with the logo, shared my idea with my friend who is a member of the current team now. He made me a logo and I told my mom, ‘Mom, I’m finally starting the brand’ and we set sail,” he said.
Imkong, who earlier used to work as a tattoo artist invested all his earnings on sampling products from different manufacturers and even till date they are constantly sourcing products from different manufacturers across the country to improve their products and provide a wider range of variety for their audience to choose from.
“We are not opting for cheaper manufacturers from abroad like China and Bangladesh because it would recede our brand’s tag ‘Made at Home,” he said.
“We try our best to be our own brand and move in that direction but yes brands like Palace, ASSC, Supreme, Bape, etc. inspired the brand into being a streetwear brand. We are currently working with 8 members in the team, 6 of them part time and 2 of us full time but there are numerous people that are a part of the team who shares ideas and tactics for the brand to grow,” he said.
As Purity gets set to represent Nagaland in Shillong, Mokokchung Times shares a brief interview with the man behind Purity.
MTimes: You had a brief career as a tattoo artist. What role did it play in your brand’s creative process?
Imkong: One thing I would not regret doing in life was being able to tattoo people from different paths of life and listen to their stories. Although my brand has nothing to do with tattooing now, being a tattoo artist not only gave me a confidence boost but also a broader view of the world and an understanding of people generally so Purity owes a lot to my journey as a tattoo artist.
MTimes: There are so many competitive brands within the world of fashion right now, how do you make your fashion brand stand out from the rest?
Imkong: If you want me to be completely honest then I do not plan to compete with anyone anywhere, the entire motive of Purity was to express myself and us to the world, give it a message and enlighten it with positive influence. Sure, a lot of marketing tactics can be used or implemented to make it more presentable by hiring a PR team as such but I’ve never even quite thought about it because I want people who understand my expression to be a part of this journey. I’ve never asked anyone to buy my products, as a matter of fact some of closest friends doesn’t own anything from my brand or some of my family members doesn’t even know that I own such a thing but that’s the least of my concern because I’m already overwhelmed and grateful for the support I get from around the world. So, what makes us special would be the fact that we’re sailing down our own journey without the thought of competition from or against anyone.
MTimes: What have been the most exciting and challenging part about building your fashion brand?
Imkong: The whole journey has been exciting and thrilling with all the ups and downs I’ve faced along the way, sometimes enjoying it and sometimes being on the verge of almost giving up but if I were to choose one then I’d most definitely say that the most exciting part of Purity has been the printing section for me. For years and till date I’ve watched thousands of videos on YouTube regarding different type of printing methods starting from manual to automatic and digital prints and to be finally able to do it myself gives me the nothing but joy, excitement and a sense of pride that I’m close to my dream.
MTimes: What are the first and most important things to consider before starting your fashion brand?
Imkong: Consistency, preparedness and consistency. Your inconsistency for a short period ruins the trust your audience have in you so always be consistent in what you deliver to your audience, be forever prepared to reach out and understand what they want, and be consistent in doing in over and over again. A lot of brands die not because they lack ideas and innovations but because they lack consistency and preparedness.
MTimes: What sources do you suggest start-up fashion business owners should refer to?
Imkong: I haven’t read a book on fashion or referenced to any case study on any fashion brands that I can suggest to anyone. What Purity is today is through small bits of information from everywhere I had access to and implementing them. Always jot down informations that you might think is useful, ideas that you think might help you grow, never believe in luck, network with everyone that comes into your life but remember people who shows you brighter paths to walk on. If you have the will to do it then it’ll happen, no excuse should be big enough to destroy your goal.
MTimes: What has been your greatest achievement so far? Kindly do dish a little more on your future plans.
Imkong: Greatest achievement apart from being able to start this brand in a part of the world that has access to almost nothing would be the achievement of getting international orders even if we were not able to fulfill those because we are currently sorting out and looking at options to ship intentionally, but yeah, receiving orders from other countries has been a great taste in our journey of being a sample independent brand printing and sourcing apparels from a small village home.
We have a ton of things planned for the future including content creation and travelling. Our first stop is Shillong, there’s a brand called Stylo-Label and their brand is celebrating their 2nd year anniversary and we’ve been invited for a pop-up stall there so we’re heading to Meghalaya for that and we’ll be the only brand representing Nagaland there, the event is on the 11th of June at the Evening Club Shillong so I hope anyone reading this from Shillong will come and say Hi to us. After that we’re planning on pop ups around the state to spread our brand and hopefully collaborate with more local brands and be able to contribute back to our society in one way or another.
