Creative spirits

Globally known as the ‘kings of customisation’ and the go-to fashion tech company for all things personalised including apparel, footwear and accessories, YR was launched seven years ago by Welsh school friends, Tim Williams and Tom Hogan. The company has worked with a wide spectrum of brands, as well as high-profile fashion labels – Michael Kors, Nike and Ralph Lauren are among their client list – and has offices in New York, LA, Hong Kong and Tokyo.  They are on course to turnover £10m this year. Eyestylist spoke to Tim Williams, Co-Founder.

Customisation continues to be a very hot topic in fashion. Can you outline how YR started and how the business has evolved? We started in 2013 as a custom fashion brand – a consumer brand that enabled anyone to come into a YR store and easily create designs on tees, sweatshirts and accessories and then watch as they were printed in just a few minutes. We were very early adopters of experience first retail – no printed inventory in the store, so everything was made on-demand, and the whole theatre and excitement of creating the item and then seeing it come to life live, in-store was really something unique.

YR opened multiple stores all over the world – but sadly it was a difficult business, none of us were experienced at fashion retail and it was tough without serious investment. So, we repositioned what we did and went B2B – helping other brands bring on-demand and customisation to life in-store, at events or online. Now we have 5 offices in London, LA, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong and work with brands on all manner of projects – big and small – all over the world. It’s quite the evolution!

You have worked with global fashion retailers including DKNY, REEBOK and L’Oreal. What has been your most exciting creative project to date? That’s a really hard question and actually the answer is, the most creative time was when YR was a consumer brand. It was exciting that we could make decisions and release artwork packs and see how customers liked them, with live feedback talking to them and seeing their reactions. We worked with some great artists in our London stores; one personal favourite was LA illustrator Bob Motown who loves pizza and cats. Commercially my favourite creative project was working with Liberty where we brought Liberty prints to life on scarves and t-shirts in the iconic London store. Customers could use the patterns to make new designs and add their own touches, it was really incredible to be able to delve into the archives.

Are you a creative or a tech geek? Who brings the creative direction to YR? I think I am creative, it would be hard not to be and get where we are. But, I don’t think its either/or when it comes to tech – there are plenty of creative techie people. I guess I am one of them, I understand the technology but also have a love of creativity, art and design. My business partner and long term friend, Tom, is both creative and highly technical – so not only is Tom heading up our software side but he also drives the creative concept of the business alongside me.

What is your view of how this direction in customisation will further evolve? Made-to-order, bespoke and custom products date back hundreds of years – the great tailoring tradition used to be the preserve of the rich and now, YR, and many others are working hard to make customisation and ‘one of one’ manufacture a reality for mass goods. So I think this is just the beginning. Evolution will take many forms – today, in-store you use touchscreens to make or tweak designs, maybe that will be more gesture or voice-controlled in the near future. The production techniques are moving forward rapidly as machine manufacturers understand this new need for smaller, more nimble machinery. I think there are lots of new production techniques and customisation options on the horizon, not previously possible. Jewellery and accessories are a large area that has a lot of potential. I think 3D printing will come of age and be quicker and better than ever. More importantly, I think consumers will cherish their custom made products more than ever as we strive to have less ‘stuff’ but better and more meaningful relationships with clothing and accessories. The future is exciting!

As a company, with offices far afield, what is your key focus? Is sustainability something you think about? Of course, the global nature means there are some elements of travel that are not good for the environment. That is an issue for us as a business. But, we are enabling a more sustainable future – one reason is the answer above – we want consumers to fall in love with their items and cherish them, something that bespoke and customisation really encourages. As we start 2020 on-demand production and a move away from just customisation is key for YR. That means that instead of a customer choosing a pre-made item, the item is made just for them when they want to buy it. This hugely reduces waste and eliminates stockpiles over time. Sustainability and reduction in oversupply is a key reason we do what we do – we are working alongside some of fashion’s biggest brands to make them more sustainable whilst improving the customer experience.

What inspires you personally? I love building the company and doing something that people love. At YR we put our team first, which means we grow and learn and get better, together. That’s inspiring. Also, I love new ways of doing things and being creative with finding solutions. I’m passionate about turning the traditional business model of fashion on its head and I am constantly inspired by the people I meet.

Do you enjoy being in the fast lane of the new directions in fashion and on demand production? Sometimes. Ha. That’s the truth, really. It’s great when it’s great, but being in the fast lane or on the leading edge of anything opens you to issues and there is no proven path for what we are doing. That can cause customers to have very high expectations – which is not always fun. However, for the large part, it’s great – thinking we have helped shape a market that didn’t exist before us (in-store design via large screens) is interesting. Having our tech running all over the world feels good, and most of the time cancels out the stress of the demanding side of being in the fast lane. Find out more at https://thisisyr.com

Interview written by Clodagh Norton

Emerging label We Are Annu represent the new-generation of innovators in 3D printed eyewear from Germany. Having created their brand amongst friends four years ago, they are now evolving their output and creative direction through shared values, commitment to quality and a genuine desire to innovate. The brand currently specializes in durable, lightweight 3D-printed frames and uses a screwless titanium “Clip” hinge which lends a flexible and robust structure to the design. They also offer a choice of temple size and nose pad, giving an adaptable fit for all face shapes and sizes.

We are Annu is a start-up with a particular design and philosophy. Can you explain how you set up and who the team is? We started in summer 2016, and over the past three years, the team has grown from a single person alone in a workshop, to a group of eighteen of us. Most of whom are also shareholders. We developed it this way because we wanted to create a team of young people who could make something happen together and at the same time, for themselves. Our sense of ownership and responsibility to one another is what makes our brand unique. And this approach has proved a success for us – over and over again.  

As a young, creative company, what are your aspirations? Our focus is simple, we aspire to make the best possible product. That is why we spend considerable time on the details, working and reworking solutions. Our approach is that of continued refinement through an iterative design process because we want to continue to make it better. The end goal for us is design-simplicity, executed with intelligence and mastery – which isn’t easy to achieve. If we succeed, that will be another story. But for now, we keep hold of the idea as a belief and a working process to keep chasing – we push ourselves forward.

What has your experience been so far as a start-up in this business? It is a very competitive market, so we have to choose carefully where to put our energy. And for us, it’s the product, the customers and the opticians every time. These are the most important things to us. Good people and good products. We are now looking forward to establishing long-lasting relationships and forging new ones as we grow our business, and so far, it has been amazing.

It is incredible to think that we only launched in opti in 2019, so we are not even a year old officially. And we have found ourselves on this super exciting journey with so many great people.

From where do you draw inspiration? We are very passionate about creativity and culture and draw inspiration from many places. Art, design, music, the whole creative spectrum really. At the root of this, are the folks behind the work, this is what we are inspired by, people.

We are currently developing an exciting platform called Friends of Annu, and this is where we present the stories of interesting people we know and like. It is still in its infancy, but we hope to build it into something comprehensive. Eventually, it will become an editorial archive of real people and their stories. It is partly a labour of love, but we think a good one.

Are you working together in one office or are you in different places?  Both really, we are a German company based in Nuremberg, and we have an office and workshop here, but we also have members of our team who work remotely out of Amsterdam, Tel-Aviv and Berlin.

We try to meet at least three times a year for full team workshops and to communicate daily through different communication and productivity platforms. It is incredible how connected we are by technology, it has revolutionized how we work and what we can achieve.

What are your plans for 2020? We are looking forward to each and every step along the way. Like I said earlier, we are dedicated to the details and are in a constant process of development – in all areas of our business. It could be design innovation, R&D, brand design, sales, manufacture, the team, everything. It’s all happening.

We have a new collection to present at the Munich trade fair in January. We will be showing what we believe to be the lightest eyewear on the market, and the frames are absolutely beautiful. Find out more: https://weareannu.com  Clodagh Norton interviewed Iddo Zimmermann, Co-Founder, We Are Annu.

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