RCGNTN: make local your focal

Tony Tay comes across as a friendly, unpretentious guy who just so happens to be the founder of one of Singapore’s most prominent labels around, Geseho. But with further investigation, what comes through most strongly about the man is his passion for building up a street culture that we can truly call our own and bringing about a positive change to the mindsets of many. A man of many talents and one who has possibly dabbled in a variety of areas, he shows me that there is no stop to learning and sticking up for your own priniciples, and most importantly, knowing where you came from and representing it with pride. It is no wonder that he commands a lot of respect with regard to his beliefs as well as his label, which he has brought up from humble beginnings at the guerilla garage store.

What is the concept behind Geseho?
It came from our garage, Geseho Motor Works. From there, we took our daily repair work as a metaphor for our clothing to craft and shape our local street culture.

Garage wear is closely associated to America. So local garage is like…
Local garage is like ‘anything goes’. (laughs) Basically for us, we have got a garage and we do our repair work there, but we don’t have a uniform so everyone wears anything they are comfortable in unlike the US where they have specific garage uniforms. So for Geseho apparel, we are not bounded by that which means we can produce all kinds of clothing.

Do you only stick to staples like black, white and grey?
It’s not really our staple colour. I guess maybe it has something to do with our age; old people find it hard to wear red and green. (laughs)

Do you find yourself following the trend sometimes?
I would be lying if I said no but I will always put out what I feel like wearing first before thinking of what the customer would want. If I’m starting the brand, I need to lead instead of following the trend. We are creating a brand here, we’re giving it character. It has to be in a way whereby people start feeling for the brand, and not the other way round where you feed people what they what. We need to have our own identity. If customers like it, they buy it. We’re here to put out our own style. You don’t see me wearing cropped pants right?

How about the recent popularity of Cut and Sew?
Cut and sew is nothing new to Asia. The reason why it’s so popular in US is because street wear brands there use existing, readymade shirts and all they have to do is to add their designs and tags. When it comes to customizing the cutting of your shirt, it’s new to them. Asia, on the other hand, has got no readymade shirts to use hence we’ve got to start from scratch; it’s our culture.

Tell us about Awaken, your most recent collection.
Awaken is very personal to me. I’ve been into street wear and hunting limited stuff for so long and I’ve finally come to a point where I feel that I don’t really need all these stuff even if they look cool. I have moved on.

How about your next collection, Gorgeous Mannequin? It’s a pretty intriguing title for a collection.
The idea came to me when we organized the last event and brought in Darbotz from overseas, a well known artist from Indonesia. However, the turnout was not as good as expected and we came to the conclusion that many people are just into this for the fashion; to look good but no desire to find out more about the culture.

What inspired you to start Geseho?
The street, because I find that there’s something lacking here, a street wear brand that is purely inspired by our street. There are a lot of street wear brands out there but I find that they are not talking about our street culture; instead they’re just another casual wear brand.

Then what is our local street culture?
It depends on how you see it. To me, because it’s a ‘rojak’ (mix) of everything, that’s our unique point. For example in Japan or Korea, they have only one culture but Singapore is unique in a way that there are so many different races and cultures. It’s something that we should embrace and sell to the world.

Why is it that people are not so supportive of local brands and would rather wear foreign brands?
I feel that there are several reasons from both the brands and the consumers ends that led to this. Local brands may have failed to put out nice products or build up a cool brand image that the people can be proud of representing. Consumers may lack of brands and cultural knowledge or they are just too narrow minded to accept and explore local brands and street culture. Other reasons could be peer pressure, lack of personality, etc.

How do you intend to push our local street culture with your clothing?
I don’t intend to push our culture; I just do what I believe in. When I was younger, people told me Singapore wasn’t ready but it’s been more than 15 years and we’re still at the same place. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have someone ‘up there’ who we can follow; we don’t have a pioneer in street wear unlike in the US where they have had Stussy around for many years. It’s not that we’re not ready; it’s just that nobody dares to do it. So, like I said, I’m just here to do what I do and hopefully it sets a good example.

What more can be done to change the scene?
It takes more than the clothing brand to change the scene, it takes many people to change it; artists, musicians, Bboys, clothing brands as well as the sneaker scene have to come together and embrace our own artists and culture. Only then will people outside of Singapore notice us. 

One of the most powerful channels is the hype. Do you think hype is a good way to bring street culture to the masses?
I think hype has become part of street wear culture but whatever people try to hype up, it might not work. It depends on how you see it. There might be some stuff that is hyped up to some people but to others, it doesn’t mean a thing; it depends on the individual. If kids were to buy something because everyone is talking about it, then he is lacking in personality. It also depends on your definition of hype. The other hype is that this shit is in demand and has got value. If a piece is well made, naturally a lot of people will like it but then that wouldn’t necessarily mean it’s hyped.

We can try to hype up anything but if the product is not good, people can tell. If I’m going to hype up something that is similar to another famous brand, people are not blind and will think that you stole the idea. The product also needs to have substance to stand on its own.

Does anything in the local scene disappoint you?
What is a disappointment has already gotten people disappointed. (laughs) I mean before we started the brand, we came to a conclusion on what we felt about the scene so we’ve already passed the stage of disappointment. Now, we’re looking forward which is why we started the brand. If you stay disappointed, the whole scene will never change

Any future plans?
Hopefully we can work with more people, create more noise and quality work. And get people talking about Singapore’s culture and our local artists and musicians.

Last words?
Support your local brand! (laughs)

The Geseho Flagship Store is located at 390 Victoria Street, 01-22 Golden Landmark.