Interview by Alan Ng & Jenkin Au
Words by Amie Nguyen
Photography by Patrick Leung
justalilhype! Crew visited Vision at his Ephin Apparel Office. It’s been around 9 years since his clothing brand started and it has been moving forward since day one. Vision talked to us about the whole concept behind his brand, the support he has to offer to local talent, the Stompdown videos and the future of Ephin as they prepare themselves to bring the brand across the world and establishing the name in the high-end street culture fashion industry.
Tell us about how you got involved with Ephin apparel?
Well, I am the original founder of Ephin; it’s been around for about 9 years now. There have been a few partners that came and gone but lots of good people still with us since the beginning. We started it around the Ink Ops days, a group of friends of mine started a rap group and been getting some pretty good local success. We always listened to hip-hop and always had the interest for urban culture since I was a teen. They started this group when we were 18. They got some good local success, basically doing shows all throughout Vancouver. I was one of their good friends, I was supporting, making sure I was gathering groups of people to see their shows and basically promoting for them, in a sense. This lead to me and another member of Ink Ops to start doing shirts for the group and it took off. We sold a lot in the clubs at there shows and about a year later, we decided to branch off and start our own name. We started Ephin. We began screen printing our own t-shirts out of the garage and we pressed up 25-30 shirts every couple weeks. We did small runs and hit these Ink Op shows, selling Ephin and Ink Ops T-Shirts.
What role do you hold now?
I am the main manager of the company; I basically oversee everything that is Ephin from the ground up. There are a few vital partners in the company that obviously make decisions but I definitely oversee Ephin and the productions that we are a part of.
What’s the meaning behind the brand’s name, and why Ephin? Furthermore, is there a hidden message behind the brand’s name?
To be honest with you, it’s not that great of a story. Ephin became more of a great story of what we made it over the years than where the name came from. People called me Vision, my name’s Vision. I use to write graffiti back when I was younger but now that’s just my name... One of my other buddies from Ink Ops, Mr. Mumbles, sort of made up the name. It was Ep and Vision, branching our nicknames together, Epidemic, and Vision and we he came up with E-p-h-I-n and that was how it went. Like I said, to be honest with you, I don’t really focus on where it came from; it’s what Ephin has become. It’s not a swear word, it’s not like we “Ephin” do this; it’s just Ephin. It’s about what we have accomplished in the city and where we are going and that’s what Ephin really is. The name and where it was derived from isn’t as important as what it is today.
Stepping into the 9th year of your run and developing into a nation wide, international brand, can you tell us about it from its roots?
It’s always moving forward, the brand always moves forward from day one. Personally, I always had a vision to be a contributor of the scene, to build something for the Vancouver scene and specifically for Surrey. I have seen so much talent, so much potential and positivity and I knew mixed with my aggression for business we would put Surrey on the map for what we are doing. For me, it was always moving forward and really putting Ephin on the map, also giving Surrey the name it deserves in terms of talent, positivity, and aggression. There are so many people out here who have so much talent in this scene. Now, we have built a strong scene, beginning to be recognized now worldwide. That’s what I wanted from day one and that’s where I feel we are at right now. I mean, I don’t want to pat Ephin or myself on the back, but we have been a major contributor on putting Surrey on the map for sure.
I think that’s pretty much it, you know? Really pushing Surrey for our community and developing talent; that’s another big thing for me. I love to support and develop talent. Anybody who knows me in this city knows that Ephin has been a part of many events, a lot of sponsorships, and supporting a lot of artists. We build a platform for artists and help them grow. That’s the root of Ephin for sure, definitely developing talent and developing networks. It’s funny because a lot of people from outside that have just gotten familiar with Ephin might think it’s a record label, a network, a graffiti crew or a rap crew, you know what I mean? And it’s a clothing company. So it was really about supporting talent, developing and growing with it and I think Ephin has done a great job with that as a crew. That’s the core of what we are.
What do you think is the image of the brand?
From my perspective, with where I would like to go, not trying to sound cliché, but a high-end street brand; that’s what it is. It is a street brand. I would like to go to the higher end of that. For a long time now, I feel we have done a good job at making our customers happy and making sure we have stayed at the level where we think we felt we should have been at the time. And now with the HYPE behind us and where we are going, we truly believe Ephin can be seen as a competitor in high end street fashion worldwide. I know it can. It is just a matter of where we can expand and how that is going to come about. I like to place my brand in stores that have really put some thought in their community and some thought about their image and made sure that things are clean, progressive and always moving forward as well.
I think a lot of people see Ephin, so far as very hip hop, very rap, and very graffiti orientated for sure. Like I said to you a second ago, people that are new to Ephin, see the name on videos, rap shows and on rappers, they think it’s very hip hop and graffiti driven. We are here to show people that it is a high-end clothing line and we definitely are a part of that scene. I think people really see us as super hip-hop. To be honest, we have lots of avenues that are not just hip-hop. Of course, a lot of our friends, family and people that we support are in the hip hop scene but I feel that Ephin has branched a lot into a lot of skate events, art shows, and things like that.
Brand name continues to grow and progress as they continue their trend of pushing out high quality designs and products. Looking back- is there one year that stood out as the most “successful” year of all, and what had the brand achieved in that year?
To be honest, I think 2008 was our break out year. I think that year was our most successful point to date. Not to say we have gone down from that, I think we’ve stayed steady from that point and we are about to, in 2010, take that next huge jump. Since 2008, we expanded a lot. We expanded from 30 retailers to 70 retailers carrying us across Canada. 2009, of course, we stayed strong and steady but our goal from 2009 until now is to really assess what we have done in the last 9 years. Seeing the success from 2008, we didn’t want to trip over ourselves and we wanted to take that success, think on it and let it mature so we can take that next big step. I think a lot of people out there will get some success, and they will try and capitalize on that but miss important steps along the way. I wanted to make sure in 2010 all of the right steps pay off.
What’s the biggest message that you want your clothing to deliver?
I want the clothing to be timeless. You know Ephin has always been quality. Everybody that touches an Ephin piece knows that. I want it to be timeless now. I want to get the timeless pieces into our line; maybe that means a little bit higher prices. I want to take it to the next level, working on leather and cut and sew. I want to take it to the higher end. I like people that work hard. Of course talent matters but I love hardworking people- Ephin works with the best and they will continue to work with the best. I want people to think of Ephin as a platform for talent, platform for Vancouver, platform for Western Canada, and a platform for Canada in general and that’s what it is becoming.
How has Ephin kept its standard throughout the changes of urban cultures through the past decade? How do Ephin designers keep it fresh and original?
Well, I mean a lot of the designers that I work with come from a graffiti background so that is already built in there minds. Graffiti is all about always pushing your style and your name. It comes natural with the people that we work with because that’s what they do in their lives in their graffiti careers. They take that to the clothing and do the same thing. In terms of my contribution, I make sure I keep up on what’s going on.
You always have people that you look up to as well but I like to take influence from our community mostly. I like to take influence from people that are really supporting us; those opinions really matter to us. At the end of the day, it’s a bit of everything, I guess.
With over 25 retailers in BC itself, and even in Alberta and Ontario, the next logical step would be bringing Ephin into the international game. Is that your plan?
Well right now, we are in the midst of discussing a deal for Canadian distribution to start. We have been talking to a few groups and we are just trying to make the right decision on what to do. We are trying to solidify Canada first.
The plan is to get the name out there, expand internationally and the opportunity has strengthen considerably because of Stompdown. Stompdown is a video production company and a culture alike. Capital Q is Stompdown. It is also represented by a group of our friends and family in the Graffiti and street wear scene. It is internationally known worldwide on YouTube. Stompdown is currently 53rd biggest on YouTube Channel across YouTube Canada. Stompdown and Ephin, basically are brothers, and having that branch off of Ephin and the whole scene and the whole scene involved is huge. Stompdown is international; Stompdown page gets more views in Greece, Germany, California, and all over the world than it does in Canada. Of course they still have a lot of fans in Canada. Man, it is international. That’s been one of our biggest plans and strategies. Stompdown has become a platform; it’s become a huge outlet for everybody. It’s just crazy. Capital Q is one of the hardest working guys in Canada in the scene, I can guarantee that. He works like 20 hours a day, he does a video a day. Not only does he film it, he edits it and markets it in one day. You know, that has put Stompdown big time on the map. He has been an inspiration to all of us. The plan is to lock distribution internationally for both Ephin and Stompdown clothing. I want to find a company that can take our brand to the top.
How did you get your brand in some of the smaller cities of Canada? Retailers in Whitehorse, Regina, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon also carry your products. How did that happen? Was it planned?
Well, to start was just calling. I did a lot of sales myself. Our first ever attempt to getting across other cities was a tour across Western Canada. My buddy and I took the truck and camped along for two weeks and went to each town. When we are in each town, we would go and meet all the stores. Back then, we didn’t even have catalogues, just pamphlets and we took them to stores. A lot of times, we would give them a T-Shirt. We also got heavy into the tradeshows in the years to come.
Especially today in Canada, there’s a lot of political correctness that you have to abide by such as dealing with the general public and especially with street culture. It might often be associated with the wrong kind of things, to the unknown public and mixed messages might be conveyed at times. What do you have to say about that?
With us especially, we have dealt with it a lot actually. Firstly with our name, Ephin, people already think it’s a swear word or vulgar. Some people do think that at the start. Surrey’s got a reputation ; crazy things actually happen here. It’s pretty controversial here with the things that go on; Surrey does have its reputation.
The biggest thing is the graffiti. Most of us come from a graffiti background. That’s how I got in this whole thing, when I was 15. The graffiti and Stompdown affiliations has definitely caused controversy for sure. We have had the Province newspaper, Global news, and all these people in my shop two years ago because of our videos and because we sold spray paint in our shop. That’s the culture, man, that’s what it is. I am not going to sit here and say graffiti is not a crime. I am not going to say Ephin has not had an influence. At the end of the day, I think we are an inspiring group of entrepreneurs.. All the people we roll with have a lot of respect. They are not just out there ruining people’s property. Real graffiti artists know what they are doing. Yeah, it involves tagging but at the end of the day they have a lot more rules than you would think. They have a lot more respect than a lot of people think. Those few things, our name, Surrey and graffiti has definitely caused us quite a bit of controversy and you can even see some of that on our Stompdown page on Youtube.com/Stompdown. Check it out on there, Q puts up all of our videos for everyone to view daily.
The list of “Ephiliates” seems very diverse, yet very inclusive in uniting some of BC’s greatest artists, producers, B-Boys, skaters, tattooists, and the varieties go on. What does it take to become an “Ephililate”?
It’s not one specific thing. Not everyone that is an Ephiliate now has done a specific thing. I think it has to do a lot with what I’ve been saying throughout the whole interview. People that are always moving forward. If I see somebody talented in this city, for example, you guys, I already consider you guys Ephiliates. We have Ephiliates all over the world and from many different walks. There is a MAIN roster on our website that has certain people on there along with a list of people that we work with. I scope out talent and I see people doing strong things in the city and I call them up. Longevity for sure is a big thing.
What advice do you have for upcoming brands out there? With the current state of technological advances, it’s easy for anyone to start up but what’s essential in carrying a successful brand?
Don’t do it, to be honest, unless you have a shit load of expendable cash. If I was to give advice, I would say you better be ready for the long run. 10 years minimum. You better have a big bank role or find a big bank role. It is a lot of work. When it comes to preparing a season, design, sampling, photography, producing your catalogues then taking it to the trade show market, you know what I am saying? I am not trying to put a downer on anybody’s dreams. I got nothing but love for starting a clothing line, it’s cool, and it’s dope. Sell some t-shirts, make some money, whatever. But if you want to create a lasting clothing line, a brand you had better be ready for commitment. I feel that I’ve done a lot-I live, breathe, sleep every minute of my life is invested into my company for 9-10 years now and to be honest, we are just on the verge of blowing up. Our whole crew knows we are so close. We are not going to sit here and fake that we are balling out of control because we are not. That shows you right there that we are still grinding. It has been this long and we are just getting to that point where we might be able to get a big deal going.
What is HYPE?
HYPE is Ephin; HYPE is Stompdown, that is just be honest. That’s the HYPE. When we are involved with something, it’s HYPED and people are HYPED, the whole scene I think. That’s HYPE in my eyes. What’s HYPE is in general? HYPE is making sure that your campaigns are focused, solid, and all at once. HYPE is making sure that you aren’t going unnoticed. Hype is doing it proper. Hype is doing it for the long term. That’s what HYPE really is. People can say HYPE is what they want for the moment but that’s not really HYPE. HYPE is making sure that your whole team is focused and that’s going to create that HYPE and make that HYPE real.