“You're most creative when limited.”

~ Johnny Quach

By Catzie Vilayphonh  |  Send to Friend

Johnny Quach. Asian thug turned clothing designer and all-around food snob. This is a guy after my own heart. I met Johnny at the Project Tradeshow, while he was showing his line Verum - thank goodness he totally wasn't a brand snob at all - and we hit it off. Aside form having a dope collection, Johnny is a character all his own. Turns out before he knew me personally he knew me poetically, and we got into talking about our past lives. It's fun when people share.

I promised Johnny that if I put up his thug picture I'd put mine up as well. I so owe him a Campo's cheesesteak mailed to his door.

Catz: How did an Asian thug like yourself find fashion and marketing as the career of choice?
Johnny: It all started with drawing. I was the kid that drew everyone's art home work. After high school I realized I was nether good at math or English. Naturally the only thing I gravitated towards was drawing. I had a huge fight with my family about art school (they're old school Asians). They finally folded and I turned from teen thug to college art student. Once that happened, I noticed I was extremely out of place. I mean all these kids with tight pants, ironic tees, and tattoos made me feel awkward

Catz: But fashion? Most of the Asian kids I knew drew their favorite comic book characters or current anime hero.
Johnny: I did that. I even drew cute Asian characters for girls I liked. Well, I graduated college with a degree in video games. I worked in that industry for a year before I realized it wasn't for me. After that, I started a T-shirt company with a coworker of mine. We lost $5k over a year and eventually had to end it. Roxy/Quiksilver saw the T-shirt company and offered me a job designing for them. I was only a graphic designer at the time but being there I learned a lot about merchandising, production and even sales. After that, I freelanced for other surf/skate companies in Orange County.

Catz: How did you find your fashion sense, or should I say Verum's look?
Johnny: Like most people, I went through my phases: loud streetwear shirts, tight indie rock pants and classy suits. In the end, I realized I preferred simple clothes that fit well. A T-shirt that fits and feels great is better then any over distressed and studded tee. I started looking to high fashion for inspiration. For example, I loved how Yohji Yamamoto can take a white shirt and make his own without you ever forgetting it's a white shirt.

You're most creative when limited. And that's kind of our ethos. We don't need a million color options as long as our clothes express the message in the fit and fabric.

Catz: Where did the name Verum come from?
Johnny: Verum in latin means the "truth." When we started Verum a lot people were starting T-shirt brands. We asked a lot of people for advice and direction on how to start the whole thing. Most people gave us vague answers that lead nowhere. No one would share their contacts. We decided as a group to never hide those details from people. We're going to tell people how design, make, and produce clothes. Everything is revealed on our blog. Even our trade show expenses are there for viewing. And I can honestly say every email we've ever gotten asking about Verum or the clothing industry in general we've personally answered the best we can.

Catz: Why do you feel its beneficial to share your info as opposed to keeping everything under wraps?
Johnny: It's just simple ethics. Why not help people? Looking back when I was in college, I would find websites of illustrators or designers I had tons of respect for and email them. And almost all of them would write detailed emails back sharing their techniques or even an inspirational word two. Because of those people, I'm who I am today. I never forgot that. I just want to contribute like they did.

Catz: So when did you start and how did you assemble your team?
Johnny: We started last February. The team is comprised of Chris, Khue, and myself. Chris is my good friend who moved to Shanghai a few years back. Because of that, he's able to do our production. Khue I met two years ago and she's our women's designer. I design all of the men's pieces. I also do all the marketing/pr right now. But we're currently looking to hire a person for sales and marketing.

Catz: I noticed that you also interview people on your blog as well. You recently did an interview with your friend who is a "professional" gambler -- SO Asian. Do you have any Asian vices of your own?
Johnny: On paper he's named a professional gambler but in reality he's not a gambler at all. He plays poker for a living which is closer to street fighting than blackjack. They passed a law back in '96 that states poker isn't gambling cause there's no house involved. As for myself I played poker for a living for about seven months. I'm also a food snob.

Catz: Yikes. Really? My mom celebrates American holidays by going to Atlantic City.
Johnny: For heezy. Two of my best friends at the time and me all started playing poker online for a living. Both of them have successfully done it for two and half years now. I only stopped because I missed working on creative projects. During Magic/Project time you'll see me at the poker table six hours a day. Atlantic City holllllla.

Catz: Back to the food thing. Can you cook?
Johnny: I'm the worst cook in the world but I have dreams of becoming world famous one day after I accomplish my other goals. It's next on my list. I love a home-cooked meal but it's pretty time consuming so I usually end up eating out. Times are tough but I have less time then ever so eating out is the recent trend.

Catz: What is your favorite home-cooked meal and your fave eating out dish?
Johnny: That's a tough one. For eating out are you talking about....nice places or ghetto places? For ghetto places it's an Al Pastor Taco and for nice places it's a Kobe Steak. For my favorite home-cooked dish is Chinese porridge. It's really simple but if it's made with love you'll taste the difference.

Catz: Ooooooh, congee?
Johnny: Yup!

Catz: I make that every week, 'cause its so easy!
Johnny: Khue cooks a pretty mean version of it.

Catz: I personally like it thick, as opposed to being soupy with rice. I put in fried ginger and pork fuzz.
Johnny: I'm a thick congee guy myself. I like it with bean curd. You know pork fuzz. Best friends for life. Pork fuzz is like secret Asian society business.

Catz: Where do you go to buy clothing and just take in inspiration?
Johnny: I'm a huge internet whore. Always been always been. But not through the usual fashion blogs. I'm on FFFound.com a lot, which is a weird site where people just post random jpgs. It's almost like a flood of imagery that the world is looking at. I get most of my inspiration from following some of my favorite posters on there. My favorite store is the Yohji Yamamoto store in NYC, though.

Catz: So you don't go shopping on Melrose or Fairfax and all that?
Johnny: I rarely shop on Melrose. That place has enough over-embellished denim to last a hundred years. Fairfax is mostly the streetwear brands. Even though I respect those brands, it's not something that I draw inspiration from. Most of my inspiration is not from other brands. It's from illustrators, fine artists and other people doing innovative things. Each piece is telling a story not a trend.

Catz: Wise words.
Johnny: Here's another: All wars are ended over good meals. I'm getting that tattoo

To check out what Johnny's up to and see the new line visit verumbrand.com.