FFJ002 - NZ BRANDS // INTERVIEW WITH LOWER

Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration for the current Winter collection?

 For the current Winter range we have looked to return to our aesthetic of classic streetwear with touches of sports inspired garments and prints. In saying that we’re always looking for a new take on what has been done previously. We’ve been focusing our attention a bit more on embroidery and print details as opposed to thinking of ways to cut up and trick out tshirts or whatever. The mid 90s era counter-culture hip-hop and skate movements have always been strong reference points for LOWER® but it’s important to reimagine this within the context of our current time and space within street wear and youth culture.

If you could chose any global celebrity to dress in the current collection - who would it be and why?

Can you pick your must have piece from this collection?

 My favourite pieces to design every winter are the jackets, I guess there’s more opportunity to look into the details, and I’m all about details. I’m pretty stoked with how the Freight Jacket turned out. It has big cargo pockets that go around both sides of the jacket. Chuck your cargo pants on and you’ll be sorted for storage space on the go.

We know you guys are hot in NZ but can you tell us how the rest of the world reacts to Lower?

We’re pretty excited about how the brand is being received in Australia. NZ and Australia are where we’ve been putting most of our energy into, we’ll see where it goes from there..

What can we look forward to in the next few ranges from LOWER?

 We’re gonna keep developing what we do best with one eye on the past and the other on the future. It’s great to see more colour coming through after the popularity of black and white over the last few years. We’ve been digging the Low heads movement and are also riffing on the ‘Underdogs’ concept inspired by the Grouch Line ‘The Underdog is my Dog’. There’s also a collaboration in the works with a heritage street wear brand that we have a lot of respect for which we’re pretty excited about.

What’s on the LOWER playlist right now?

 We generally listen to a wide range of artists in the office and I think mixing it up is key. Newer stuff we’ve been getting into are Kamaiya, Marlon Williams, Blood Orange, Desiigner, UMO but we also play lots of classic Tribe, Misfits, Ghetto Boys, Belle & Sebastian, Mike Jones and my favourite the Descendents. I’m really into 60’s era jazz (Charles Mingus, Monk, all the old blue note records , especially Grant Green and Wayne Shorter) so I try and sneak a bit of that in there.

Shop Lower at FallenFront NZ.