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Dear Family + Friends,
How are you?
I’m on the train in Brooklyn headed into Chinatown listening to Rosie (I would love to tell the 17 year old me that one of the biggest artists in the world would be Asian). I wonder how many times in life I made this exact same subway trip - - - things you never think about until you think about it.
It’s been over a 30 year journey to get to this point where I am today. Most of you who know me know that I’m a man of few words, but I’m excited to share where I am in life with you all.
sei is a culmination of all the experiences, relationships, and people thus far in my life.
My earliest conscious memories, other than running around during yum cha and getting dim sum plates dropped on my head (I got scars to prove it), were of being in our small living room surrounded by my father’s homework - - - sketches, fabrics, and busts as he’s locked in on the sewing machine. He is a pattern maker, a very skilled and tenured master of the craft. I was playing with action figures with my brother at that time, but little did I know that the remnants of his work would ultimately become one of the main drivers of my life. Being in the garment industry, my parents pushed me to pursue any white collar profession other than what they did. In true rebel fashion, I threw away my pre-med college degree, decided to jump into just that and never looked back.
As I cut my fashion teeth on the retail floor of J. Crew, I maneuvered my way through roles at Brunello Cucinelli and GQ to meet my first true love, buying at Barneys New York. I started off my career in the tailoring department, where I learned all about fabrics, cut, craftsmanship - - - all the details that I would obsess over. I would then move on to other categories, but nothing beats your first love. This is where I met amazing colleagues, mentors, and friends who have become family.
After BNY was laid to rest, I had the privilege of relocating to Hong Kong to oversee Men’s at Lane Crawford. Not only was this a humbling experience to see how far fashion has taken me (literally and figuratively), but it gave me the opportunity to actually live where my dad lived before he moved to NY. This was the first time I ever lived outside of New York, and it was life - - - changing. Hong Kong allowed me to create new relationships with people I would have never met otherwise, people who I cherish very much. It opened my eyes to see life in a way I haven't before.
Hong Kong was also where I seriously started building this idea. I wanted to take the years I’ve spent having the luxury of accessing the most beautiful clothes in the world, and attempt to make this experience accessible to everyone around me. I wanted to use the knowledge I had on fabrics, make, and cut and translate it to modern garments that my friends and family would be excited to wear. It was there where I started designing, networking, sourcing, sampling, and manufacturing.
After 3 years in HK, I came back to NY with the plan to launch sei. The design process all ties back to my first true love, tailoring. You will see nods to this from the fabrics chosen, the little details, to the logo design and placement. This first small capsule consists of 5 pieces, which I deem “wardrobe” (because I have been wearing these pieces for a year straight to see if I would get sick of them, and I have not). It is dedicated to my mother, father, brother and late grandmother.
sei roughly translates to “essence” in Japanese, but my Japanese friends have told me that it’s a character that is never used on its own; only when a character is put before or after is when you can create countless meanings. On its own, it could mean nothing, but combined with others, it could mean anything, or everything. This is the ethos behind my brand - - - the clothes itself mean nothing, only when coupled with the person can it tell a story of life, experiences and culture, create memories or build future moments.
Thank you deeply to all my family and friends who have provided your guidance, support, resources, time, encouragement, feedback, love, body, mind, spirit and positive energy. Thank you for helping me tell my story, participating in my experiences and culture, creating memories that I’ll never forget and building future moments that I look forward to.
sei is the culmination of my experiences, relationships and people in my life, and I hope it can be included in yours.
love, j - - -