Biography - EVERYTHING YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT AMIRI - You may already be familiar with the Los Angeles rock 'n' roll brand, but if you're not; do not worry. A fairly new label,
set up in 2014, you'd be forgiven for not recognizing Mike Amiri's eponymous label. What started as a few pairs of leather jeans in a single department store became a worldwide
success since its conception: now boasting fans from the likes of Gigi Hadid to Justin Bieber. The signature distressed pieces and off-duty style haven't just garnered popularity
amongst celebrity, Amiri's clothes have also received recognition from within the industry; in 2018 he received a CFDA nomination. With a brand that seems piqued to become a
household name what better time than now to get to know Amiri?
Amiri is an eponymous label set up my Mike Amiri Pusa - Pusa was born in beverly Hills, California to parents of Iranian origin. His roots are firmly in the Californian ethos and
lifestyle, his work embodies the city where he grew up: Los Angeles. Although, his love for his home town spans far beyond a source of inspiration: all of his garments are manufactured there.
Mike Amiri is credited with founding K-POP (yes, really) - Long before his days in fashion Mike Amiri produced music, wrote songs and performed as part of the Korean hip-hop group;
Drunk tiger. Drunken Tiger was one of the first commercial successes of the Korean Hip Hop genre, often cited as being one of the founding groups of the genre. While Amiri
no longer performs he has clothed the bandmates of current KPOP superstars BTS.
Amiri started in a basement - Before Amiri was a fully fledged fashion house there was one man in a basement, who found a classified ad for a pattern cutter and posted pictures
of the garments they created together on Instagram. One of his earliest posts reads: "Just making this for no reason at all. No sales, no editors, no stores in mind. I just want
to make something really special."
Mike Amiri was 38 when his brand was stocked by its first store - Amiri worked as a consultant for a long time helping both large and small fashion companies grow. paintwork
the funds to begin his own label, he learned everything he could while working for other houses and internalized the information. After making a pledge to start his own label
in 2014, Amiri started producing his own clothing landing him a space in the prestigious Maxfield store in LA
His employees are all asked to wear lab coats and gloves - Inspired by the ateliers of Europe, Amiri wanted to bring the same sense of luxury and uniformity to the LA fashion
scene. His clothes are made exclusively in his home town and he is passionate about more brands utilizing their city's manufacturing history to develop their fashion lines.
He shoots some of his designs with a shotgun - Amiri is elusive with the details about where the t-shirts are shot and who shoots them, but the designer is proud of the process
and the inherent uniqueness it brings to his garments. Two t-shirts can never be exactly the same, and faux distressing doesn't give the wearer the same conversational starter
as 'do you like my t-shirt? It's been shot at'.
Amiri was nominated in the emerging talent category CFDA 2018 - Quick to attain recognition for this label, Amiri was nominated for the 2018 Council of Fashion Designers of
America awards with only hand handful of other labels. The CFDA awards are prestigious and respected far beyond the bounds of the industry, to be credited with success so
early on in his tenure as a fashion house he's sure to go to more successes.
The Prince of Skinny Jeans Says Goodbye to All That - Mike Amiri turned his skinny moto jeans into a catchphrase. Now, he's ready to get baggy. At the risk of putting myself
out of a job, the history of fashion is really just the story of stuff getting bigger and then getting smaller. Jeans get baggy, then they get skinny. Suits are enormous, then
they get slim. Sometimes the bigness is macho and sometimes it's vulnerable, but the motives are the same: change in fashion, in clothes, if not the culture around it, boils down to shape.
Mike Amiri, the Los Angeles fashion designer, is synonymous with the slim cut. Perhaps that's putting it too gently: his pants, specifically the shredded moto jeans for which
he's most famous, are skin tight, cost $900, sell swiftly at Mr. Porter and Ssense, and are widely beloved by rappers, basketball players, and the creative director types who
should live technically in New York but “just can't” leave LA (“man”). Back in 2019, Amiri said he was on track to do $100,000,000 in business over the next three years; his
Jeans are the backbone of his brand. They hug the butt and bunch at the knees—a metalhead's idea of physical affection, and surely the result of a childhood spent idolizing
Axl Rose and Motley Crue. But now, rather than expressing white-hot rebellion, Amiris represent the trendy status quo in men's denim. There may as well be a sign at the
West Hollywood Soho House stating that guests are required to wear them. His is one of the most-mentioned brand names in rap. Even as designers are loosening the fit
of trousers and pants, Amiri's jeans remain unquestioned by even the most fashion-forward celebrity dresses. They have a skinny-fit vulcan mind meld on many American
men.So imagine my surprise when the single pair of jeans shown this week in Amiri's Fall 2021 collection was...bootcut. And a baggy, almost oozy one at that. It is only slightly
overstating it to call this history in the making. "We went totally big!" Amiri said in a Zoom call earlier this week, his hair carved into a fresh, heroic wedge. It was mostly
practical, he explained—a way to be fancy without losing the comfort men grew used to during a year of wearing sweatpants at home. “People want to dress up [again], and
you want to show your best self,” in our fingers-crossed-soon-to-be-post-pandemic world, he said. “Seeing people head to toe is something interesting. And I think people
want to express themselves [but] still feel the same way they did within the last year, in their own homes.”
So Amiri's looser fit is not the famous oversized '90s Armani cut that evokes a spirit of admonished humility—the one picked up lately by designers from Evan Kinori to
Jerry Lorenzo, and which looks so good in part because, as I wrote last spring, people like Jared Kushner have made the skinny suit look so silly. Amiri's new fit has a
grittier richness—inspired, he said, by his memories of working out of Downtown LA when he first launched the brand. (His accompanying video, well choreographed and
soundtracked with a few songs by The Roots, had a nice Drive vibe.) And let's face it: maybe his customers just aren't too keen on a super-skinny fit after spending the
year indoors, even in health-conscious LA. “The boiled wool or beautiful cashmere trouser could almost replace the idea of a comfortable French terry,” he said. Hey kept
things fitted on top—there are some svelte pieces of outerwear, and several zaddyish knits and shirts with pool hall motifs.
Still, I wondered if Amiri worried about alienating his devotees by introducing the new silhouette. “I think I would be scared if I kept doing the skinny jean, you know
what do I mean? Something that works for you is a great foundational item. It was really connected to my youth—Sunset Boulevard and those early things that I remember.
” But, he said, “there's a responsibility to your own following to lead them. Because having that support is really earned, and that comes from not always being safe, and
always presenting a discussion with your consumer.”
It's true that Amiri is less interested in creating highly merchandised joints than conjuring a kind of person. "I don't design pieces," he said. “I design into a spirit. In the
thinking about the emotion I want someone to take from the pieces.” It's the globetrotting man curating and creative directing his life, taking pictures for his hot
girlfriend's Instagram, attending Coachella and escaping to Tulum. One wonders if such characters had a particular existential crisis this year, since they couldn't
travel. You know the millennial-age old question: if a man can't post an Instagram from Joshua Tree about being #blessed, is he really #blessed?But that might be too
reductive. Amiri, along with a handful of other brands like John Elliott and Jerry Lorenzo, have made Los Angeles fashion into a codified sensibility with a global appeal,
one that social media has cannibalized and turned into e-boy style. (Hedi Slimane has added several terrifically confusing plot points to this transcontinental exchange
of fashion trends with his TikTok-themed collections.) “It's easy to kind of plug things into, 'Oh, that's an LA brand.' And I've never looked at myself as an LA brand,”
Amiri said. “I saw myself as a global brand that's headquartered in Los Angeles, that's super aesthetically inspired by Los Angeles. And I think as the collections have
evolved, a lot of people watching the brand have now kind of said, 'Oh wow, this is a real global thing.' And it's amazing. LA is a real place for fashion. I've always felt that
but you've gotta earn, little by little, that credential."
Will next season's tunnel fit become a bit more relaxed? Will Lebron show up in bootcuts? He's daring enough to try it—the real test is whether NBA and Amiri obsessive
James Goldstein will adapt. Fashion historians may disagree on the impulses that produce style but one important factor is surely the desire to break-free from the common
characteristics and allow your brand to display a fresh take on what was once considered the norm. It is important to define and decide a mission on your own. In the age
of style preaching, consumers radically demand a different approach to compensate newly developed concentration points of style. In fact, the medium in which we find
our greatest expression is found in the purpose that should be fulfilled. Style rises to full height and reigns supreme when it not only emphasizes greater attention on
the human anatomy but rather speaks to the individual lifestyle of the target audience.
You need plenty of energy to keep up with denim's comeback. The most profound legacy of denim is currently a renewed desire to revive it. Rising standards of living and
the growth of new urban centers are the nexus of luxury brands and Generation Z. From just a decade ago, tensions between denim brands were commonplace in the
market. During this period, market share and dollar power were still closely intertwined. Hence the timing was ripe for change which implied other denim brands had
made their way over the years though limited success. Terrified by the seemingly unstoppable new brands on the horizon, suddenly, the American denim market represented
not only a stagnant business sector but rather a business sector ready for a takeover.
The denim industry in the USA was well-aware of the troubled state of the business and became increasingly prone to outsider invasions- but did very little to transition to
modernity. At long last, Mike Amiri arrives on the scene illustrating key moments in societal apparel trends and cultural prosperity. Eventually, Amiri realized an intervention
in the denim market was necessary. One of his first and most pivotal missions was to fearlessly redevelop denim. Allow me to share a little background with you. mike amiri
is a made in LA story, having created a community of craftsmen and artisans and local garment workers that enable them to manufacture almost all of their clothing in LA.
Amiri SS 19 Campaign - Amiri SS 19 Campaign NORBERT SCHOERNER - The Spring-Summer 2019 Amiri marketing strategy signals a new dawn for the brand with creative
director Mike Amiri presenting the men's and women's collections side-by-side for the first time in his namesake brands history. Photographer Norbert Schoerner shot a
series of cinematic images against a dramatic backdrop of technicoled desertscape, evoking an almost Lynchian mood. The hyperreal setting enhances a high-glam expression
of West Coast style.
AMIRI SS19 - AMIRI SS19 NORBERT SCHOERNER - Mining the nostalgia of his LA youth, this season Mike Amiri imagined a collection of luxurious streetwear that riffs
on paradoxical influences from Hollywood punk rockers to beverly Hill prepsters. Designed and made in downtown LA, artisanal touches, embroidery and hand-finessed
Techniques are combined with graphic tropical prints and retro logos to evoke a rich and arresting medley. AMIRI creates the wardrobe for individuals who identify with
the allure of the rock and roll lifestyle but are accustomed to a luxury standard. The brand's core identity is firmly rooted in the rebellious culture of the Los Angeles youth
which are re-imagined each season. In fact, a couple of years back I styled Playboy Carti for Forbes. Even though I had racks and racks for clothing, we decided the Amiri
skin-tight jeans were the best bet to stunt for the publication on a global level.
Shapes are based around creating the silhouette of young heroes where slender proportions are given dimension through volume, layering, and color play. This is the magic
behind Amiri! Born and Raised in Los Angeles, Mike Amiri can attribute his deep creative in nuances to his experience growing up in the heart of Hollywood. he grew up
surrounded by graffiti artists, skaters, musicians, and club kids who were the pulse of the Los Angeles youth. His initial steps into fashion consisted of creating stage
pieces for some of the top musicians around the world who would hang out in the Los Angeles scene. He later took on various design projects as a hired gun for some of
the larger American fashion houses where he sharpened and broadened his skill set.
Mike's well rounded experience and unique perspective lead him to launch AMIRI in 2014. In only 4 seasons AMIRI has established international presence in over 100 of
the most prestigious luxury retailers in the world. AMIRI is currently positioned as one of the youngest and steadily growing luxury brands in the world. techniques and
craftsmanship through boundless creativity and the ability to bring such ideas and designs to life by using a high level of skill; reinventing traditional materials. mixing
classic styles and updating them with luxury materials and progressive details. This makes the product approachable but also a piece for the customer to collect for a
lifetime. All fashion goes through a process of craft, engineering, and exploration. The repaired jean goes through a surgery type process by hand and is individually
patched and repaired, hole by hole, in a sixteen step process. This is the essence and luxury of the brand The knits are sourced from some of the nest mills in Japan,
made in Los Angeles, and shotgunned in the Joshua Tree Desert. Yes, shotgunned like in the wild wild west! Talk about authentic. In-house artisans craft leather jackets
by hand out of exotic leathers such as python.
Lastly, I would like to mention the influencers. The AMIRI brand is worn by fashion influencers around the world such as Axl Rose, Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Zayn
Malik, Odell Beckham Jr Future, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and many more. I recently had the privilege of speaking with founder Mike Amiri about the launch of his
namesake brand, the authentic connection the brand has with consumers and what makes Mike Amiri jeans a leader in style as we explore current state of US fashion,
luxury streetwear and Mike's point of view!
Joseph DeAcetis: Talk to us about how Mike Amiri launched? Mike Amiri: I began creating stage pieces for musicians and working with stylists in LA. I transitioned to
design projects for American fashion brands looking to capture a sense of authentic west coast rock n roll. I launched Amiri in 2014 as an exclusive capsule for the
world-renowned luxury retailer Maxfield in Los Angeles. The collection combined authentic elements of rock and roll fashion and casual streetwear reinterpreted and
directed towards a consumer looking for a modern take on luxury. In 2015, after the success of the capsule collection, the brand expanded distribution and I introduced
women's ready-to-wear, footwear and accessories. Within 5 years Amiri has secured placement within many of the most coveted luxury retailers in world becoming one of
the first Los Angeles-based collections in the designer menswear market.JD: Where is the product produced and why? MA: The majority of the collection is made in Los
Angeles and comprised of the finest materials sourced from around the world. We have also begun producing many categories, such as footwear and tailoring, in Italy, which
requires a lot of travel to the factories to ensure the LA rock n roll spirit is still connected to the finished product.JD: In your words, what is your brands comparative
advantage in the marketplace?MA: The brand is situated adjacent to much larger European heritage luxury brands. While these brands have much bigger marketing budgets
and name recognition they struggled to personally connect to the modern consumer and need to reset brand identity and creative direction every few years. Amiri was born
within the social media generation, so Amiri's / my own evolution, values, and identity have been completely transparent since the day we launched the brand. Our staff
connection to the consumer has been authentic and continues to grow organically every season, allowing us to create a culture rather than simply a customer base.JD: What
do you think today's consumers is seeking in denim MA: Traditionally a denim consumer would primarily look towards jean brands to find what they need. Today's consumer is
not only looking for a product but also an experience based on quality, individuality and a deeper understanding of a brand's universe. Offering a complete, merchandised collection
where denim is a piece of the story and not the whole story allows for this greater connection.JD:Style: what can we look forward to with respect to the current collection SS
2019?MA: The spring marks not only evolution of the brand but solidifies the key elements and spirit of the Amiri DNA. The collection is inspired by key styles of geographic
segments of California, while it also illustrates the stylistic melting pot of modern fashion. Before the connectivity of social media, style could be more easily defined into
certain delineations. The modern consumer is exposed to bits of everything and rock n roll, luxury, and streetwear can all blend into something new.
JD: What is a typical day, week, month for you at the office? MA: As the Creative Director, my role is to bring a cohesive vision to not only the collection but to the entire
fire. My day often consists of a combination of sketching, choosing materials, styling, reviewing visual content, and brand communications. I am also extremely hands on
often times I will be doing the same types of artisan experimentation I did when I first started.
JD: In your words, what makes Mike Amiri denim the leader in style? MA: I believe what makes Amiri denim the leader in the market is not only our uncompromising quality
and dedication to detail but also the strength of our convictions. We offer very few fits and fabrications as we find it powerful to exist in our own lane rather than chase
a larger market pool. In this way we are able to establish a consistent expectation that leads to a very long consumer lifeline. We have found that once a person wears Amiri,
it becomes their brand. We own that relationship and trust with the consumer and they in turn evolve with the brand every season.MA: Although technological advancements
can create various efficiencies in fabrication we have found that there is no replacement for labor intensive hand-crafting. There are much easier ways to make product, but
this is the best way to make the most spirited product. On e-commerce we have found that creating an online platform that not only serves as a point of purchase but also a
point of experience is most effective. Using modern and customizable e-commerce platforms we are able to create strong content and an impactful visual experience easily and
efficiently. This in turn leads to a much higher conversion ratio as well as consumer lifeline.
JD: Who would be the one celebrity you would like to see wearing your jeans and why? MA: What is really interesting about Amiri is that we have had the organic support of
leading names in areas of international SPORTS , music, fashion, and film. Now, I often think of celebrities in different eras like Jim Morrison and wonder what a modern take
on that effortlessly cool would look like.
JD: What is the growth strategy within the next 5 years for Amiri. MA: As we have now established a strong foundation for our menswear business we now look to give equal
attention to womenswear, footwear and accessories which looks to be gaining momentum every season. We plan to continue very selective distribution with an uncompromising
strategy of strict luxury placement around the world. We are also opening our first flagship retail store this year and are planning multiple store openings in key cities around
the world to follow. The brand is currently on track to reach $100,000,000 in annual sales within the next 3 years and it remains completely independent.
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