League of Rebels  as the name might suggest is a group name for a group of designers that currently live in the U.S.A, they have had the opportunity to showcase their work at various  fashion shows with evidently well-structured designs to measure up to par. Gidilounge met with these talented group of designers and stylists and thought we’d have a chat with them to discuss their goals, aspiration and how well the brand is doing at the moment curremtly.

GidiLounge: What’s the story behind ‘league of rebels’? ; The brains/brain behind it, where and how it started?

LeagueofRebels: The birth of ‘League of Rebels’ came much as a radical idea by a bunch of fashion loving friends, mostly 85’ babies who all met in University. After years of addictively shopping together, exchanging fashion ideas, views, opinions and critiquing multiple pieces, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Over the years, we had had joked about starting up a line but that was just about it, until last year one of us had looked into it further and pitched the idea again to everyone on a conference call because by then we had all graduated and moved to different cities and countries. Right then, on a single call, we bought the idea and agreed to it, worked out a plan right away, settled on a name and got right to work

GL: Why did you all collectively chose bespoke tailoring?

LoR: We all happen to be suckers for classic styles and always loved dressing in layers. So we thought it best to make the strong point of the brand what we’re most passionate for and make it the defining product of the brand. Having all worn bespoke suits for many years now, we also felt educated enough on what and how it should be, so that set us in this direction.

GL: Bespoke tailoring isn’t the easiest task, how does the team of ‘rebels’ effectively carry out this task?

LoR: It sure isn’t the easiest task but we get by. We have the advantage of being a group so we get to even out various duties amongst ourselves. Hence, making things much easier. We’ve also been friends for a pretty good time so at this point we know both our strong and ‘not so strong’ points. We also know to whom we should delegate particular duties. We’re all full of energy and love to work with resilience. We even have a few workaholics in the gang, so that’s just lovely

GL: As it isn’t a one person brand, how do you get collective inspiration?

LoR: Our individual styles aren’t totally in the same ballpark, but that only makes it more interesting for us. As with any group of people, there will always be different ideas and views of perspective at some point or on certain issues but we have our little laws and rules we abide. Most importantly, we’ve learnt to compromise but keep things fun and interesting. Anyone with a new idea or something out of the box will have to pitch the idea and pretty much sell it to the gang, then we take a vote and as always the majority wins. In any case of a tie, we’ll take the idea and we actually lobby each other to get that vote! This is totally allowed by the gang.

GL: How well is the brand doing and how well is has it been accepted by the consumer community?

LoR: The brand is doing very well and just about exceeding our fore-planned expectations. We are currently mainly focused on branding the line at this point, trying to get our place on the fashion scene and get everyone familiar with the brand. We have also been getting beautiful reviews and comments on our work but haven’t begun fully catering to the consumers as far as selling, with our online store or through retail stores. But we have been receiving enquiries, which we’re excited about. We’ve still picked up some clients who we cater to privately.

GL: Before launching ‘league of rebels’, had any of you apprenticed with any bespoke tailors or top designer?

LoR: Prior to the brand, none of us had actually apprenticed or worked with any fashion line or even studied Fashion Design professionally. We’ve basically come into this with our taste, styles and personal views on fashion. We got our experience from years of shopping. Amongst the gang we mainly majored in Business, Economics and Finance which actually helps a lot with the back end of the brand.

GL: A lot of people are into bespoke tailoring these days, what makes your designs unique?

LoR: We try to stand out and be different from the crowd, so as to get our own identity. We offer ‘out of the box’ designs and input a lot of interesting fabrics that stand out. We also like to have fun and be fancy, so we infuse that into the brand. But most especially, we try to be genuine and express our vision of style and elegance.

GL: How does it work with Bespoke Tailoring? Do you launch a new collection for Autumn/Winter and Spring Summer every year?

LoR: League of Rebels has both Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter collection annually. At the same time, in between our major collections we intend to have some limited edition pieces based on different themes and ideas of ours, keeping things a tiny bit more interesting.

GL: Must take a lot of time and effort getting a collection out there, what’s the average time it takes to put a new collection out there?

LoR: We like to work on our collections way ahead of time and simultaneously put various collections together in little bits. Switching back and forth depending on our moods and pieces or colors we want to work with. This is sort of weird but actually really good for us because it prevents any downtime. If you get worn-out on something, rather than try to rest and recuperate, we work on something different! Right now we have a partial Fall/Winter 2010 and Spring/Summer 2011 collection already. It does take quite some time, but the way we work would cloud an accurate timeframe. At least we can say for sure, it takes months of continuous hard-work and inspiration to get any collection together.

GL: What’s the target market for the brand?

LoR: The brand will appeal to fashion forward individuals, those who like detailed and well defined pieces of clothing. Our target individuals would be young professionals or in that age group.

GL: Where do you see the brand in 5-7years from now?

LoR: We do have short and long term goals, but overall we’d love to have the brand stabled and fully operational. Before the timeframe, we look to have our line carried in exclusive stores through the U.S., Russia, England, France, and Ukraine and we also hope to open our flagship store in Abuja

GL: Does League of Rebels have a role model or a Top Bespoke Tailor it admires?

LoR: Hopefully, this won’t come out sounding pompous but we really don’t have any particular role model tailor or designer we exclusively look up to but across the board we overwhelmingly love and look to two classic characters which we’ve always connected to and grew up watching actually! Their tastes and lifestyles in general not only in regards to fashion reflect our inner thoughts, passion and lifestyles collectively. These characters are both Sherlock Holmes and Poirot. In our opinion, no one has rocked a three piece suit as eloquently as Poirot or looks as badass as Holmes with an Ascot and pipe. These are the characters we look to as role models in fashion and style.

GL: What would be your advice for those that want to go into Business Partnership and into Bespoke Tailoring? Or even Fashion Design..

LoR: Our advice to anyone out there looking to get into a partnership is to know who you are getting into business with and understand them before committing. Most especially, be prepared to compromise. Wither Bespoke Tailoring or Fashion Design in general we’d say to find yourself and what you are, or your views on fashion and what you want it to be. Define your fashion and then express it to the world. Please yourself and do what you want and love finding a way to incorporate it with consumer needs.

GL: Future Projects? Upcoming Fashion shows?

LoR: We have a number of projects in the works. We’ll be launching our new website and online store by the fall. We also look to introduce additional products to the line such as accessories and shirts. Letting the cat out of the basket, we’re in talks to lunch a Shirt collection in honor of the late U.S. Senator Charlie Wilson in respect to his impeccable fashion style and rebellious nature. That should be interesting, and we are madly excited about it. In every of the last three months, we’ve participated in Fashion Shows from Mose EXPOSED 2010 to the Miami in Dallas Fashion Show and invited as a guest designer to the runway at the Dallas Designers Competition 2010, so we’ve been quite busy on the runway and now done for the Summer but we’ll be looking at a few Fashion Shows in New York and Moscow for our Fall/Winter Collection.

GL: Welldone Guys and Goodluck for the future, Many thanks for your time.

LoR: Thanks