Fashion for me is purely dreamy.
It's definitely not about clothing.
It's really about the motion
and it's an inspiration
and it's culture.
My name's Siki Im, and I'm a designer
based in New York City.
I speak broken English, broken Korean,
broken German and a little bit of French.
Yeah.
I'm a very confused kid.
I was born and grew up
in Cologne, Germany.
My parents immigrated from South Korea.
I mean, it was definitely
confusing growing up bi-cultural.
The Confucius identity
and theory and ethics
was very present in our, at home.
And then I would go out and have all this
German/Western noise.
I was really interested
in the American culture.
Skateboarding, graffiti,
hardcore punk music, hip-hop.
I went to Union England
and it was really hard.
'Cause all my English
was through music like
literary geniuses like
N.W.A. or Morrissey,
So my language was not very academic.
And then on the floor, you know.
Yeah.
Very like military.
- Okay.
- But we can dye it and make it look nice.
We have two lines.
One is the main line for Siki Im
and one is we call it an extension line
called Den Im, and it's
all produced in the states.
Our main line is produced here in New York
and that's because
proximity, you can just take
the subway out, you
can build relationships
which is really important.
We're using really great
factories, and we are
very fortunate to work with them.
(tranquil music)
I see my clothes as having an identity
and an attitude.
I think anything as a
creative person we do produce
or make and show is incredibly cool
because you create
something which means it has
a certain language and opinion.
My personal creating is
it starts with a memory
or something I've been
reading or something
what's going on in the world.
Usually I explore different
colleges which are maybe
far away but right now
I really want to focus on
New York City.
I'm researching the
gentrification of Lower Manhattan,
how things disappear and appear
and also the notion of globalization,
how it has an impact on
the landscape of the city.
New York, for me, is
like a whole art museum,
and it's so inspiring.
I feel designers here
don't use it as much.
(tranquil music)
We don't consider us as a fashion brand.
We consider us more as a
studio creating culture.
I'm interested in
designing cars, furniture,
music, graphics.
That is definitely my goal for my studio.
I just want to create good
things and make people feel.
