Thanks to TukTuk for doing a interview with us, As this is a brand which I am looking out for in the future and have also had one of the best fitting and quality in fabric shirts I have ever had ( Soft grey Chambray shirting fans) They take there inspiration from the tropical and sunny country that they are based in, With there bright colours and fabrics.
Here is what Mark has to say after we fired him over some questions...
1, How was the brand We Are TukTuk set up and what was your aim?
I had been working out in Sri Lanka for about a year, and was getting continually frustrated with not being able to buy any good clothing. I started getting some shirts and shorts made-up for myself at my local tailors and it all kind of took off from there really. I took some samples back to the UK around Xmas 2008 time, and showed them to a few shops around Manchester. The response was good, so when I got back after Xmas I decided to get stuck into setting up a label. We were officially founded at the beginning of 2009.
2, How did the brand name come about?
A tuktuk is the rickety three wheeler form of transport which is synonymous with most of Asia. In the early days of setting up the brand the majority of my time was spent in the back of one, mooching around from fabric market to fabric market - it seemed right to name the brand after one.
3. How do you find fabrics/patterns?
3. How do you find fabrics/patterns?
As well as fabric markets both in Sri Lanka and abroad, we also deal with some of the leading fabric mills across China & India. We source from all over.
4. I noticed from your blog that you take influences from the country you are in, Sri Lanka does this come out within your clothing/products?
Yes, definitely so. A lot of our clothing is bright and colourful, and Sri Lanka is certainly that. When the sun is shining 24/7 it’s hard to not be inspired by that and that certainly comes through in our clothing and accessories. As someone said to me the other day, we are a “sunshine brand”.
However, we try to not be too over bearing with the colour and patterns. Our Holdall bags are a good example of that, they have plain chambray and leather exteriors but then when you open them up you get a burst of colour and patterns; it’s a more subtle approach.
As well as the colours, the sunshine, the people, there are lots of other things to take inspiration from; day-to-day life is generally quite interesting out here.
5. What are your plans for the future and what can we expect?
We are launching a new website soon, which will have a fully functional ‘bespoke shirt’ section. To coincide with the launch, we are also starting shipping all on-line orders from our UK office to speed up order delivery times. Bespoke shirts and limited shirt runs will still be shipped from Sri Lanka as they are tailor made on order.
Product wise, we are currently working on a small A/W11 collection, which should be finished very soon. And S/S12 initial ideas and fabric selections have just started which is always an exciting time.
