My twitter feed is a lot like my style; a little mainstream Hollywood mixed with some under the radar favourites.  It’s a my makeshift style of adding current fashion trends with my personal favourites of items like a flat-top fedora’s or textured braces.

 

So on finding a new brand that is focused around the unique items of my wardrobe, I was a little excited,  and just knew I had to speak to the people behind it and bring Wildfang to RAWRRR!

 

Here is my interview with Emma McIlroy - one of the co-founders of Wildfang- she spoke to me about all things Tomboy.

 

 

 

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE WILDFANG?

There’s a cheeky, badass, fun-loving spirit behind this brand – it’s human and passionate and ambitious. Tomboy is just as much about spirit as it is about style. Tomboy is an attitude and a way of life. Wildfang thinks about a tomboy as a woman who is confident, independent, and driven to be her best, but still knows how to have fun. She is the chick who is paving her own way, and also the chick you want to go for a beer with. 

 

Tomboy’s comes in all shapes and sizes; it’s a spectrum. There's everything from the more tailored and buttoned up sophisticate, to the prep, to the more rebellious roll & rock tomboy on the other end of the scale, who is a little more liberal with their styling. In between there are about 10 other tomboys: the sporty tomboy, the utilitarian who is inspired by functional attire, and the urban tomboy who is rocking a more street wear-inspired look. 

 

 

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BRAND?

We have a team of 15-20 part-timers, full-timers and double-timers, who eat, sleep and breathe tomboy fashion and culture. And what we lack in old age, we make up for in talent, hard work and good old-fashioned chutzpah.

 

Jules and I both came from Nike, as did Taralyn; our Creative Director. Stevan is our CTO and Chief Nerd. He has been in a bunch of start ups in Silicon Valley, as well as CO at a major online poker company. Every single person on this team is Wildfang to the core, and works their ass off to make this community feel really special.

 

 

WHAT INSPIRED WILDFANG?

I remember the first time we had the idea; actually Julia has to get the credit for the idea. We were in the men’s department at a well-known store and I was looking at a men’s graphic tee, which had a barely clad Kate Moss on the front, Jules was staring at a men’s blazer with patches on the elbows. She came over and just said “Ems, why don’t they make this shit for us?” I didn’t really have an answer. We thought about it a lot, did a ton of consumer research. Fast forward two and a half years, here we are; Launching Wildfang.

 

 

WHY DO YOU THINK THIS MARKET HASN’T BEEN EXPLORED BEFORE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE TREND IN MAINSTREAM FASHION OF ‘BOYFRIEND’ STYLE CLOTHING?

Bloody good question! We knew someone was going to do it and we wanted to do it ourselves, because we wanted it done properly.

 

 

BY HAVING A BRAND DEDICATED TO THIS ROAD OF STYLE, DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL BE MORE ACCEPTING OF THIS LOOK? AS WELL AS PEOPLE FEELING MORE COMFORTABLE BEING THE TOMBOY THEY ARE?

Societal and cultural norms are shifting a lot, as are fashion norms; the traditional gender boundaries are being dismantled. Our girl is fucking rad. The tomboy is loved by men and women, she’s your little sister and your girlfriend. As long as she feels like her best self, then who cares what anyone else thinks?!

 

 

BODY IMAGE IS SUCH A MAIN FACTOR IN SOCIETY TODAY, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE MAYBE TOO SCARED TO STEP OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM OF WHAT THEY THINK THEY SHOULD DRESS LIKE?

That’s a great question. That’s why Wildfang exists. Our mission is to free our girl to be herself, and push her to be her best. We want to help her take those risks. The best way to break the mould is with baby steps, start small; Start by incorporating one new piece into your look, maybe just a pair of wingtips, or a fedora, or suspenders. By switching out one piece at a time, it allows you to feel comfortable, while taking some risks.

 

 

WHAT IS THE DESIGN PROCESS AT WILDFANG?

We work with a kick-ass, tomboy designer from Canada called Adelle, and she makes all our private label garments from scratch. We do 1000’s of fit tests to make sure our pattern is perfect for the tomboy, and we build every garment from scratch. Our Holiday collection is handmade in Canada with organic cotton and recycled polyester. It’s sooooo good!

 

 

WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVOURITE WILDFANG ITEMS?

Currently I’m obsessed with the Stetson and the velvet blazer. Both are awesome layering pieces for fall. They also allow me to bring a little Jim Morrison to my office look.

 

 

JUST LOOKING AT YOUR WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES IT’S CLEAR YOU HAVE MANY FAMOUS FACES CONNECT WITH THE BRAND. WAS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

It’s been really organic; many of these girls came to us and were excited to be a part of Wildfang. They felt like they were tomboys at heart, and loved the clothes. We’re just psyched to work with good people and bring role models closer to our girl.

 

 

WITH WILDFANG BEING BASED IN PORTLAND DO YOU PLAN TO FRANCHISE? WHAT REACTION WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM THE EUROPEAN MARKET?

We know we have a ton of Wildfang’s in LA and NYC,  and we hope we can bring them a little slice of Wildfang soon.

 

We love our British Wildfang’s!!! Lots of our fans come from Europe and Australia; there are clearly a ton of tomboys in UK, Germany and France. Honestly, it’s not that surprising that Wildfang resonates in Europe, firstly half of the co-founder team is British (me), and also I feel like Europe is often pushing trend and culture forward.

 

 

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN THE FUTURE FOR WILDFANG?

We are here to create a brand for tomboys like us, which means you’ll see more amazing product built just for you. Awesome stores to play dress up and badass content from women you can look up to. We want you to feel like this is YOUR brand.

 

In the next few months we are playing around with social commerce, so you can buy directly through our social channels and also launching our first true private label line on 1^st December.

It’s so sweet – you’re gonna love it.

 

 

 

 

FIND WILDFANG AT: www.wildfang.com OR FOLLOW THEM: @wildfang