If you meet Amber for the first time, you would instantly feel at ease with him. It would seem as though you knew him for a very long time. It’s like having a reunion with an old friend, a good friend that you would want to do some catching up with over a good cup of coffee or teh tarik. Besides being a very approachable guy, and underneath all that charm and easy-going-ness, is a guy that speaks his mind openly without any sugar coating. Many would think that that isn’t a good trait to have, but amongst all your hundreds or thousands of Facebook friends, or followers on Twitter and Instagram, one would wish to have a real friend like that. Someone that tells it as it is.

Founder of our friendly neighborhood denim company, Tarik Jeans, co-founder of Nusantara Denims and the guitarist for the band Oh Chentaku, we sat down with Afiq “Amber” Iskandar on his time off from his current tour with Oh Chentaku to ask him a few questions about the scene, and how he juggles between each of his responsibilities. Check out what went down in the interview as Amber tells it as it is.

As usual, let’s start with a little introduction about yourself.

Erm, I’m sure everybody knows my name. I’m sure everybody knows what I do. #poyo LOL! Ok ok, let’s do this properly, My name is Afiq Iskandar, but you can call me Amber. I currently run Nusantara Denims and I’m also currently on tour with my band Oh Chentaku to promote our latest album, Young Hearts which is already out. I’m 28 years old this year, and I’m still available for fun.

So that means you’re not available for “serious”?

HAHAHA! Currently I’m not. When I am ready for serious I will let you know and maybe we can do another Borak-Borak session where I will tell you all about this “serious” business.

So how do you find the time to juggle the store and the band?

Well, usually when bands tour, especially in the USA, they normally play a show every 2-3 days. So that would mean that the band would constantly be on the road traveling. But in Malaysia we have to do it slightly different. Malaysia isn’t that big, so we would normally play shows over the weekend. We’ll travel to the place early Saturday morning, play the show at night, sleep one night there, wake up the next day to do some sight seeing and head home after that. So on the weekdays I’m pretty much at the shop. Financially it is better for a band to do a tour like this, and in terms of time management it also is a better option to do a tour like this, as we have more time to enjoy each stop.

It’s been a great tour so far, and it will be coming to an end soon, which our last stop will be the 8th of March at Black Box, Publika where Oh Chentaku will be launching our album. COME AND ROCK OUT!

It’s good to hear what’s been happening with the store and the band, but what’s been happening with Tarik Jeans?

We’ve been quiet for almost a year now. The last time we released a collection was during “Heritage Collection”  which, Alhamdullilah has been fully sold. I have been focusing on Nusantara Denims this past 1 year that’s why Tarik Jeans has been a bit quiet, but seeing that this year is the 5th year that Tarik Jeans has been established, expect some good stuff from us this year. You can expect a lot of collaborations and capsule collections between artist and also well known celebrities. Tarik Jeans will also be going into a slightly different direction. So be on the look out!

Care to elaborate to us what kind of direction you guys are thinking of heading to?

We will be heading into more “Cut and Sew” stuff. Even our t-shirts will be done in a custom made ‘Cut and Sew’. We want to produce our own t-shirt instead of just buying a ‘Gildan’ t-shirt and sticking our brand on it.

Any particular reason why you would want to head into that direction?

We always strive to be a brand that stays a step ahead of the rest and also from the very beginning, we were always curious about things like that. And even before the whole hype of #lokalah, we always wanted to try something unconventional like this. And especially now, since the local clothing scene is booming, and there are so many brands popping up right now and most of them are producing t-shirts,  all the more it is important to try and give our customers something which is of higher quality, of a different look and feel, and bottomline, something new.

Since you mentioned the local clothing scene, what do you think about the scene right now?

HAHAHA! YES! I was wondering when you were gonna ask me this question. But yeah, it is very nice to see the industry grow. It’s nice to see that people can make a living out of this. Right now we hear stories of people quitting their day job and are running a local brand full time, and that is a good thing to see how much the industry have grown to this level. Unlike 5 years ago, it was almost unheard of. I’m really happy to be one of those people who are part of this industry and part of helping it grow.

 BUT?

Well of course there are some brands, or brand owners who think too much of themselves, and all this hating going on. ‘I-hate-you-you-hate-me’ thing. Which is very unnecessary. All this hating is very unnecessary, especially in our scene which is just starting to grow and it isn’t that big yet. Before this when I was just starting out, there isn’t such a thing. The scene was very small and everyone was genuinely friendly with each and eager to help each other and the scene out.

Besides that, what else do you see lacking in the scene?

So far, I think it is very difficult to see the relationship between the brand and culture. It’s very crucial in streetwear and especially what we are doing to have that relationship. Most of the brands nowadays, they are riding on the whole #lokalah bandwagon, and they put a local wording on the brand, and find as much local related images, Bulan Sabit la, Bintang la, gambar Sultan la, Jawi wording la, and just make it as local as possible. And the consumer gets the whole concept of it. But before brands like Pestle & Mortar or Tarik came about, this things were totally unheard of.

So the problem with jumping on the bandwagon is that there is no genuine relationship with the culture, there are a lot of brands who are doing it because it is the hype thing to do, or because they see that they are able to make money out of it. And how this brands portray their work and designs is by copying, or the proper word for it is ‘INSPIRED’. Because it is easy and hassle free. And that is how people like Mr. Brandwashed can come about. Because he saw that, he saw that there was no genuine relationship.

Also at the same time, the audience, we can’t blame them, how are they suppose to know who copies who, and where this design comes from. Not everyone is that free to sit in front of a computer and compare designs. So when the consumer finds out about this copying, of course they will be pissed. And that is also why Mr. Brandwashed can become such a big hit.

A lot of brand owners, don’t know, or don’t have a good reason why they start the brand. What is the purpose and existence of the brand. They just started it because it is cool, they can make money, they started it because everyone else is doing it. In a nut shell, the reason they started the brand is a very shallow one. Basically what is crucially lacking is genuine people with genuine brands.

Personally, are you affected by all this?

To a certain extend, yeah. It does affect me. Like some of this guys who started their own brand are probably just doing it as a hobby, a way to earn extra income. A part-time job. And because of that they do not think long term. Even the simplest thing of pricing their products, can make a huge impact on the industry. For example if this new brand comes around and sells their t-shirts for RM30 while everyone else is selling theirs for RM50-RM60, it will affect the way the consumer thinks about local products. It will cause the consumer to ask “Kenapa brand tu boleh jual Rm30 tapi brand kamu jual RM50?” which will eventually lead to “Mahal la barang kamu.” and eventually they will think that all local products should be cheap.

Do you know how this whole LOKALAH thing get started?

Well actually Tarik and few other brands were the ones responsible for coming up with it. Mie from RARE Distro, Joe from Attack Apparel, the dudes from Urban Village, Kukubesi, and a few other brands had a meeting at Bangsar. Initially it was an idea to started up and have a community of local brands and we were gonna call it Lokalah. But I didn’t like the idea of another community, which then makes it look like an exclusive club with only selected few can join, and also there is too many communities in Malaysia already. So I suggested to make it into a hashtag for everyone to share.

But right now, as I mentioned earlier, #lokalah has become a bandwagon and it is making the scene grow tremendously. Which is not really good, cause it isn’t something organic. It’s like the local clothing scene is on steroids.

If you only able to listen to ONE SONG FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, which song would that be?

WOW, this is so tough. I think it would be OAG’s Konspirasi Bising.

Coming back to the whole Brandwashed thing, I notice that Tarik Jeans have never been featured on @brandwashed_ Instagram account, how does that make you feel?

I think it is no secret that I am very proud of myself and Tarik Jeans for not being featured, even till the point that I support what he is doing. But not the way he uses his words to ‘kutuk’ the brands, but the whole concept and intention behind the Instagram account. I can tell that he is frustrated. He sounds like a designer. A very frustrated designer. I guess he is just frustrated with all this “designers” that convey themselves as this DAHSYAT designer, but in the end they just copied someone else’ design.

It is just sad to see a brand doing so well, and part of that reason they are so successful is that they copied. Imagine the customer who bought the stuff thinking that they are buying a genuine local made product but at the end finding out that the design is something which was copied from an overseas brand. Imagine how cheated the customer would feel and how disgusted he/she would feel at local products.

So, genuinely I’m just happy that there is someone like Mr. Brandwashed that is doing what he is doing. Keeps everyone on their toes.

 Moving along, what’s in it for 2014?

Well I’m not to sure for 2014, but by the end of 2015, I want Tarik to be a popular household name. That’s my goal.

Tolong or Saman?

Tengok muka Polis tu la. Or maybe the way they ask. Sometimes you have those bastard cops who demand you to bribe them, and that is those I hate. I rather get a fine then pay them. But on the other you have some cops who are very nice, they talk to you like a normal human being, they are chill and relaxed, and they even joke about your offence, that kind cop, even if I ‘tolong’ them, I will treat it as a tip. But it really depends on the situation la.

What’s the best advice

Don’t let it get to your head. Stop hating on people, and stop thinking that people hate you.