Over the last few years through Kennedy I have managed to make many good friends over in Seoul. One of my oldest ones and a true creative soul, Acidus Joe recently embarked on a new trip with his clothing label called Calico. I received a few of his designs a while ago and they became favorites. I thought to ask Joe a few question and introduce him and his brand to rest of the world.

Where do you live?

- I live in Seoul, South Korea.

What do you like most about your city?

- I love diversity of this city. Seoul has everything - not only the people from different countries or different types of building & etc., but also co-existence of technology/nature, noise/silence. People in Seoul mostly stuck in the traffic jam, and noise from never-ends urban redevelopment, but you can get out of them right away if you really want to.

5 Favorite spots?

1. The Edge & Clique Records - Hybrid space with bar & record store. Good music, good drinks, and good people everyday! (1 minute walking distance from Calico Showroom!)

@theedgeseoul & @clique_records

2. Mosaic - One another record store I go often. Must go if you want to start your record collecting with no fail.

@mosaicseoul

3. Mt. Bukhansan - Easy to access, has various low-mid level trails with amazing view.

4. Yeoui-do - An Island surrounded by Han River. Has 3 bridges connects south & north side of city, many skyscrapers, and a huge park at the center.

5. Jongno-gu - Center of Seoul. You can see the old palaces & tall buildings at a glance. I love the whole district.

Do you drink coffee?

- Oh yes, I love coffee, and getting into specialty & hand-drip coffee was really natural. I was working at the clothing store 'Decade Shop' in 2014, and there was a gastro pub called 'Scout' which is run by the same owner. Scout served aero-press coffee with fresh-roasted single origin beans, and those were from 'Coffee Libre' which was right upstair on the same building. I had really good coffee pretty much every single day, but I think I didn't really know what I was drinking, at that time. As time goes by, I started to make hand-drip coffee by myself, and now I can definitely say coffee is one of the big parts of my life.

You also love photography what initiated that hobby?

- It all started from Instagram. Same as everyone who's started into something, I was too much. At the beginning, I touched photos up as much as I could, and I liked them. But I could have opportunities to see a lot of good photos on instagram, tumblr, blogs, etc., and started to have a certain degree of understanding about lights and composing. Then I bought a cheep DSLR and P&S film camera, took a lot of photos, find my own style, and now I just settled down with 2 cameras and am enjoying with them.

How did you get into clothes? Why do you love EG so much?

- I firstly got into clothes when I was in middle school. At that time, going to huge fake & vintage market(called DDM market) with my friends before annual outgoing trip & picnic was kind of ritual. Going there regularly made me to see what's new & trend in street fashion vaguely. Of course, I didn't have any discernment about good & bad at that time, but I'd just like to say getting into clothes started from those kind of moments. After those times, searching online to see runways of huge international brands, reading Japanese fashion magazines & blogs were becoming really natural, and finally I choose Fashion Business as my major.

About EG, yes, I'm a huge fan of EG, but it's more like.. I'm a fan of Daiki Suzuki. I see his belief & conviction in every collection. (especially 2007~2013.) He is not just designing or making clothes, he strongly reflects his ego & lifestyle through EG, and it looks so natural. I think 'brand' should be like that. That's why I like EG & Daiki.

You are also a dj what is your music background?

- When I was young, I listened to pretty much everything except the genres that I like & collect these days. But somehow I got into music from 80's, such as synth-pop, disco, soul, funk. I think it started from listening to a lot of mixes on SoundCloud. I literally just listened to them without any knowledge of artists, labels, titles, but at some point I got some track IDs and made a playlist on YouTube to put everything in it. Making a playlist helped a lot to find my specific taste.

Few years later, in 2016, when I was in L.A., I started buying some records, not crazily, and I seriously started buying & collecting records after I got back to Seoul, mostly at Clique Records - I met so many good friends doing DJ & producer there, and I could have an opportunity to playing records as a DJ. and it's still going on!

How did the idea of making your own brand start?

- It started from the simple thought - 'I want to show my own style through my own brand!'. But my style & taste were built up unconsciously for the last 10 years, so it became more complicated than I expected. I had to organize all of my thoughts and make the algorithm. Tons of the small ideas should be filtered & refined. It took almost 6~8+ months.

It was early 2020, right before COVID-19 hits the globe, and I've turned 30 at that time. I had to decide. 30 years old, especially in Korea, is really the moment of making a decision. Luckily, I could have many opportunities to work in the fashion field when I was in my 20s. I worked at some clothing stores, a domestic brand, and I was working at a huge clothing manufacturing company at that time. Those experiences helped a lot on making a decision quickly, because I didn't want to work in partnership with someone(especially at the beginning), so I really have to handle & manage everything by myself.

I quit my job in mid 2021, and started to put all my effort on Calico. I could get few important rules through the algorithm I made, and those became the core ideas when I make a decision on making the product under the name of Calico. It's hard to list-up all the rules, but it's based on 'Form follows function'.

What do you want to achieve with Calico?

- Firstly, I hope people don't recognize Calico as just 'clothing brand'. Calico is a lifestyle(I don't like this word personally, but I have to use!) brand, in the huge sweep of things, like Calico carries Kennedy Magazine NOT just for the completing the assortment, like Calico releases guestmix series NOT just for the content. Of course it's mainly a brand sells 'product', but Calico can introduce various contents with its firm identity, and I sincerely hope people take them for granted and think 'Oh, it's totally Calico style!'.

What would you tell to your friends from abroad about the Korean market?

- In two words, it's 'fast & cold'. Uncountable products are being produced, consumed, and thrown away in one day. In my sight of view, most of the domestic brands are already got used or trying to get used to it. But, you know, you lose your first intention or identity, when you run too fast. I think it's the biggest difference between Korean market & the market overseas(especially Japan & Europe). Everyone should chill down a bit and look back. Sometimes I have doubts & questions about on some brands & products I see these days - 'So, what you'd like to tell people with these products you made?'. But at the same time, there are some brands that show their identity calm & steady with integrity. I respect them even more than before, as I'm inside of this industry.

However, even though I was too cynical on the answer above, it's definitely an interesting market. Consumers are super smart & react instantly, so the people who run the brands, and everything includes marketing tools and strategies are getting smarter, too.

A CHAT WITH CALICO SEOUL