I learned one of the most important lessons from this book. I read Chasing Cool about a month ago as it was recommended by my friend Yvonne of HeyDoYou. As I started reading I begin to think it was a composition of articles throwing out catch phases and cliches about going within to find yourself and not copying or looking at others.

It talked about avoiding trend reports. What a foolish thing I thought, how can you design relevant pieces that people will buy if it’s not on the mark or what is hot.

The more I read into the book I realize the whole book was that one theme. But something change, it was me. I started to fully understand what it means to be yourself and not care about others. I knew what it meant to be authentic, true to your brand, your vision, and who you are as a brand.

That have been an important lesson, at the end I knew who I was, what JUZD Streetwear stands for, what I have to do create and not follow. It’s a simple lesson “be authentic”, two words but for me to understand the meaning behind the two words I had to read 227 pages and it was worth it.

What we have been doing was looking at the trends and fashion reports and works of other designer. However it felt very strange, incongruent. The first JUZD collection came out and it was very well received. Even to this point people are still ordering it. Yet when we did the first collection I didn’t know anything about fashion, about trends, about reports or the shirt industry, I did it because that’s what I thought was good art.

As I am working hard on the current collection no longer do I care what others are doing or what is doing well in the stores. JUZD is not in the business of copying others or even following paths of other lines, we are in the business of creating our brand, our own direction, and our own style. It’s even better if our line doesn’t look like what’s hot out there. It means we are original, and when you create good art, those people who appreciate it will buy it.