What are your favorite brands and why?
“Humans are genetically hardwired to notice differences and differences are often what attract people to your brand in the first place”
A good pair of jeans, a comfortable pair of boots, and an ink pen that glides like molten butter on paper and you’ve made me the happiest person around.
It was in the summer vacations of grade 8 that I shot up and moved from the first row to the last row in the class. I was one of the girls told to not participate in the seat rotation because I would block the view of the students seated behind me. At that point in time, our typical attire used to be the uniforms for school and track pants for the gym. Mum used to pick random non-branded track pants near her workplace. For ‘dressy’ clothes, we typically used hand-me-downs from our cousins and siblings. One of the biggest advantages of being one of the younger kids is the choice of hand-me-downs. The flip side to that option is if you are the tallest kid in the house, then there is nothing that fits you. That year, the uncle brought back a pair of Levi’s and it was the only thing that fit me. I must’ve used that pair for close to 7 years. It was the one pair I refused to share, and we’ve had a lot of nasty wars at home because of it. It did not matter to me that it was a pair of jeans from the men’s collection. It fit. It worked. And thanks to that pair, denim is my ‘go-to’ fashion option.
For a very brief period in my life, I worked as a part-time salesgirl at Flying Machine and in those days, skinny, narrow, non-flare, non-boot cut were the designs launched for women. Lee, and Wrangler also stocked similar designs, and procuring a pair of jeans with the perfect flare, not bell-bottoms and not skinny ankles became my quest. I sold several ultra-high waists, and bag-shaped jeans for women and even wore one as a uniform, and for the 2D shape I sported those days, the bag-shaped jeans added some much-required padding. But for everyday wear, when I had to wear and walk around a lot, I preferred a pair that could be worn with my boots, Levi’s was the only brand that stocked the straight/boot cuts but none of them had a longer inseam than 31, at least not the ones in India and I required a minimum of 33 for myself. That’s when I started shopping in the men’s section in denim stores because only the men’s section stocked the perfect length of denim for taller women.
I’m still on the lookout for a pair of jeans, that fit as well as that pair, but even Levi’s hasn’t been able to re-create that magic. I moved from Levi’s to M&S and they had the most awesome, kick boot jeans ever, until they decided to phase it out and replace them with skinny/slim/stretch denim that does not accommodate a good pair of boots. I still visit the M&S store in the hopes that they have re-introduced the kick boots, but no luck so far. I now prefer American Eagle, which seems to be the only brand of denim wear that has a cut, fit, option for every kind of body type ever. One of the most inclusive brands I’ve ever stumbled into. They have the kick boot, that accommodates my boots, and the next-level stretch makes them comfy to boot!
“Products are made in a factory, but brands are created in the mind”
Walter Landor
While in my hometown, Bata was my go-to footwear brand and I always shopped at the men’s section. I’ve never found a brand that can stock footwear that is comfortable in a size 8. My uncle used to bring back non-branded boots and running shoes on his annual visits and if they fit me, they were mine. He first introduced me to my favorite boots, a dark brown suede pair that I never polished or cleaned during the years I wore them. Those lasted for almost a decade, with me using them almost daily for the first 5 years. They were the most comfortable non-branded pair of shoes I have ever owned. At some point, I purchased a pair of boots from ‘Little Woods” a brand that eventually became Westside, they were dark brown with a slightly higher 1.5-inch heel. The heels took some getting used to and they were slightly longer at the ankle, which meant that I could wear a slightly slimmer fit, skinny pair of jeans over them. These were my first pair of shoes, purchased from a store that was not Bata. The brand was phased out over a few years. Almost a decade after Little Woods was phased out, brands like Woodlands and Clarks got into the market. I have tried Woodlands, but they are not as comfortable as Bata or the non-branded boots I used to own. Today, I wear a pair of boots I picked up at Clarks from the men’s section, and I promise you, they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I own.
As far as footwear is concerned, I have tried numerous brands and the non-branded ones designed to fit shoes and slippers from the corner stores. Clarks stock some of the best, and most comfortable wide-fit shoes available in the market today. These shoes accommodate the slightly wider feet that I have and last for a bit.
To be irreplaceable, one must always be different.
Coco Chanel
Calligraphy is one of my many hobbies, I love to write, and a well-stocked stationery shop is a weakness. I can window-shop and browse through the stationary section of the local grocery store for hours. So, a well-stocked stationery store is my kind of rabbit hole. On my last visit to Singapore, when the siblings decided to spend a day at Takashimaya I tagged along disinterestedly. Takashimaya had tons of stuff of interest, but I had to travel back with a baggage limit, so the teenage lessons on ‘need-want-splurge’ kept playing in my head on a loop. While aimlessly wandering from the coffee machine section to the massage chair section, I stumbled into this super small counter that stocked stationery. While the siblings focused on their respective interests of coffee machines and massage chairs, I decided to peek into this counter. They had a wide variety of gel and ink and glitter pens but the one pen to capture my interest was the Pilot Kakuno ink pen. I picked up one Pilot Kakuno ink pen, and a couple of other kids of ink pens with ink cartridges in red, green, black, and blue. That counter was too small to have a salesperson, so I never enquired if the cartridges were interchangeable. I just assumed and made my purchase before I changed my mind. Incidentally, the cartridges are not interchangeable, and the Pilot Kakuno comes highly recommended.I finished the cartridges in a few months and when I started to look for the replacements, I realized that the brand is not easily accessible. If ever there was a writing instrument that enticed you to use it, that Pilot Kakuno ink pen was it. I tried convincing the oldest sibling, living in Singapore at that time to re-visit Takashimaya and go look for those cartridges. But I knew that I had been lucky to stumble onto the brand and getting another person, not interested in writing instruments to go and look and pick it was going to be difficult. I have continued to use the pen, by manually filling in ink using fillers and droppers from other ink pens. But I recommend this brand of ink pens, for anyone interested in manual writing. And please, do stock up on the cartridges, and if you don’t, ping me, and I will share tips on how to refill ink into the existing cartridges. Camlin has a brand of ink pens that comes a close second to the Pilot Kakuno and comes highly recommended if you live in India. Their ink pens and cartridges are easy to source and cheap enough to procure and use.
Great brands inspire people to believe in what is possible”
Ashley Chymiy
Just a little more 