Interview with Minhee Cha

 

1. Brand image/ concept

The concept is to make clothing “simple as possible”.

When I was little, I often visited my grandmother’s house. There were many fabrics and my sister and I played with those fabrics all the time. We wrapped them on ourselves and made them into clothing. It was just a fun hobby for us, but when there were no sewing machines, people were doing the same thing. They just wrapped themselves with a piece of fabric. I studied a lot of traditional clothing including Indonesian, Greek, Korean, and Japanese. All the cultures have their own traditional style. And a lot of them have a wrapping style like the Japanese Kimono or Indian Sari.

As a designer, I try to go back to those times, go back to the origin. Use a piece of fabric, as little sewing as possible and make it as simple as possible.

2. Design concepts

The design concept is “shift the perception”.

Yoga clothing means lifestyle clothing. Yoga is not just all about body flexibility or a one hour class. It is a philosophy. To me, it means life, lifestyle. So I want to wear Yoga clothing everywhere. I wanted to make something which I could wear not only in the class but also outside the class, as casual wear or a night out wear. That is why many of our products could be worn a multitude of ways. When I started making yoga clothing, most people were wearing black and white. There was no colorful Yoga clothing. I was thinking “why does yoga clothing have to be always black or white, not colorful”. So I decided to make colorful yoga clothing. But people told me Yoga clothing has to be black or white because that is going to sell more. I did not care because I like colorful things and a lot of people do like many colors. But it is also true that people tend to put themselves in a box. Say, “I am not a blue person” or “I am a red person”, but who told you that you are not a blue person or you are red person? It is just that you are assuming so. At my shop, a lot of people try different colors and are surprised to find themselves look good in a color which they have never tried before. This is also the idea of “shifting the perception”. I want people to shift their own perception of themselves. I want them to free themselves, give them more chances to find a new part of themselves and express themselves more. Surprisingly, there is no popular color at my shop. We are selling all the colors evenly.

 

3. What is so unique about your products? (ex. fabric, the cut, color selection, print selection, hand-made, environmentally friendly, etc)

The most unique thing about my products is the fabric I use. It is an Austrian fabric called Modal. Modal is very soft and comfortable, so is mostly used for making underwear and baby clothing. From the perspective of environmental conservation, modal is also a very sustainable and eco-friendly fabric. I also use recycled polyester made from empty plastic bottles to blend with modal. The reason why I am being sensitive about sustainability is I feel responsible as a designer. Customers chose your product among many other clothing lines. So, I try to make my clothing as eco-friendly as possible and share the sustainable mind with many people through my product. My clothing is also all hand-made. Some companies don’t know who actually makes their products, but I really care about who is making my products. So I have my own factory where all the workers make products by their hands. I often visit the factory and all the workers are like my family. Another unique thing about my clothing is the pattern I use, which is from a French antique painting from 1939. I love antique paintings and wanted to adopt some of those beautiful patterns into my product. So I bought this French pattern and made my product more artistic.

4. Are you doing anything to help with sustainability of the environment?

As I mentioned above, the fabric I use is very eco-friendly. Also, I am currently taking a sustainable fashion class at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York and studying sustainable fashion and socially responsible manufacturing. It was difficult to find this class but finally I found it, so I am very happy. It is a newly launched class from this summer and the professor and all the people are very excited about it too.

5. Designer(s)’s biography

She was born in Seoul, Korea where she studied classical ballet and traditional Korean Dance. When she first tried yoga in Hong Kong in 2003, she says "I knew right away that it was going to be my life." She has since studied in India and the United States and was one of the first students to take the Acroyoga teacher training offered by Jason Nember and Jenny Sauer-Klein. Minhee now teaches Acroyoga in Hong Kong and at workshops internationally. She enjoys expressing her creativity through Hanuman Yoga Clothing. "To me yoga is a lifestyle, it's something you live" she says, "So I designed something that I can wear inside and outside the yoga class." This description was paraphrased from an article in the May 2009 issue of Yoga Journal.

6. Why was this brand started? Were there any difficulties you had faced?

Difficulty

 I couldn't find what I liked for yoga clothings so I wanted to make my own.One day, I fell in love with this fabric and I knew it would be good for practice.I designed four pairs of pants and found a tailor to make a hundred pieces in different colors. After that I went to a yoga conference with Jenny and Jason<the founders of Acroyoga>I asked the conference organizer if I could sell my clothes at one of the booths. Two hours later, I was all sold out. The biggest difficulty I faced was probably the sudden change I had experienced soon after launching this designing business. I started designing Yoga clothing just because I wanted to wear it. So, it was sort of fun thing at the beginning. Then, it suddenly became a real business and I got more responsibility. Everything moved forward so fast and I could not keep up with it. Suddenly the company became bigger than I am and I was controlled by my own company. I was not ready for all those changes.

7. Yogic lifestyles of the designer(s) (ex. how are you leading a yogic lifestyle?

I travel a lot and often live in different time zones, so I try to meditate and practice Yoga as much as possible. As a Yoga teacher and designer, I also try to live as humble as possible. Yoga means union, united with the Earth. So, it is important for me to live a sustainable lifestyle and contribute to the earth as much as possible.

8. messages for the hanuman fans!

Everybody has a different body figure and I don’t want everyone to look the same. I want everybody to enjoy their different looks. So I make my products which fits everybody in different ways. My product is like a flexible cup. The cup can hold any amount of water as it changes its shape in proportion to the quantity. I want to have water shape the cup. So, please feel the flexibility of my products and enjoy expressing yourself more!