Ẹnitan Kẹhinde



THE MOKEY CREW

 When you see talent you just know. These four young men have come together to put up a clothing line; “MOKEY”. Durotimi,Stephen,Tosin and Ogaba are the minds behind the mokey shirts you must have seen around. JK met up with them some weeks back to know exactly what keeps them going. Enjoy!

JK.Introduce yourself to us,pls.

Durotimi: ‎​i was born on the 4th of april 1993. I am durotimi bolaji-idowu; a student of babcock; 100 level mass communication. I draw up them designs for mokey. (Big smile)

Oluwatosin: I’m Toseen Popoola.; a student of babcock university. I’m the 2nd son from a family of 3.

Ogaba:Yes why not? My name is Ogaba Sanni,i’m the first of 5 children, I run mokey ,and I also have an avid interest in music and sports.

Stephen: I’m Stephen Ologeh , Born and raised in Lagos but im from Delta though, im quite the introvert, not the average, usual guy but thats by the way . . Im a BIG LUPE FAN , i stand against anything dumbing down the minds of youths, (laughs) for real i could watch CCTV ALL DAY! (Laughs).

JK:.Educational background

Durotimi: Did my primary school in sunnydale; jss1 in supreme education foundation, 3yrs in trinity international college and 3 yrs in dansol.

Oluwatosin: I attended ladybird primary school First four years was at Grace high school gbagada and remaining two years of secondary school was at Dansol.

Ogaba: (Laughs) I have been to a lot of schools because my parents moved around a lot. But in Nigeria I attended Lagos British School, green wood house, and white sands school for two and a half years in Lagos, Funtaj high school and Caleb international college lekki. I finished from Canadian independent college in July 2010 and I will be starting university in the fall of 2011

Stephen: I attended Salvation international school (SIS) primary school GRA then was in Dansol till SS2 then finished at Gapbridge Private school before moving on to Canadian independent college for a 1 year pre university program finished that in january waiting to go to York University hopefully. (Wide grin)

JK:.Hw did you guys meet?

Durotimi: ‎​Dansol,ss1

Oluwatosin: Hmm, I met stephen and Goblin back in high school . Dansol high school to be precise.

Stephen: uhm, duro tosin and I went to dansol and then when duro and I started mokey we decided to include tosin and I met ogaba in CIC and decided he would make a good addition to the team.

JK:.Do your parents know about your clothing line intentions?

Durotimi: Yh they do, and they back me up a 100%

Oluwatosin: Yes they do and are in full support Especially ma mum (laughs)

Ogaba:My dad is a bit sceptical about it, but my mum supports the idea 100%.

Stephen: well yes! they’re very supportive and you cant really say intentions (laughs) because we kinda already started but like they’ve been great so far.

JK:.why the name mokey? How did it come about?

Durotimi: Well uhm it’s my good friend jadesola adeyemo that came up with the name she made a mistake trying to say something and it sounded catchy 2 us.

Oluwatosin: (laughs)..Goblin(durotimi) can answer that It was from his friend Jadesola who was supposedly calling him a monkey but spelt it as mokey and then we liked it and chose the name

Stephen: well uhm you’ll have to ask GOBLIN (durotimi) (laughs) because i was at home that day thinking for a name for the clothing outfit and he pingd me and said MOKEY i was liKE WTF! but i didnt object to it so it jst kinda stuck.

JK:.Hw do you make the shirts? What’s the process?

Durotimi: ‎​We talk about what kind of stuff we want on our shirts, then I draw up the designs. All of us then look at the designs and make the necessary adjustments then we foward them to the company that prints for us( which I can’t say) (tongue out)

Oluwatosin: Hmmmmm its a process of heat transfer. That’s transferring your designs to Tshirts maybe if you come over we could do a few together(wink). We also have printers that do work for us.

Ogaba: We start from the designing process on corel draw, after that we look at the best technique for it to be printed with; it could be direct on garment, heat transfer or screen printing. Those are the popular methods we use to print. We use one of the methods and just print on a shirt really. And then our shirts are made from 100% cotton.

Stephen: cant give that away but i can tell u tho that we all have different roles in the making of these shirts some of us take the orders other do the designs and then others handling the actual making of the shirts so works rather spread out amongst us.

JK:.Where do the quotes and lines come from?

Durotimi: ‎​Well uhm the environment, our thoughts, a couple times we just get inspired by the things we see on other shirts

Oluwatosin: From us Like every design is frm our head

Ogaba: We come up with most of them, but two or three catch phrases or punch lines from songs, but as an independent brand we try to minimise that and be original.

Stephen: well to be honest we all come up with them in uhm shall i say certain “moments” (laughing) sometimes one of us would be in the zone and come up with like 10 diferent quotes so like we all think them up or rather they come to us at unknown times

JK:.the clothing line must attract a lot of female attention,how do you deal with it?

Durotimi: ‎​We try not to get caught up, stay focused and disciplined.

Oluwatosin: (laughing)..Mein its hard but I just try my best to stay focused. like at shows you see a bulk of sexy girls but mein I just try to hold myself (Laughs) I love it though because it’s what I do.

Ogaba: (Laughs) I just do what I have to do and try not to be distracted.

Stephen: i try my best not to attract ANY kind of attention to myself as i said earlier im quite the introvert, so like it’s not been too difficult handling the females.

JK:.Do you make shirts in bulk or just single?

Durotimi:We just started off so we make dont produce in bulk but soon enough we would

Oluwatosin: Any quantity,it just depends on orders

Ogaba: We make shirts according to the orders we get.

Stephen: we make some really popular designs we’re sure would really catch on in bulk but because of fitting, size and color we mostly make the shirts for people on order.

JK:.At what rate do you sell the shirts?

Durotimi: N4OOO male N3000 female

Oluwatosin: Maleshirts go for N4000 Female shirts N3000 plus there’s also discount on bulk purchases

Ogaba:It depends we can’t really predict how business will be but we do our best.

Stephen: Male: N4,000 Female N3,000 prices are quite stable at the moment but they could probably rise in future.

JK:. Is it just shirts mokey produces?

Durotimi:‎​ For now yeah, but we’re going to expand soon.

Oluwatosin: Yeah for now…but we moving to other things very soon. (Lips sealed)

Ogaba: For now yes, but we are thinking of expanding into other clothing items.

Stephen: There’s Mokey images though but im not qualified to talk about that aspect of mokey im in the clothing department for now. but for clothing we hope to go into shoes and maybe lingerier (wink) soon

JK:: How often do you have photoshoots for mokey?

Durotimi: ‎​We just started that so I really can’t say but we take advantage of every opportunity we get.

Oluwatosin: ‎​We just started off so we don’t hav any specific time for shoots. ‎​But we just take pics randomly.

Ogaba: Every season spring, summer, and Christmas.

Stephen: for now only when we’re launching a new theme or a new edtion [WATCHOUT FOR SUPER PENG AND OUR SUMMER LINE]

JK:‎​. Where do you see mokey in the next few years?

Durotimi: ‎​Uhhm big like really big. We’re trying to make it a west african based thing at first…..but we’ve got big plans.

Oluwatosin: ‎​I see Mokey being the Ama kip kip of nigeria. ‎​Among great clothing lines such as Nack,Nautica,Ysl e.t.c

Ogaba: In the short run we hope to be well established in Nigeria, and maybe in the long run a multinational cooperation with lots of branches.

Stephen: UHM hopefully we’ll still be together by Gods grace and then we’ll be, you know Mainstream fashion designers. hopefully we’ll be making a lot more than shirts . . and then we’ll have expanded beyond the shores of Africa. then the usual a lot of money in the bank (big smile) and a few awards (giggling).

THE MOKEY CREW

JK: Any advice for those looking to go into the clothing line business?

Durotimi: People will always chat shit but just stay focused

Oluwatosin:‎​Yeah just stay focused..big things start small. ‎​Work hard and with God on your side you will make it.

–ENITAN .O. KEHINDE