The KROST community is ever-growing, and new friends are always welcome! Learn more about the brand’s values, goals, and their newest storefront in Soho, through office’s interview with founder, Samuel Krost, below.
On the KROST website, there is a page labeled ‘Our Story’ and you often encourage your community to share their stories as well, to create a supportive ambiance. Could you tell me what your personal story is?
I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, completely isolated from the world — it was a bubble. I was an athlete my whole life; sports academia was like the only thing I cared about. We have family in New York, but even when the family would go to New York, I was never interested in this idea of New York City. It was a community, but it was a bubble of a community. There was really a lack of interaction outside of it. But that community and the way that they support one another has made me the person I am. Little did I know, it’s the reason that, here I am, creating a brand that's based not only around community but around support and being there for one another. When we started the brand, the story was conceptualized immediately after a mass shooting that took place in Parkland, Florida. March For Our Lives, who I'm sure you're familiar with — one of the leading organizations in the call for gun reform. When that organization formed immediately after this terrible tragedy, they were the organization that gave me my lightbulb moment of what our brand slogan of 'Support Your Friends' means to me. That's a matter of supporting one another based on shared values, shared beliefs, you know. We're not going to be able to meet everyone around the world, but you can still support that person. And that's really what we're doing here.
KROST is a mission-driven brand — why do you think mission-driven companies are important in this modern age where many corporations are just driven by capitalism and profit?
I tell people — even people who come to interview here — we're going to create some really dope shit, but we're gonna do good along the way as well. And there's no reason those two things need to be mutually exclusive. The bigger you get, the more you can support. When we speak with these nonprofit organizations, we ask them, 'How can we best support you? Is it financial or are there other areas that you also need help with? Do you want us to be on the ground, giving out food, handing out clothes, or building gardens?' I just don't see the two needing to be mutually exclusive. And, again, the world that we live in — the gap between the corporations and the lower classes is bigger than ever. So I have a big problem with people who can't recognize that. And unfortunately, especially with COVID, that gap is getting wider and wider, which is why the work that we're doing has become more and more important. I get to pursue something that I've always been passionate about my whole life — creating product, building a brand, building a community, and collaborating with globally recognized brands. But there's no reason that I can't give back with everything that we do. Any release that we ever do is going to be tied to a cause and we will be giving back along with it.
How does the design of your products increase awareness of the societal issues that you take on?
That's a great question. So let's take March For Our Lives, for example. We collaborated directly with them to commemorate the one-year anniversary and we worked hand in hand with their board and the students to come up with a design that reflected that one year. We love flowers here, so we designed a flower that had 17 petals to commemorate each life that was lost. So sometimes the design will be directly related to how we are supporting and how we're raising awareness around that. Other times, for example, in our second collection, it was called "Eden" and the goal was to increase awareness around climate change. We tackled deforestation, specifically. It was also right when Australia was literally on fire and we quickly spoke to the Red Cross over there, and we created a graphic that showed a forest next to a forest on fire. And under it, we put the definition of climate change, for those who have issues with understanding what that exactly is. So sometimes we will be that specific and that direct with it too. Ultimately, it's speaking to the organization, understanding exactly what cause we are aiming to raise awareness around, understanding what is going to do best for them — sometimes it's not even developing a product. Sometimes it's collecting 3000 coats in our offices so that we can go and hand them out. The goal is to, as we grow, to get even better at directly showing 'This is the cause we are supporting.'
Yeah, I think that's really important — that design aspect — because, not only are you guys contributing to the organizations, but it gives them visibility. On the same note of design, something I wanted to talk about is the brand’s minimalistic tone. I wanted to know if that minimal aesthetic matches your personal values in any way?
It's a Sammy thing. It's a me thing. Here's the thing — I want people to wear it. You know what I mean? The only thing that I have personally been proud of — because everything that we do here is about our team, it's about our family; no one's ever using the word ‘I.’ But when I'm on the street and I see someone wearing the product — that, to me, is one of the coolest things in the entire world. To have created something, that someone you walk by in the street that you don't know, and they're wearing something you created — that's amazing. It's like seeing how many people have read your articles that you've written — it's incredible. Even saying that, I have chills going through my body right now. I have my own personal style, and I want people to wear it. For me, the way that I approach design is trying to design within the detail of the garment itself. Whether that's specific embroidery, or our exterior labels, or blanket stitches, or the weights of the fabric. We try to get as intricate as we can. So it's minimalist because that's not only what my personal style is, but also I just want it to be easy for people to wear.
I do think it's kind of funny though, because it definitely is minimalist when you're looking at it. But then you talk about all the behind the scenes of considering fabric weight, and types of stitches, and all that — and when you think about those things, that work isn't minimal at all.
It's never easy. We designed our first collection over Zoom and building all of that was crazy. There's so much that goes into even making a simple garment.