What is your ideal office?
Seagram Building, carpeted, filled with natural light, with our factories a few blocks away.
What is your most powerful tool?
The fact that we're a team, our similarities and differences included.
How did you two meet?
Downtown, at a mutual friend's birthday dinner.
Is there an era you often refer back to when it comes to your clothing designs?
'80s and '90s corporate Asia.
What street comes to mind when you think of New York City? Why?
JK Crosby street, where I used to intern.
DC 15th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue, where my first dorm was.
Which artist, alive or dead, would be your dream collaborator?
JK Wolfgang Tillmans.
DC Keizo Kitajima.
What is something you collect or have collected over a period of time?
Photography books, at our office.
What are some of your proudest accomplishments since starting the brand?
Being shortlisted for LVMH, starting our menswear line and receiving re-orders.
Who do you make clothing for?
Ourselves and our friends.
Why did you start Commission?
There was really no brand at the time that spoke to being Asian and our heritage the way that we wanted to in America. The representation was either scarce or generalized because our industry's references to Asian-ness were honestly quite narrow and questionably stereotypical. Being Asian was far from being considered "cool" or "aspirational" at least through the lens of American fashion so we wanted to create a brand that's just that — cool and aspirational. When we met, we each wanted to eventually build something of our own and the common thread was our shared memories of growing up in Korea and Vietnam, so it was quick for us to realize that Commission should be about telling that story in an intelligent, truthful and nuanced way — not "assuming" what being Asian is about.
What's the most memorable piece of advice you've ever received from a stranger?
If you believe in it, everyone else will too.
