In the comfort of his home in Bangkok’s Samsen Nai neighbourhood, Bhubawit Kritpolnara, creative director and owner of Thai fashion line Issue is relaxed as he tells us how the brand came about. “I’d been working on Greyhound’s fashion line for six years when in 1999 some friends told me about some space that was available for rent at Siam Square.
With the help of family I took it and turned it into an atelier from which I designed, made and sold my own clothes. That, in effect, was the start of Issue.” And the name? “I was in a bookshop and thinking about a brand name and the word ‘issue’ was all around me. It was easy to say and catchy and so I thought, why not.”
A Thaivichitsilp Technological College fine arts graduate, Roj as he is known to all, had no official education in fashion design.
“My know-how stems from the bits and pieces of acquired knowledge gleaned through years of work experience—perpetual on-the-job training if you like,” laughs the 49-year-old. “Issue is the culmination of years spent overcoming challenges,” he adds in a more serious tone. “When I started out I didn’t know much about the fashion industry, particularly the business side of it. I had some design grounding from Greyhound, but really getting Issue going was a new experience for me.”
See also: Issue Celebrates 20 Years Of Success In Style
Now a respected 27-year veteran of the Thai fashion industry, Roj says that in his inexperienced early days in the business being observant was key. “I simply looked more and listened more. I remember doing a lot of sketching back then. I felt the more informed I was, the more I could work out what I liked in terms of design.”
Major style inspiration came on his first visit to Nepal, a country he has visited many times since. “You get so much out of observing people and their culture, their art and their way of life. The colours of Nepal simply blew me away and the spiritual traditions of the people were so evocative of an older, kinder age that I couldn’t resist including Nepalese cultural motifs in my designs after that initial trip.”
