Kendrick Tran introduces himself as “a queer, radical fashion designer.” His brand has become well-known in Toronto through the runway shows that he’s put on at Fashion Art Toronto. It’s a namesake label, with a focus on exploring his ideas as an artist.
As of now, the label primarily consists of fashion pieces. Tran’s idea, however, is that it’s more of an umbrella for any artistic pursuits that he follows. He does both ready-to-wear designs made for the everyday, alongside runway pieces which are made-to-order and more experimental. Tran aims to infuse a great deal of himself into what he creates, working to make statements or start conversations. Inspiration for his designs comes from his life experiences, mental health, his sexuality, being a person of colour, and growing up with parents who immigrated to Canada.
Tran's experience as an up-and-coming designer in Toronto has been quite complex. On one hand, he explains that he’s proud to have starting his brand in Canada as part of his journey in fashion, especially because “there is a lot of emerging talent in Canada and in Toronto that goes overlooked by the industry.” However, Tran has found a lack of support from the government, whereas other countries like Germany provide grants for the fashion industry. He ultimately finds it frustrating to “be in an economy that doesn't really feel like they appreciate the art that [us designers are] creating.”
Tran sees an antidote to this as Canada finding more of its own point of view or aesthetic when it comes to fashion. There are huge amounts of untapped potential that could come out of the Canadian fashion industry if it was nurtured more — creating more official fashion weeks and growing fashion publications. Tran prioritizes sourcing his materials from Canada where possible, and working with local seamstresses to create everything by hand, locally. He describes his tactic as: “if I don't see it being done, I don't use it.”
Throughout Tran’s childhood, his mom impressed on him the importance of “the idea of wearing nicer clothes, uniforms, consistency, or branding yourself to look the part of a regular Canadian person.” It wasn’t just about the clothes themselves or the way that they looked but “more about what it means to wear [certain] clothes” as Tran explains.
Following that philosophy, Tran would like the clothes that he makes to be about community. In his words, “a lot of my inspiration for my clothes comes from my soul, like, how I'm feeling, how I want people to feel, how I wish people made me feel.” Tran’s last collection, for example — including one piece that was featured in Fashion magazine — was inspired by his own mental health, and the surrounding struggles people often face. As he explains “[the collection] is about projecting what goes on in my head onto other people, and seeing who resonates with it [...] more about creating a connection than it is necessarily about creating clothes.”
For the future of his brand, Tran is looking forward to launching a shoe design in the next couple of months. When asked, he said he plans on “doing a lot more drops, e-commerce campaigns, and collaborations with other designers.” With that in mind, he would like to focus more on the artistic side of fashion, without the pressure of “wanting the views and clicks, [but] more just creating art for the sake of creating art.”