Uploaded June 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A while back I designed some shirts.. you guys picked which one to get made. We got the Cat shirt made:) Today I'm talking to the guy who helped me out with it all! Gaby @Okitobrand
So obviously the cat shirts are done.. so you can go snag that on the website shmoxd.com/shop And today I have a special guest.. Gaby from Okito. "hello... hi"
Gaby, for those of you who don't know, has a brand called Okito. Can you describe what Okito is?
So Okito is something I started in my room. It was about 2014 when I started it, and I was something I wanted to make for a long time - cut and sew clothing for my self. I really wanted to represent my roots. I'm from Congo Africa. I used the Okapi here, cause its only found in the Congo. I thought that was the best thing to represent my brand.. so when people saw it they could just connect it to my homeland/ where I'm from. Mostly Okito brand is cut and sew mens wear. The cool thing about it is with cut and sew you can make anything. Like with screen printing t shirts you need a shirt and then you print on it and that's all you're limited to. When you hit me up and were like 'hey gaby I wanna make this t shirt' I was like let's make this happen!
Gaby was the one who helped me make the shirt, get it sampled and get it made.. and here we are.. just a bunch of floating heads.
A lot of the people who watch these videos are like crafty diy people who are trying to grow their brand or their art.. or maybe not? What helped you start? and help you go from this thought to an actual thing?
My mother is a seamstress, so growing up all my clothes were custom made from scratch. It was something I learned from her. You need to know something then use what's around you to expand what you know. If you wanna learn how to make anything you can do a google search and it will take you to there.
You also have these huge platforms like facebook, instagram, YouTube, whatever.. where you can sell stuff now. making marketing and what not easier.. How have you used that in Okito?
So basically you have to show your work. Everyone starts from the bottom so even if its something you did in your room - that's how I started. It was literally just a piece of clothing I salvaged from something.
What was that first thing you made?
It was a t-shirt. Of course it was cut and sew. Actually we'll show them... it had like these polka dots all over it.. It was what was in my mind and I got it made. did all the sizing for it even the dots and all the little things. little things like that its just your time you are using.. and if you really like what you are doing your time doesn't matter.
And for me one of the cool things for me is generally people are really supportive. It doesn't even matter if it looks like garbage or you feel like it does..idk.. if you are confident that you are doing and you are doing something that you love, A lot of times passion and confidence with show through in your product or what ever you are making and people will feed off of that rather than what it even looks like.
Yah it's true.. Lets be honest Bryan, there are people out there that probably aren't about your movement, what you do, how you do it.. but they still follow because you're an example of what they can do with my passion/what they like. And it can be with what ever.. skateboarding whatever... You just have to feed off of other creatives. Because lets be real, when some one creates something that is what inspires others to create. If no-one created anything... then its like.. meh.. there's nottthinggggg.
What are some high and lows of Okito?
Oh man! There are a lot of fail and a lot of success. I would say starting out there are a lot more fails than success... cause you know... you are learning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
I feel like its easy to get real bummed out about that failure.. cause I feel like that is how success happens. For the longest time you are just poking at ideas and seeing what sticks.
What did you do to get past all the failures?
Lets be honest.. it doesn't just stop after a certain part. You will always have ups and downs. It's just how you react to it. Every creative has been through that process where you show your work (something you've worked really hard on) and it doesn't really hit like you saw... so then you gotta move on and learn. if you don't put your self in that learning position to become better you aren't helping your self.. that is what is going to get you to the next level or it will keep you down.
and thats all the room I got.. I need some one to help me with CC :S
Follow me and watch the art process:
Instagram: instagram.com/shmoxd
Twitter: twitter.com/shmoxd
Spotify: open.spotify.com/user/12149338898
Facebook: facebook.com/shmoxd
Buy some stufffff from me: shmoxd.com
Subscribe: youtube.com/channel/shmoxd?sub_confirmation=1
Like. Comment. Share.. or what ever.. ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯
A while back I designed some shirts.. you guys picked which one to get made. We got the Cat shirt made:) Today I'm talking to the guy who helped me out with it all! Gaby @Okitobrand
So obviously the cat shirts are done.. so you can go snag that on the website shmoxd.com/shop And today I have a special guest.. Gaby from Okito. "hello... hi"
Gaby, for those of you who don't know, has a brand called Okito. Can you describe what Okito is?
So Okito is something I started in my room. It was about 2014 when I started it, and I was something I wanted to make for a long time - cut and sew clothing for my self. I really wanted to represent my roots. I'm from Congo Africa. I used the Okapi here, cause its only found in the Congo. I thought that was the best thing to represent my brand.. so when people saw it they could just connect it to my homeland/ where I'm from. Mostly Okito brand is cut and sew mens wear. The cool thing about it is with cut and sew you can make anything. Like with screen printing t shirts you need a shirt and then you print on it and that's all you're limited to. When you hit me up and were like 'hey gaby I wanna make this t shirt' I was like let's make this happen!
Gaby was the one who helped me make the shirt, get it sampled and get it made.. and here we are.. just a bunch of floating heads.
A lot of the people who watch these videos are like crafty diy people who are trying to grow their brand or their art.. or maybe not? What helped you start? and help you go from this thought to an actual thing?
My mother is a seamstress, so growing up all my clothes were custom made from scratch. It was something I learned from her. You need to know something then use what's around you to expand what you know. If you wanna learn how to make anything you can do a google search and it will take you to there.
You also have these huge platforms like facebook, instagram, YouTube, whatever.. where you can sell stuff now. making marketing and what not easier.. How have you used that in Okito?
So basically you have to show your work. Everyone starts from the bottom so even if its something you did in your room - that's how I started. It was literally just a piece of clothing I salvaged from something.
What was that first thing you made?
It was a t-shirt. Of course it was cut and sew. Actually we'll show them... it had like these polka dots all over it.. It was what was in my mind and I got it made. did all the sizing for it even the dots and all the little things. little things like that its just your time you are using.. and if you really like what you are doing your time doesn't matter.
And for me one of the cool things for me is generally people are really supportive. It doesn't even matter if it looks like garbage or you feel like it does..idk.. if you are confident that you are doing and you are doing something that you love, A lot of times passion and confidence with show through in your product or what ever you are making and people will feed off of that rather than what it even looks like.
Yah it's true.. Lets be honest Bryan, there are people out there that probably aren't about your movement, what you do, how you do it.. but they still follow because you're an example of what they can do with my passion/what they like. And it can be with what ever.. skateboarding whatever... You just have to feed off of other creatives. Because lets be real, when some one creates something that is what inspires others to create. If no-one created anything... then its like.. meh.. there's nottthinggggg.
What are some high and lows of Okito?
Oh man! There are a lot of fail and a lot of success. I would say starting out there are a lot more fails than success... cause you know... you are learning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
I feel like its easy to get real bummed out about that failure.. cause I feel like that is how success happens. For the longest time you are just poking at ideas and seeing what sticks.
What did you do to get past all the failures?
Lets be honest.. it doesn't just stop after a certain part. You will always have ups and downs. It's just how you react to it. Every creative has been through that process where you show your work (something you've worked really hard on) and it doesn't really hit like you saw... so then you gotta move on and learn. if you don't put your self in that learning position to become better you aren't helping your self.. that is what is going to get you to the next level or it will keep you down.
and thats all the room I got.. I need some one to help me with CC :S
Follow me and watch the art process:
Instagram: instagram.com/shmoxd
Twitter: twitter.com/shmoxd
Spotify: open.spotify.com/user/12149338898
Facebook: facebook.com/shmoxd
Buy some stufffff from me: shmoxd.com
Subscribe: youtube.com/channel/shmoxd?sub_confirmation=1
Like. Comment. Share.. or what ever.. ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯
