Creating space for a new line by having a clothing market
There are 10 years since the cothing brand Jör was founded. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Guðmundur Jörundsson, a clothing designer and restaurateur, now plans to start designing a new clothing line after taking a break from designing for his brand Jör in the past year. He is now hosting a clothing market that takes place at Kex-hostel today in order to unload the old and make room for the new one.
There has been plenty of work for Guðmundur, but as well as designing a bit on the side, he has been instrumental in opening the restaurant and shop Nebraska on Barónsstígur in Reykjavík.
Speaking to mbl.is, he says he intended to start designing clothing lines sooner than he actually did and sell them in the store.
“Then, now that I started going through all the stuff, I thought that I might have to clean up and go through it. Then I got the urge to do something new, to get rid of the old thing and start designing again so completely. It took a while to regain my energy,” Jörundsson says.
More fun for others to enjoy it
He says the trigger for all of this has been when he held a small clothing market about a month ago.
Guðmundur Jörundsson, or Gummi Jör like most people call him is now making room for new design in his brand. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
“It was kind of just about that, when I started going through all the old show clothes and looking at everything. It sparked something like that in me just. I just decided to make this decision and make a proper clothing market and bigger and announce it so it would be carved into stone,” he says.
When asked whether releasing certain garments on the market won’t be difficult, he replies yes, but says it’s more fun that someone has the items that enjoys them.
“It also took some years to be able to let these garments go, I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, and there was also a whole line that was on a traveling exhibition starting in Frankfurt, and I got sent two years ago. [...] Then somehow it was just my conclusion that I realized, ‘Hey, I’m just about to have it in a box or hanging somewhere, and I find it much more fun that someone has this thing that actually wants to have,’” Jörundsson says.
"Aging and maturing is beautiful"
He says the range of garments in the clothing markets will be very diverse. There will be unique products, test products, display products, and other more classic items he has made in recent years.
Guðmundur says that the cothing market will display a wide variety of garments from his brand Jör. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Asked how the feeling is creeping into the decade since the founding of Jör, he says the feeling is galvanizing.
“I think it’s crazy that it’s been ten years, it’s been going very fast, but it’s just beautiful, it’s beautiful to grow old and mature,” says Jörundsson, adding that he learned a lot, but he was 24 when the label was founded.
"You felt disgusted by Crocs a few years ago"
He says he suddenly realized he wanted to go back to doing what he likes most.
“I like doing lines and shows, making the world around it. Designing clothes is quite fun, I was also naturally just designing suits, shirts and such more classic stuff [...] but I like to do a holistic clothing line and present it. That’s what I want to start doing again,” he says.
Shoes, bags, shirts, suits are a few of the items for sale today in Kex. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Asked if there are any particular garments he should have omitted or are his favorites, he says that he certainly has favorites. However, respect for the piece is important since fashion always comes back.
“If you think it’s ugly now, you’ll think it’s insanely cool after ten years, which is both the natural cyclical nature of things but also what is funny about it. You thought Crocs was disgusting a few years ago or just the whole “90s.” You just have to respect [each season],” says Jörundsson.
Diverse selection for a diverse clientele
He confesses that it will no doubt be fascinating to unload old items and go through them. It was also great fun for him to go through old lines and still hear, ten years later, about people who wear old clothes from him that are still in top form.
Guðmundur says the market is very diverse.
“I didn’t really realise it until I put it all up and went through the garments. There are classic shirts, dresses, tops and jeans, blouses, some suits, shoes, purses, and just everything. [...] Just like Jör was, with a very broad clientele and an age group,” he concludes.
For more information on the market, see the charts, click here, which begins at Kex-hostel today, Saturday at 13:00 and lasts until 16.00.
