Be ready for HENKJENZ!

photo Armando Branco

We are HENKJENZ, We’re from Rotterdam, The Netherlands and we make one size unisex.

Discover HENKJENZ on Saturday June 16 at FASHIONCLASH Festival in Maastricht.
Tickets and info: here

What made you realize that you wanted to work in (fashion) design?
The everyday interest in dressing yourself up. Clothing communicates your mood and identity, or who you want to be.

Why did you choose fashion?
Fashion or clothing in general, is a daily thing for everyone . We like to give social messages through clothing, for us Fashion is a way of communicating to every unique individual.

What would you say are your main achievements in your career? 
Amsterdam Fashionweek, Berlin Alternative Fashionweek, collaborations with artists , and off course FASHIONCLASH.

What are your sources of inspiration? 
Social Themes about exceptance. Thats mostly our base. Besides that, there aren't really any sources in particular. We built a world around the social theme that we choose for a collection. Because we want our brand to be tangible for everyone, the inspiration comes from different angles. We create a playfull twist to our collections to make the social theme less heavy or to give people a positive view.

Why did you decide to participate in FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018? 
We wanted to make sure that our new name would be revealed at a good platform. So we hope that everyone will fall in love with the world of HENKJENZ.

What do you love most about (fashion) design? What are the biggest struggles faced by young designers? 
We love to make people aware of how we see Fashion. Finding the right people to promote and support your brand is one of the hardest things for sure.

How would you define fashion? 
We think Fashion is based on people's opinions nowadays, in this way one can be a more unique individual.

What do you think are the most important issues in fashion today?
Acceptance in diversity for starters. Also the ‘’fast fashion’’ and how that influences the customers' need for clothing and how they value the quality of high end fashion.

photo Sem Shayne, Anton Fayle

How do you think fashion contributes to society, can it contribute to a better world? HENKJENZ stands for a better world, because of it’s involvement with social themes in every collection. We try to approach these social themes from another (positive) perspective. We think this is a way Fashion contributes to society.

What challenges do you face in the design process? What are your favorite parts of the process? Deadlines are probably our biggest challenge, because the further we are in the process the more extra ideas come into our minds to add to the collection. That is also the most fun part when it actually comes together at the end, in time.

Describe your design process in one word.
Exploring.

How would you describe the concept behind your project (for FASHIONCLASH)?
Selflove and acceptance.

What inspired you?
Our childhood and our nowadays vision on body types.

How would you describe your project in three words?
Exciting , Instinctual , Unisex.

What projects are you involved in at the moment? What are your next steps?
At the moment we are busy with some styling projects for artists, also our webshop is launching very soon.

What are your thoughts regarding fashion and religion?
Our previous collection was partly based on it. All religions can be a beautiful inspiration for a collection.

How does your day look like during the design process?
Messy, Messy, Chaotic and messy again. But still a lot of fun though.

Who is your favorite artist?
We don’t have one favorite in particular, but there are different artists that give us vibes we find interesting.

Who is your favorite designer?
Be your own favorite designer!

http://henkjenz.com/