We chatted with the founder of Amour brand Rami Dunham based in Santa Monica, California and recently graduated from Parsons school about his streetwear brand. Check the entire interview and lookbook below.
WHO ARE THE AMOUR TEAM?
The Amour team is lead by myself, Rami Dunham; I design the clothing, shoot the lookbooks, run all social media accounts, handle manufacturing, etc. My older brother Taylor Dunham is my partner in the brand, he assists with the design process and creative direction in addition to the business side of things. Besides the two of us, we rely heavily on our friends and family (many of whom who are artists themselves) who help out with modeling, shooting/styling lookbooks, and above all just supporting.
WHY DID YOU START A STREETWEAR BRAND?
We started a streetwear brand so we could give our take on a culture that greatly impacted our childhood. What separates us is we aren’t trying to push any product or marketing just because it is ‘cool at the moment’, we genuinely just make clothes that we would wear ourselves. We grew up idolizing brands like Bape and Stussy but also loved the smaller brands that would pop up every year with a fresh take on streetwear. Throughout my undergraduate program at Parsons School of Design in New York, I realized there was no need o wait any longer to start Amour; we had to take the first step and make a couple pieces to test the waters. We got a great reaction from people on our first drop and that pushed us to continue experimenting with new ideas.
What’s the most important thing to share with through the internet in your brand?
The most important thing I want to get across with our brand is authenticity and inclusiveness. I believe it’s of the utmost importance for our brand to stay true to our core values as we grow and not become a victim of fleeting trends. In addition, we believe that one of streetwear greatest strengths is its ability to bring people together from completely different backgrounds strictly from the clothes they choose to wear. Ultimately we hope to use that to our advantage by bringing together a community of open-minded individuals.
WHATS THE STORY BEHIND THE “INSECURE ARTIST” POSTER?
I thought of the ‘Insecure Artist Club’ during a weekly critique at Parsons where I was noticing a common theme of students talking down on their work before presenting it. It got me thinking about how as an artist sharing your work with the world can be a nerve-racking experience. You fear people will hate it or just simply not understand it. I figured we could find a way to take the seriousness out of that feeling and just embrace it because at the end of the day everyone who has created something has felt that before and it’s totally normal.
WHICH IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE SINCE YOU STARTED?
As a brand that’s just starting out, it’s been hard for us to manufacture a lot of the pieces we design because of cost or minimum order quantities. It feels like our creativity is limited at times because of a lack of resources, but you have to finesse ways around it in order to keep creating.
FUTURE PLANS?
Currently, we’re working on our next collection, which is our take on classic American workwear clothing and accessories. My fascination for this style is inspired by my father, a Syrian refugee who has owned his own Bodega in Bridgeport, CT for the past 20+ years. As for our long-term plans, we want to continue to organically build up our fanbase and collaborate with more brands and artists along the way.
In Amour, We Trust from Amour on Vimeo.
