GREATEST: Daily Paper
How one Amsterdam trio's passion project became a global streetwear movement.
When you think of streetwear, Amsterdam isn’t necessarily the first place that comes to mind. While the city has displayed an unrequited love for hip-hop and an inimitability stylish streetwear following, its market isn’t as loquacious as the US or even the UK. Still, Amsterdam has always had its feet planted firmly in the industry. Daily Paper, one of its prime mainstays, was founded by three creatives connected to Amsterdam by way of their international heritage: Jefferson Osei, who is from Ghana; Hussein Suleiman, from Somalia; and Abderrahmane Trabsini, from Morocco. What started as a blog, in 2010, grew from their passion into a menswear line two years later. “The way we started the brand was, we’re three kids from the west side of Amsterdam with all African roots,” Suleiman says. “We didn’t know anything about where we were from, so we said, ‘Let’s go on this voyage of learning more about where we’re from and learn from the local people.’’ Their journey was, essentially, a DIY movement.
In Daily Paper’s first iteration, its presence in the city was that of the cool kid on the block—a concept that the young and stylish locals were eager to align with. But, naturally, things changed, and people changed, so the brand evolved. In the past seven years, Trabsini, Osei and Suleiman have locked down collaborations with Puma, Havana Club, and Alpha Industries; they currently have their eyes on expanding into the American market. “I actually just moved to New York, so I live literally in between both worlds,” Suleiman says. “I see a lot of differences between the US and Europe that I didn’t really see earlier on, and it’s interesting.”
Is it Men’s Fashion Week already? Will you guys be showcasing Daily Paper in Paris?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: Yes, it’s Men’s Fashion Week. Paris started today, last week was Milan.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: We have a showroom there, so we’ll have a bunch of appointments with buyers that will swing by and see the new collection and we’re throwing a party on Saturday.
Throwing your own party. That sounds like fun.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Yeah. Call me when you need a wristband. I got you.
Thank you. How has the streetwear market changed in Amsterdam since you started Daily Paper?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Yeah. I feel like when we just started the local markets here looked up to America and Japan. They never looked up to local brands. So when we started, we didn’t have a lot of local support and our first retailers were actually outside of Holland, the local market, they didn’t want to buy us. And when they finally saw we gained a little success outside of Holland, they finally wanted to tap into our brand. So that was funny to experience, but the Holland you see now is a lot of kids supporting local Amsterdam-based brands. It’s definitely a good thing to see. Our biggest market is Amsterdam, so that’s quite cool.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: I’ve always liked local things. I went to an event yesterday with new Dutch brands and it’s good to support the local market. Streetwear is still relatively young, and especially in the Netherlands. So when we started, the retailers were never used to buying local brands. They all used to go to Paris or anywhere else to stumble upon brands. They never thought maybe there’s something here in this little city that people actually want to buy. So I don’t blame them. It just needed some transition time. I feel like we were one of those forces of that transition and now we opened the doors for the next generation of streetwear brands coming out of Amsterdam.
I’m originally from Toronto, but I lived in London for a very long time and I noticed the streetwear market in Toronto was mostly American streetwear brands and I found that their brands were very hip-hop focused and very urban. Then when I came to London it was a lot more technical and technology-focused almost. Did you guys notice that when you guys were first doing your blog and did those influences make you want to do something different?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: Definitely. We grew up in Europe and there’s a lot of the best design schools in the world and a lot of people that are active in the streetwear industry. They came from a lot of design schools and eventually they wanted to build on that. We grew up having a lot more designer clothing than in the US. So that automatically influences the way people interact with the product.
What role do you feel as a brand, as a team, as a brotherhood, you have played in the rise of streetwear culture all over? Do you feel that you’ve played a part in what streetwear has become now?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Definitely, especially from a cultural perspective. Our brand is all about Africa, brotherhood culture and people find it interesting because all three of us grew up in Holland but still have strong African backgrounds.
We really appreciate where we come from and we try to highlight it in a positive way. The way we do collaborations, the way we do activations, it all fits to our brand and we always want to give back and stay true to what we represent.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: I think we definitely showed a new perspective when we came out seven, eight years ago. The trend back then was all black and white, black and white. It was a time where Hood By Air was huge, Rick Owens. That was a little bit more like the Dark Ages. Everything was black and everything was draped. Then when we came out, our first collection was all colorful t-shirts. We felt like that was a reflection of us. It was something relatively new at that time. Our messaging also sparks some change or at least some conversations.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: It’s funny, when we sent our collection to all the blogs, everybody was posting it: Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, Complex. We didn’t really understand why. We felt so lucky. But later on we realized we came out with a unique brand aesthetic and in a time when black and white was a really big trend and a lot of stuff looked [the same].
I remember seeing an interview where you guys had spoken about opening stores within different countries in Africa. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya—they are starting to create their own brands that have a heavy influence of African prints, African culture. How would opening stores in Africa benefit you now, considering that the fashion market in African countries has become more mainstream?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: Of course we don’t know everything, right? So we just want to go out there and learn. Everytime we do something in Africa, whether it’s Nigeria, Ghana, any part of Africa that we travel to, we go back with so much more information than we came there. So I feel like opening retail in Africa is going to benefit the brand as a whole and not necessarily only from what we gain from the local market. All our campaigns we do in Africa and life. We just travel with our clothing, we scout everything locally, the models, the talent, in that way you learn a lot about the market. Every year we do a pop-up shop in South Africa. And by doing that it’s a very good test to see if this works. How does the local market respond to us? From there you learn and everybody skips it. The whole world kept skipping [Africa]. We go to Paris tomorrow and the whole fashion industry is there but they’ve never been to Lagos. They’re never in Joburg, they’re never in Cape Town. And that’s where we make a difference, that’s where we go, that’s where we leave an impact.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Exactly. And it’s not even about benefiting from it. It’s actually one of our dreams to add retailers in our own continent, you know, and show people there’s a market there and we embrace it. Bridging the gap. Also our biggest dream is to manufacture locally there—to have a made in Africa line, that would be amazing.
It’s actually one of our dreams to add retailers from our own continent, you know, show people there’s a market there and we embrace it.
That would be very amazing. Would you guys say that the South African market has been the most receptive to Daily Paper?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Nigeria, Lagos, Accra—all those markets love the brand. They’re very familiar with the brand and if you go there we see people rocking it.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: I would say South Africa is number one.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced when it comes to maintaining longevity and brand integrity in such a saturated streetwear market?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: The brand is a reflection of us and it has been since day one. People now see that it isn’t just a good story to sell more clothing. They really now feel that this is them. By doing that, I think that that’s why we are still around. We had been doing the same thing over and over again.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: I think authenticity is very important. Like what Hussain said, the moment we started our brand, still to this day, we still keep the same aesthetic. We still do the same stuff, on a bigger level of course and more advanced, and that’s why people embrace us.
We have the privilege to actually work with big brands—that Puma event we did, as an example. Let’s give something back. And we built that football field in the Accra—that’s the power you are going to gain from being bigger as brand and being able to make a difference. Give back what you represent.
Absolutely. The brand is very different from when you started. Do you see the brand constantly evolving as you guys get older? Do you feel like you’re constantly open to change and evolving the brand’s aesthetic or is there something you want to keep the same?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: One-hundred percent. When we started, we only had money to spend on some t-shirts. Our product offering has expanded and now we started doing women’s three years ago. We didn’t do that when we started. Then our team got bigger, our quantities got bigger. So we had more options of things that we were able to offer our clients. Our retailers changed. It went from just the skate stores and streetwear stores to eventually big luxury department stores wanting our product as well. So in that respect, a lot has changed. The messaging and the DNA will always stay the same.
I grew up going to Morocco every year. I spent six weeks staying in the same city. And then as a brand, when we traveled there in 2013 for our lookbook in Marrakesh, Morocco and the desert, I came back very inspired knowing that I wanted to learn about my own people.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI
So it’s possible we could see Daily Paper kids or Daily Paper home?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: One-hundred percent. We’re actually working on that with different collaborations. So we try to do as much as possible. It’s a reflection of us and the older we get, the more we want to do. One day we can wake up say we want to create our own fragrance or a room spray. I have a nice house, I need some pillows. Let’s make some Daily Paper homeware. It’s all the things in life. And we travel a lot and you learn and you get inspired and you want to implement that.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: Everything is a reflection of our lives. For instance, our partner Jefferson, who’s not in Paris, he’s got a kid and so we wanted to make some clothes for him. That’s why we made those samples. So that’s why during Christmas we offered a little drop of baby clothes. We developed this for his son. Same thing goes like one day I’m walking in the street, I’m thinking like, “Yo, why don’t we have a Daily Paper bike?”
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Right now we’re working on leather goods. We want to branch out to everything as much as possible, you know. For example, footwear, we want to collaborate with a brand that specializes in that, you know, or like an umbrella. [Laughs] Dreams become reality. I mean, we have the resources now, we work with the right people so we can dream what we want to dream and make it happen.
In the high fashion world, they like to use a lot of tribal, quote-unquote African motifs and themes when it comes to presentation, and it tends to come across as cultural appropriation. What are some of the things you wish more of these mainstream designers would understand or at least try to understand when they delve into this particular side, quote-unquote tribalism or try to borrow from African references?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: If you’re a big brand with big money try to actually work with the local people. For example, Dior got inspired by some African prints and they actually did the whole presentation in Marrakesh and stuff. And they also worked with a local designer, he’s from Ivory Coast and they actually worked with him. I think stuff like that is dope. But I’ve seen brands that got inspired by different African prints and they don’t credit it. They don’t say where the inspiration is from. They just copy it and that’s it.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: I feel like if you do something like that, try to manufacture it locally or try to work with a local designer to actually do it the right way and not straight copy. Give back to the community. Those prints have meaning. I’ll read articles, I buy books that all have meanings about those prints. So you have to be careful about a lot of west African prints, they have certain meetings. There’s prints that you wear when somebody dies. Imagine you just see a nice print, you copy it, put it on a colorful t-shirt. So stuff like that kind of bothers me. But luckily, we as a brand, we do it the right way and we’re actually giving back and work with the right talent locally in whatever city we are in Africa.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: The way we started out the brand was we’re three kids from the west side of Amsterdam with all African roots— we don’t know nothing about where we from. Let’s go on this voyage of learning more about where we’re from and learn from the local people. So we traveled to Africa and different countries. You learn from the local people and we use fashion as a vehicle to express that.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: I grew up going to Morocco every year, six weeks staying in the same city. And then when we traveled in 2013, for our lookbook in Marrakesh, Algeria and the desert, I came back very inspired knowing that I want to learn about my own people, about the fabrics, about the rugs. And that actually kind of made me happy because I look at things differently now and wow, this has so much depth. And like I said, it kind of annoys me when someone just sees it, copies it and makes it commercial without knowing what it is.
[Daily Paper] is a reflection of us and has been since day one. People now see that it isn’t just a good story to sell more clothing.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN
I want a very honest, a very edgy opinion. People from the Western world. America, a lot of blacks have an idealistic view of moving to Africa. What are some of the things you think they need to understand before they decide to move there?
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: That Africa is for sure not a country. [Laughs] And that every piece of Africa is so different and what I do want them to understand is that the people of Africa are very welcoming and their move to Africa would definitely be a be applauded and respected by the local people as well. They need to know, it’s not as scary as the media portrays it to be. It’s actually amazing.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: If you go to Africa, I think you’re going to appreciate growing up in a Western community because you’re so lucky to having so many resources here and there still on the rise. It’s actually funny that you see people that are very happy with less. And if you grew up in a Western society, you want to buy your dream car. You buy your dream car and then two weeks later you want a different car. We’re so materialistic there in Western society. In Africa people feel happy with less and I really appreciate that. It made me want to be less materialistic and just be happy what I have. I think if someone wants to move to Africa from America, realize that you shouldn’t come with a same mentality. Come down with an open mind and try to learn from their way of living. That’s all it is.
Another topic that is constantly spoken about, especially me being here in America, a lot of people tend to say that North Africa is not Africa. It’s part of the Middle East or that north Africans do not identify as part of the rest of Africa. What do you wish people would understand about that?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: What can I say? Let them hate and let them think we’re not from Africa. It’s kind of sad that people always want to be negative about things and find ways to actually divide us. I’m not black, I’m Arab. I consider myself Arab- African. If you think I’m not, then that’s your problem. I’m from this beautiful continent. Africa actually is the drive of our company and I’m happy that I can contribute to the continent in our way.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: I think it comes back to that one perception that people have of what Africa is supposed to be. It’s still not a country. It’s a continent with a lot of countries, a lot of different tribes, a lot of different ethnicities and so many different languages and religions that all coexist. There’s not one way of being African.
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: That’s so Western. I mean, you can also see it in how people think about Asia, you know, like South East Asia, West Asia, East Asia, it’s all different. You know, they think all of Asia is just Chinese people, you know? That’s the ignorance people have.
HUSSEIN SULEIMAN: I really don’t care about when people say we’re not African. [Laughs]
I think that getting that perspective in there is very important. It’s not about being controversial, it’s just about being honest. Daily Paper is a self-made brand and you had to go through a lot of mistakes obviously, when you were building your brand. Are there certain things that you wish people had told you when you guys were starting the brand?
ABDERRAHMANE TRABSINI: Nothing, I mean, all the things we learned in a good or bad way. Those mistakes are all life lessons. Daily Paper is like learning in school. We learn everyday about how to manage a company. Now that we’re in the States we have to think about the future [for Daily Paper]. I feel like all those life lessons that we have to learn on our own by making mistakes or just by doing things. We’re happy we didn’t start with a blueprint, or money or a lot of knowledge. Daily Paper is just a passion project. It was a hobby. The three of us actually decided to change the blog to a clothing line and see how it’ll go. I mean, us having this conversation right now—I would have never thought this would happen.
I give the next generation a lot of advice and tips, but for me, I’m happy I did this, honestly. I’m happy that I learned, and shoutout Google, man. Shoutout Google for answering all our questions. [Laughs]
Interview by Safra Ducreay
Photography by Kwabena Appiah-Nti