I met with Afiq from Tarik Denim today. The first thing that I noticed about the guy was his long black hair and mustache. It stood out to me, because the people I met in KL (until this point) were very much clean cut. His hair signified to me a rebelious spirit right from the start. Really, you have to meet Afiq to have a true understanding of the Tarik Denim brand. We took the short walk from the streetside to his Nusantara Denim shop in Selangor, KL in Malaysia. He showed me around his shop and we dove right into a conversation about the quality of denim in his store and the Tarik brand itself.
Afiq finished his schooling as a designer and started working in his chosen field. He had the motivation to work hard and compete with his colleagues about who was in the office longer, or who had the best production records. At the time, even though he was working long hours at work, he still made time for his true love, being a musical performer. Slowly the long hours at work made him rethink his position, and he decided to make his move into something different. He became a local celebrity by performing. And this creative spirit eventually inspired him to develop his own selvedge denim label. A gutsy move from a stable designer job, to rocking out and designing denim. He pulled it off! And the results are his denim shop and his brand.
Tarik is basically meant for the youth of Malaysia. Afiq started the brand with no intentions on selling his products outside of Malaysia. The brand was more or less intended to be a middle finger at the local establishment. Now a few short years later, it has evolved into something much more. His denim is still done in very limited runs of premium Japanese selvedge and other mixed materials for skinny jeans with a little stretch. Details include custom rivets, YKK zippers, vegetable tan patches, and a lot of attitude. The actual Nusantara Denim shop houses local South-East Asian brands such as Old Blue Co, Indigo Skin, Fifth Requisite, Doku Ichiro, PMP, Field Trip, BNV and others. Nusantara Denim shop is a must visit for any denim head dipping his head into Kuala Lumpur. The layout and decor is going to surprise you. The sales staff is definitely knowledgable, and if you’re lucky, you just might run into Afiq!
