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Illex Kinni Designer Shoes
An Interview with Illex Kinni founders and designers – Casey Egan and Jillian Shannon. To see shoe collections by Illex Kinni click here –> Illex Kinni Shoes Check out the official Illex Kinni website and links to their blog here
Q1) Please introduce yourself Casey and Jillian, and tell us about your backgrounds (i.e. ancestry, training etc)? Jillian: I’m form Melbourne and have studied fashion and have an Arts Degree in Sociology and Anthropology. I have worked in the industry as a buyer, designer and merchandiser in the previous few years. Casey: I was born and raised in Torquay. I always knew I wanted to be involved in the fashion industry since a young age, so I did some study and have worked for a few different brands. I learnt a lot from my father who’s been in the rag-trade industry for 30 years….. Q2) How did the Illex Kinni label begin? Jillian: Casey and I have been friends for years… We think the same, listen to the same music, have the same friends, the same style… Casey: One afternoon when I was hanging out with Jill, I stumbled across her sketch book, it was filled with all these drawings of boots and crazy shoe designs. I knew Jill and I shared a healthy obsession with fashion and in particular boots, so we sat down and worked out how we could make the best boots for ourselves without having to pay $500 out of our already low bank accounts……
Q3) What can we expect from Illex Kinni in the coming collections? Jillian: the label and designs are really spontaneous, so we can’t really say what direction we may go in the future. We are really excited about our upcoming collection and photo shoot, our second collection is in production and it has the same vibe as our first shoot…. whilst offering styling, quality and price points that we feel are missing in the market place. Casey: Our mission is to making the best boots for a price that kids can afford without losing quality. Jillian: We really just really want to grow the brand organically. Ideally we would love to own the mid price range footwear market in our genre of styling. Casey: It would be amazing to one day have an office in Melbourne, NYC and one in Berlin and just spend our lives bouncing from one location to another delivering good quality boots. We’re just happy to see people wearing our boots and getting excited on the collections.
Q5) Who are your favourite fashion designers and what about them inspires you? What else inspires you? Casey: I’m really inspired by DIY fashion and music, everyday you discover a new band or some crazy kids in the middle of nowhere with some weird style. My favourite designers change from season to season, at the moment I really like odyn vovk, ann demeulemeester and on a local level Reiss Radvanyi. Q6) If you could pick someone famous that best represents your labels style, who would it be? Alternatively, what famous person/s would you want wearing your label? Jillian: We aren’t really in to product placement on celebrities, just for the sake of it. We would probably prefer that people wear our boots before they make it big. Casey: I think Jethro Cave is the kind of guys that best represents the label, and direction. Ohh and I would love to see Iggy Pop or in a pair of Illex Kinni boots, Ill retire today if that were to happen. Q7) Complete the following sentence: Illex Kinni shoes are unique because: Jillian: We are just producing good quality product that inspires us and that we could never find in the market place. The brand was established due to our friendship, wanting to create a brand that represents our style and doing so we found a niche in the market to provide premium boots for men and women at an affordable price.
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Please be aware that this fashion article was last modified on the 8th February, 2010. Although London Fashion Blog endeavours to keep the fashion information as timely and as relevant as possible, we may not be 100% up to date. | 
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