A brand built around functionality and the abstract vision of enriching man and his surroundings, homegrown label, Faculty, aims to address any unmet needs currently existing in the local menswear market. CATALOG chats with founder and creative director Larry Peh, who shares insights into his label’s origins and the journey so far.
Hi Larry, tell us more about Faculty.
Faculty is a menswear label with designs based on functionality, tweaked from my unsatisfied buys over the years. Designed and packaged in grey, each item in the debut collection reflects the strength of ideas from the use of grey matter in its creation. With the intent of enriching man and his surroundings, every collection is also dedicated to, and inspired by an unnamed personality. The debut collection consists of a small range of apparels, focusing on the quality of each piece. There are a total of 10 items in various colourways, excluding socks, stationery and collaboration items.
How did the birth of Faculty come about?
It started with me being frustrated with my own clothes. Although I’m very selective with the clothes I buy, I was still very dissatisfied with them – the cut, material and details like cuffs never felt right.
One day, my friend Lenz approached me to rebrand his menswear label, WanderWonder, but I proposed something more radical, “How about starting a totally new brand instead?”. We then roped in another friend, and with a common vision of producing clothing that men are comfortable in, and products that reflect a sense of style, intelligence and sophistication – Faculty was born.
A slider with the ID of 412 doesn't exist.Who is the Faculty customer?
The Faculty customer is a modern man who goes from work to play, and appreciates quality, functionality and detail in classic apparel that will last him not just a season or two, but for years to come.
Our apparel assimilates with such a lifestyle. When you look at our apparel closely, you will see that a lot of careful thought has gone into the design and manufacturing process. With reference to Faculty’s heavy focus on functionality, our shirts are made with shorter sleeves to accommodate larger watches. The sleeves are also made slightly larger at the armhole as well to enhance comfort, staying true to the initial concept of having customers transit easily from work to play. Each pair of our signature Denim 15 Damaged jeans has undergone countless treatments to achieve its look and crispness and its ‘damaged’ parts were borne from numerous discussions to make it look as natural as possible, with grey and blue threads for a seamless finish.
What defines an item from Faculty and what does each Faculty promise?
Faculty is democratic; our apparel is made to complement one’s current wardrobe and each garment is a well thought through piece, reflecting the brand name ‘Faculty’ — which builds on the categorisation of various schools of thoughts.
We work with top-notch manufacturers and tailors to produce garments that are ‘seasonless’, and refrain from categorising them into the usual Spring-Summer/ Fall-Winter Collection. I’m not into the wear-and-throw culture, and would rather educate people to appreciate quality apparel that can last them a decade or more. Therefore, our apparel is designed to co-exist with any style or wardrobe. We stay true to what men want, slightly tweaking basics with little details to offer something fresh yet functional.
Read the entire interview in CATALOG’s Trendless Issue.