Krak Baby Explores Pop Culture Obsessions

By Kaylan Geiger Pushing away from the constant cycling and recycling of fashion trends and fads, Krak Baby founders Hatem Hannoun and Moustafa Moussa Moussa have created a lifestyle brand of street wear with one obsession: addiction. Hannoun and Moussa, childhood friends who started Krak Baby in 2012, base their T-shirt and headwear designs on the pop culture that has been fed to them since childhood, from video games to television icons and sports stars. Their latest collection, Mugshot, launched in late August featuring T-shirts emblazoned with fast food personalities. Since the brand launched, Krak Baby clothing has been taking Cairo by stealth, relying mostly on word of mouth and a website to generate sales. Hannoun and Moussa’s designs have been seen all across Egypt and have even been adopted by local and international DJs. But it was only a few months ago that the brand became available in a retail outlet — ABn’G, a Zamalek-based art gallery and hub for local designers. The duo sat down with Egypt Today to talk about Mugshot, plans for new types of lifestyle products and their desire to expose the Krak Baby brand to the world via the sidewalk, not the catwalk. Edited excerpts: How did Krak Baby come to be? Hatem: Long story short, I used to work in a store where I sold secondhand goods. I spent a lot of time in the store, and over time I became bored. I would browse the internet all day, checking out fashion blogs, but more on the street wear side, not like high-end fashion. I became very interested in the brands I would see and the stories behind the brands. At the time I had no design skills whatsoever. Moussa did, so I called him up. Moussa: When Hatem brought up the idea, I had just graduated and was pursuing the idea of becoming a freelance graphic designer. Because Hatem and I were friends he knew that this is something I wanted to pursue, so back in 2012 he introduced the idea of starting a brand. I said, why not? What does the name mean? Hatem: The name is a reference to the era in which we were born, the 1980s. Moussa: You know, like the baby boomers. Since there were babies being born addicted to crack in the 1980s, sometimes the 80s babies are referred to as crack babies. Being born in the 80s, in the crack baby era, we are crack babies. That is what the Krak Baby brand is about: It is about addiction in all of its forms. Not just narcotics, but all forms of addiction, including video games, TV and so on. Hatem: That is where we get the ideas for the designs, from everything that has influenced us growing up. We were raised in the 90s, which means we were sold everything through TV, video games and the media. How do you come up with the designs? Moussa: The work is divided 50/50. We explore ideas and develop a theme we want to work on. A perfect example is our latest collection, which we call the Mugshot collection. It is about fast food, and depicts the figures of Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken and Ronal McDonald in a mugshot. The message is, we are sending them to jail because they are dealers in their own way, selling fast food that kills more people than drugs. Hatem: It plays off of fast food being an addiction, and these guys are responsible. Moussa: We also use a pacifier as one of our main logos. Babies are born and they don’t know anything about the world, yet, they become addicted to their pacifiers. The pacifier is the very first addiction. At the end of the day, addiction is human nature. Hatem: We get told by a lot of people who are more into the fashion industry that this season you have to have this and that, and there are rules for how things should work. We don’t abide by the rules of the game. We aren’t trying to play into the fashion world, we are about being real. Moussa: We don’t base our style on trends. Every T-shirt we make is something we want to wear. What are you working on now? Hatem: We have the Mugshot collection that was just released, and we are now focusing more on headwear. They sell out instantly. We make T-shirts of course but also sweaters, and we will soon be releasing key chains. We try not to box Krak Baby into being just a clothing brand, but more like a lifestyle brand so that we can keep options open. We wanted to create a brand that reflects a lifestyle. What is going on outside of Egypt for Krak Baby? Hatem: In England, we have a DJ, DJ Bizzy, who is a promoter, DJ and event planner who has been pushing the Krak Baby brand there. The plan is to infiltrate crowds slowly and build a network of people that understand the brand. Moussa: If you have a close network of people who understand Krak Baby for what it is then you have your customer base. Having people who understand your brand is what we care about more. It’s not like Lacoste or Ralph Lauren where you are buying the same stuff everyone else is wearing. Krak Baby is about a certain lifestyle, and not everyone is going to get that lifestyle but the people who do will understand each other. Hatem: Wherever we know people, we have them pushing the Krak Baby brand in their own circles. Outside of England, Krak Baby exists in New York and in Canada. Moussa: We are not concerned with it taking off quickly or making money. Our focus is to grow the Krak Baby brand organically. Hatem: We don’t want to put Krak Baby in just any store where it is positioned alongside other brand names. Abroad and in the States you’ll find small boutique stores with clothing and products that tie into street, urban culture. This is the kind of system we want to work with. Moussa: If I see a completely random person in Canada wearing Krak Baby and I am wearing Krak Baby too, we most likely have something in common and therefore Krak Baby becomes a channel for communication. It is like a visual form of communication. I’m hoping that Krak Baby fans become real fans and understand the message. et Krak Baby products are now available at ABn’G World at 2 Taha Hussein Street in Zamalek. Visit their website for more about the brand.