Helping to keep Bermuda’s fashion industry vibrant, stylish and on trend in different ways, Jordan Carey and Omejae Goater spoke about the inspiration and motivation that sits behind their creative fashion outlets.
Jordan Carey, Loquat
Dominated by bright colours and bold Bermudian prints, Jordan Carey’s shop, Loquat, opened in the Washington Mall in April. So far, he said, things are going “great”.
While this latest store may be new, Mr Carey, 29, is already a seasoned designer. He graduated from the Maine College of Art in 2019 with a BFA in Textile and Fashion Design and it was during this time that Loquat emerged: “What has snowballed into Loquat was originally a conceptual art project about how to take my fine art themes and put them through a medium that I thought Bermudians would be inclined to attach to and that ended up being fashion,” he explained. Soon after, he opened his physical and online business, Loquat Shop, in Portland, Maine.
His business ethos stems from his community connections and beliefs. Everything is designed and selected “to directly benefit and empower marginalised people, causes and aesthetics”, his textiles are naturally dyed or screen-printed cotton; his first product was a “menstrual products should be free” T-shirt, whereby 50 per cent of the proceeds went towards providing free menstrual products to anyone needing them.
The T-shirt design, he explained, was inspired by “friends who have to pay for menstrual products; artists who couldn’t afford it all the time”.
Mr Carey’s friends and family are often his design inspiration: “I think about: ‘What would my uncles wear? What would my cousins wear?’ And then I think what would the artists in my community wear? What research would they be excited about? And I feel like in taking care of my immediate community in that way, it naturally grows to reach the right people.”
His products include shirts, socks, bags, wallets and upcycled cotton notebooks with prints such as Mobylettes and gombeys. His skirts have elastic or wrap waists to be “considerate of how women’s bodies change on a daily basis”. Home goods include “organic black soap that has its own Loquat packaging that we worked with a farm in Ghana to get” and incense “hand rolled from a farm in Peru that we work with”.
He prioritises “whole relationships” with everyone he works with: “It’s an incredibly collaborative industry,” he said. “You need to include other people and that’s like who’s growing the cotton. It goes all the way to that level and I find that incredibly powerful.
“I’m interested in bonding with people who care about what they’re doing and care about what they’re making. People who are inspired by craft history and what that means to the vulnerable people that have made craft history possible, especially women of colour in a historical sense, and in a contemporary sense.”
While Mr Carey is currently focused on his new store in Bermuda, he hopes that in the future, Loquat will “show up in more places and look for ways to engage those local communities in art and craft”.
Loquat is on the ground floor of the Washington Mall or online at loquatshop.com
Omejae Goater, Yaya Apparel
Named after his daughter, Yhari, Yaya Apparel is the brainchild of graphic designer, Omejae Goater, 40.
Specialising in athleisure and swimwear, Mr Goater started his own fashion brand after his former boss asked him to design and print a T-shirt for a party. He expanded from there, and now has his own store on Old Cellar Lane.
When creating his fashion pieces, he has Bermuda’s women in mind: “I have a lot more women, only because they tend to buy a lot more swimsuits. They actually need a swimsuit for every event that they go to,” he laughed. “Guys are a little bit more relaxed unless it’s something special.”
Even when designing for men, he is still mindful that women may wear it too: “If I’m designing a T-shirt for a guy, I know a female’s going to put that on as well because they will just take the T-shirt, wear it as something. The baggy look is in as well.”
His athleisure pieces are designed to be versatile as well as on trend. His two-piece tennis outfit, for example, can be worn on the court, a golf course or even dressed up for lunch. Other pieces include stylish all-in-ones that are comfortable for yoga but can be made smart for dinner, a variety of brightly coloured and neutral workout clothes, and jackets.
He also does custom-designed orders, such as T-shirts for events and celebrations.
At the time of writing, Yaya Apparel’s eagerly anticipated summer swimwear collection is about to arrive, which, in the past, has proved popular on social media: “My ice-cream line, it was shot at Bailey’s. That was a very memorable one. I had people stopping along the road. It was a big thing that I didn’t expect,” he said. “It blew up” on Instagram.
While Yaya Apparel is a team of one, Mr Goater enjoys collaborating with local designers as well as other Bermudian businesses to promote and support each other, and no event epitomises this more than his fashion shows, which he tries to do every year: “I invite other local designers to be a part of it, so they can showcase their products. It helps get it out there,” he said.
Another popular event is his golf tournament, where each hole is supported by a local business promoting their products. This year included tasty baked goods for all the players and a demonstration from Aerial Therapy.
While Mr Goater admits that owning your own business can be hard work, his advice for anyone considering a career in fashion or design is: “You have to be into it and you have to follow what’s happening.”
He added: “People, if they like something, they’re going to support.”
Yaya Apparel is on Old Cellar Lane. For more information follow on Instagram: @yayaapparel
