THREAD San Diego Designers: ForManKind (FMK)

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With the December THREAD Show right around the corner, San Diego fashion enthusiasts are eagerly researching their style, making their must-have lists and doing their shopping stretches. And, let's face it: trying on True Religions for size, and lunging across the room to reduce the truth aren't exactly the worst pastimes for San Diego shopping addicts.

Although designer denim is a staple on THREAD San Diego shopping lists this season, the rest of the wardrobe remains a mystery. Who are the top designers at THREAD? Who will showcase the best accessories? What item is a holiday-must-have? Calm down restless shoppers, trust your pending questions to DiscoverSD.com and keep your stress level size-centric.

In anticipation of THREAD San Diego on December 2, 2007, DiscoverSD.com spotlights top THREAD designer: ForManKind (FMK)

Q: Where are you from?
A: Jeremy Searle is from Encinitas, CA and Erik Derman is from Del Mar, CA.

Q: How will you be involved with this year's San Diego THREAD show?

A: We will be there selling our One-of-One line and greeting people with high fives. THREAD is always very exciting for us!

Q: Tell us about your designs. What are your favorite pieces? What materials do you use? What makes your designs unique?

A: Our designs run the whole gamut of the art spectrum. We get a lot of support and inspiration from a diverse group of artists we work closely with, which we call the FMKfamily. So to tell you about our designs, I'd have say they're wild 'n crazy in the fact that they're truly eclectic.

In constructing our garments, we design everything from basic tee shirts to the reconstruction of vintage wedding dresses. Not that we do a lot of old wedding dresses, it's just an example of something we've done and how wide a range we have. The reconstructions that require the most extensive work we do with designer Kelsey Giusta because we can't cut and sew quite like she can.

What makes us unique is you never know what you're going to get. Ironically, some of our favorite pieces we've made are one's that actually were made wrong and we had to do corrections to salvage them. The "salvaged" ones often end up being the most eccentric and usually the fan favorites.

We've also started to do hand painted shoes that match hand painted bags for women, which I think look really cool.

Our artists have been gettin' pretty wild and doing some awesome pieces. For materials, we've used anything you can dream of. We use everything, including materials from around the world. It's the formankind way.

We're never bound to production schedules with our one-of-one line, so we're able to create new innovative pieces daily, which makes us very unique. Also, we work with so many artists that we have many different looks throughout our line. All artists have a certain style and we're able to have many different styles, which makes us very unique.

Q: Which designers/artists are your inspirations?

A: I don't really know where to start with this question because we have so many different inspirations. Especially because work with so many artists, it would only be right if I had all their inspirations at my disposal as well, but here's a few: Salvador Dali, Ryan Mcguiness, Zach Johnson, Frank Zappa, Califone, Michelle Basquiat, Fafi, Saber, Alex Pardee, Tara Mcpherson, Sylvia Ji, Shepard Fairey, Blaine Fontana, Tracy Reese, LaROK, Philip Lim, Jet Lag Denim, Rock 'n Republic, True Love & False idols, Imaginary Foundation, Beautiful Decay, RVCA, Cosa Nostra, and many, many more...

Q: What recent fashion trends do you love? What do you despise the most?

A: I like colored denim, especially purple denim on girls, it is lookin' pretty hot. I like when girls wear a long narrow tee, stylish belt, leggings, and some sexy red shoes. I've even seen some girls wear the American Apparel Mens Summer Tee as a dress, which looks super good. We designed some of these for THREAD.

I like wild bright color schemes and outlandish looks that people are rockiin' now. I have a lot of respect for people being creative with what they wear and I'm seeing more people start to do today. However, there are a few things that just don't do people any good, and the popular trend of high waisted denim just doesn't look hot on a lot of girls.

Q: If you only had one day left on earth, what would you be wearing?

A: My birthday suit... ayyyoooo. No, I would probably put on an original FMK "relaxed thought" tee designed by Nick Fuller, which depicted a man sitting in a relaxed manner listening to music. The man was sitting in a position making up the "M" in "FMK" across the front of the tee, and below that it said relaxed thought. It was our first batch back in high school. I would wear that b/c it's the most meaningful piece I own.

Q: What emerging trends should San Diegans keep an eye out for?

A: Colorful dresses, colored denim, high waisted denim (do with caution), and leather jackets. There are a lot of trends out there that San Diego hasn't really accepted yet; SD is pretty conservative in it's fashion. In general SD is usually a late adopter to new trends, but in my super biased opinion you should just follow the trends set by FMK and you'll be so friggin' hot.

Q: Do you think this year's THREAD show will be better than ever?

A: Well, being that the show is run by the best people anyone could ever possibly work with, I expect the show will continually improve at a very rapid pace! (Lara and Alex are so cool they just might be the cure for global warming... jk, but seriously they rock). I mean the show already is "off the heezy," but THREAD manages to get better and better with each show. Seriously though, they put on a super quality and fun show that is growing very rapidly. If you can go, go!

Q: What are your favorite San Diego boutiques?

A: To be honest I haven't done my due diligence in checking out as many as I should have, but here are a few that I like: UNIV, LA Fairchild, Mesh, Let's Go, Runway, Station, Steady, Unsteady, Blends, Facevalue, 5 & A Dime, Studio 1220, and I'm sure there's many more that are really awesome that I haven't been to yet. Ask me in about a month because I'm about to go on a major San Diego boutique exploration. If anybody has suggestions feel free to email me at Jeremy@fmklife.com.

Q: When you're in San Diego, where can we find you?

A: You can find Erik in the ocean, in his room, in the garage, on his computer, or screenprinting. You can find me mostly working at home in Encinitas, at Erik's home, getting breakfast at Honey's on HWY 101, in the ocean when I can, rocking my face off at any of EnDevs locations, and at Fieldtrip Entertainment's parties doing more of the same.

Q: Anything else you'd like fashion fans to know?

A: FMK will knock your socks off and then make you new ones. How 'bout 'dem apples. In all seriousness of the serious please check us out frequently because our styles change like a chameleon as we're constantly innovating and creating new looks. Do it. Also come to THREAD! Put your fancy pants on and do it.

Visit: fmklife.com and myspace.com/formankind.

Are you THREADucated? Read the details on the upcoming THREAD Show here.

Are you addicted to style? Read additional THREAD Designer interviews here.