“The story behind Monfrère”

Monfrère Amsterdam is an elegant streetwear line / brand, founded by four friends based in Amsterdam.

Driven by a passion for fashion, the 18-year-old, Steffan Bakker started designing T-shirts in 2015.

With little information on how to properly design , he starts his sketches of the first T-shirt by using the ‘good old’ Microsoft Paint. Desperately he scoured Google to find any manufacturer that was able to turn his designs in actual products.. After hours of surfing on the internet he got in contact with a factory in Asia. Full of enthusiasm he invests his little money out of savings to finance the production of his T-shirts and waited excitedly but impatiently.

A few weeks pass. When the shirts finally arrive, the first delivery turns out to be a complete disaster. The material of the shirts does not resemble with what Bakker had in mind at all, the colors didn’t match his designs and the sizes were totally disproportionate. The shirts turn out to be unsaleable.

Disappointed and with this failure in the back of his mind Bakker goes back to his drawing board. “There has to be a way I can do this with limited risk of production failure” It must be different. Instead of sticking with the T-shirts he switched to hats; an accessory that everyone can wear and is one-size fits most.

But how do you make sure your caps stand out from the rest? By having fresh, fashionable designs, but most importantly, by using extraordinary fabrics. These thoughts resulted in Bakker producing caps that are fully made out of suede leather.

With a prototype he goes to his three best friends. They are extremely enthusiastic. They decide to team-up and build a new brand from the ground up. Soon they come up with the name ‘Monfrère’

Referring to the brotherhood that connects the four. 3 months they launch their first collection with having little expectations since they came to realize it’s a hard to stand out in this business.

Led by four ambitious boys, Monfrère now produces so-called elegant streetwear fashion. Forming a bridge between high-end fashion and accessible casual clothing, that positioning should ensure that Monfrères affordable for everyone.

Meanwhile, the first collection was completely sold out and the collection for ’19 is going beyond all expectations. The newest collection consists of caps and accessories.

Stay tuned because Monfrère sweaters and T-shirts are also on the horizon.